Did God Save Donald Trump?

July 13 will be remembered in American history — and even world history — for decades and, hopefully, centuries to come. The big question, of course, is “How did this happen?” How did the Secret Service and state and local police fail to protect President Donald J. Trump from being shot in the head? What motivated the shooter? Who knew about the attack beforehand? What orders were given to whom and by whom? While authentically-American representatives, senators, reporters, and whistleblowers seek answers to these questions, Christians face another: Did God save Donald Trump?

The man giving and risking everything to make America great again was less than an inch away from death. Had Trump not turned his head the smallest fraction of an inch at the exact moment that he did, his head would have exploded on live television. At the Republican National Convention, less than a week after being shot, the former president claimed that God saved him. The claim had been made repeatedly for days on social media before Trump repeated it onstage.

Ultimately, God Himself is the only one who can definitively answer the question of whether or not He saved Donald Trump from an assassin’s bullet on July 13, 2024. But some common or prominent objections to the claim may be addressed.

Trump’s Belief That ‘God Saved Me’ Is Narcissistic 

Maybe the most ridiculous objection to the claim that God saved Donald Trump was articulated by Joy Behar on The View. Although far from being the voice of wisdom, the viciously-left-wing Behar chose to air her views on both Divine Providence and Donald Trump anyway. “When something like this happens to you, like this assassination attempt, and you say something like ‘God was watching me,’ that is a very un-Christian thing to say because it’s very narcissistic,” Behar posited.

In fact, “God was watching me” is arguably the least narcissistic and most humble response one could have to surviving an assassination attempt. The isolating hubris required to attribute such an escape from death to mere chance or, even more egotistically, to one’s own reflexes or quick thinking is staggering. (READ MORE from S.A. McCarthy: GOP: Don’t Ignore the Valuable Catholic Vote)

Contrary to Behar’s whining, attributing his survival to God is one of the most humble professions Trump has ever made. It is crucial also to recognize that his declaration of God’s providence was preceded by an act of virtue, of complete selflessness: all Trump knew in that moment was that he had just been shot in the head, but he nevertheless rose to his feet, pushed his security aside, and defiantly faced wherever the bullet had come from, raising his fist high and urging his countrymen to fight for the heart and soul of America.

Instead of boasting about his seeming imperviousness to death, instead of (aptly, mind you) comparing himself to American legends like George Washington or Andrew Jackson or Theodore Roosevelt, instead of accrediting his survival to his own presence of mind or vitality, Trump instead humbled himself before God, giving all credit to the Almighty and hoarding none for himself.

That is, quite frankly, the most Christian response one could possibly have after being shot in the head and living to tell the tale. After all, the entire Christian faith is founded on the central, pivotal, and awe-striking truth that God so loved the world that He became man, taking on the form of one of His own creatures, and suffered death on the cross for our sake. Is it narcissistic to realize that God died for you?

Does an Innocent Man’s Death Preclude Divine Intervention?

While a far less ridiculous, far less malicious, and far more sympathetic argument, the claim that God couldn’t have possibly saved Trump because it resulted in an innocent bystander’s death also fails to carry water.

First of all, both life and death are intended to glorify God. Christian history is full of the stories of martyrs: men and women of virtue who God has allowed to die. Their deaths, even when horrific, serve to glorify God. St. Polycarp was burned at the stake and, when the flames would not devour his flesh, he was stabbed with a lance. His blood extinguished the fire. St. Lawrence faced his death — being roasted alive on a grille over an open fire — with such courage that he famously joked, “You can turn me over now, this side’s done.”

When St. Denis was beheaded while preaching, he picked up his own severed head and continued to finish his homily.

While these saints glorified God by their deaths, others glorified Him by their lives. St. Ignatius of Loyola was wounded in combat — his leg was shattered by a cannonball — but God saved his life so that he could go on to found a new religious order which would, in turn, spread the Faith across the globe, building countless churches and schools everywhere they went.

St. Francis of Assisi famously sought martyrdom, even traveling to the Holy Land and confronting the Muslim Sultan in the midst of the crusades. But God did not allow the poor friar to die by the sword.

The death of Corey Comperatore is, indeed, a tragedy. It was not God’s hand which struck him down but the hand of a malicious, calculating murderer. But even through the brave father’s and firefighter’s death, God was glorified. Comperatore died shielding his wife and daughter, truly laying down his life for those whom he loved. From all accounts, his life was a virtuous one, forming the habit of selflessness that allowed him, in the end, to follow in Christ’s footsteps and lay down his life, out of love.

Trump’s life may have been, likewise, spared in order to glorify God. It wouldn’t be easy to argue that the billionaire real estate mogul and reality TV personality has lived an abundantly virtuous life, but this may be the very reason that God spared his life. It may be, perhaps, no accident that Trump survived an assassination attempt just days after gutting pro-life and pro-family commitments from the GOP platform: he has been afforded an invaluable opportunity to revitalize the Republican Party and strengthen — not dilute — its commitment to truly American and Christian principles.

Even aside from the fate of the Republican Party, Trump — constantly contrasting himself against the aged, feeble, one-foot-in-the-grave Joe Biden — has been given a chance to contemplate his own mortality and, perhaps, accept God’s grace more fully than ever before.

God Doesn’t Intervene in Politics

The story of St. Joan of Arc would tell a different story. The Maid of Orleans was called by God to lead the French during the Hundred Years’ War. At stake were English claims to French territories and competing claims amongst various partisan groups to the French throne. In short, the matter God called Joan to deal with on His behalf was political.

Historical examples aside, politics shape law, which in turn shapes how men live their lives, which in turn impacts their immortal souls, and God has a vested interest there, as both the Creator and, through His sacrifice on the cross, the Savior of all mankind. To say that God cares nothing for politics is, at best, a mere misunderstanding. Certainly He transcends politics, and while this means that God is, in a sense, above politics, it does not mean that He is uninterested in what His creatures do with politics and political power. (READ MORE: Viganò Justly Excommunicated, but There Is More To Do)

After all, it is politicians who decided that tens of millions of unborn Americans would die in abortuaries. It is politicians who will now decide whether or not millions more will be slaughtered on the altar of abortion. It is politicians who have enabled the transgender madness infecting the minds of countless Americans, both young and old, driving parents to allow doctors to mutilate their children’s genitals and children to beg doctors to do it.

It was God who first established Law and wrote it on the hearts of men. It is not inconceivable that, when a man arises with the courage necessary to bring the laws of men back into accord with — or at least significantly closer to — the Law of God, He might indeed protect that man.

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