One week on, almost to the hour, Donald Trump received a hero’s welcome back to the campaign trail in Michigan.
His security detail reinforced, the first rally since the attempted assassination taking place indoors.
“I stand before you only by the grace of Almighty God. That’s true. I shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t be here,” he said.
Earlier, his doctor revealed that one of the bullets missed his head by less than a quarter of an inch.
“What did I do for democracy? I took a bullet for democracy,” he said.
The bandage on his ear had been toned down, but the rhetoric wasn’t, as he capitalised on the Democrats’ woes.
“They don’t know who their candidate is. We don’t know who their candidate is,” Trump added.
“We’re going to take back the White House in a monumental landslide.”
The contrast is stark. Trump buoyed by his survival, Biden clinging on to his candidacy.
Isolated in Delaware, the president is reportedly feeling “angry and betrayed” by Democratic members of Congress urging him to quit.
Aaron Regunberg talking to Sky News in Washington
Ordinary Democrats, like Aaron Regunberg, had travelled to the White House from his home in Rhode Island to echo those calls.
“The party should be doing everything it can right now,” he told Sky News.
“This is an existential election. The Democratic Party has been saying that for years.
“We’ve been saying that abortion is on the ballot, democracy is on the ballot.
“When the stakes are that high, an effective, competent party is going to take the steps necessary to ensure its candidate has a fighting chance to win.”
Read more:
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Brush with a bullet, ear bandages and NATO gaffes – US analysis
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The last seven days have redefined this race for the White House and it’s still four months to the election.
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