Trump's bloodied, defiant image after shooting pumps up his base | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Get the Paper
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Friday
July 18, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Get the Paper
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
FRIDAY, JULY 18, 2025
Trump's bloodied, defiant image after shooting pumps up his base

USA

Nancy Cook, Bloomberg
14 July, 2024, 09:05 am
Last modified: 14 July, 2024, 10:24 am

Related News

  • Manhunt underway after Minnesota lawmaker, her husband killed in 'politically motivated' attack
  • US Secret Service chief says local police warned of gunman at Trump shooting
  • Trump agrees to sit for interview with FBI as it investigates shooting
  • Obamas endorse Harris, Trump vows return to site of assassination attempt
  • Trump doctor disputes suggestion that shrapnel, not bullet, hit his ear

Trump's bloodied, defiant image after shooting pumps up his base

Images of a defiant Trump — with his fist raised over his head and his bloody right ear, as Secret Service agents surround him and the American flag waving in the background — are blazing across social media and television

Nancy Cook, Bloomberg
14 July, 2024, 09:05 am
Last modified: 14 July, 2024, 10:24 am
Donald Trump with his bloodied face at the Butler Farm Show in Butler, Pennsylvania, July 13, 2024. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Donald Trump with his bloodied face at the Butler Farm Show in Butler, Pennsylvania, July 13, 2024. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

A moment of terrifying political violence at a Pennsylvania rally Saturday instantly turned into a piece of Donald Trump iconography that's likely to turbocharge his presidential bid.

Images of a defiant Trump — with his fist raised over his head and his bloody right ear, as Secret Service agents surround him and the American flag waving in the background — are blazing across social media and television.

His supporters, many of whom viewed him as a movement figure and martyr long before the violence on Saturday, seized on the photos as a metaphor for the former president's resiliency.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

A bullet pierced the upper part of his right ear, Trump said. The shooter is dead, as is a bystander, according to the Butler County district attorney.

Several vice presidential hopefuls and senators voiced their support and shared images from the scene, while billionaire Elon Musk posted a message on X that said: "I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery."

David Urban, an informal Trump adviser and lobbyist who helped to run his operation in Pennsylvania in 2016, said he expects the shooting to unify Americans behind Trump.

"Donald Trump is a fighter," Urban said. "That photo will be iconic."

Political Division

The gunfire at the rally speaks to the divisiveness and contentiousness of this rematch of the 2020 presidential contest between Trump and President Joe Biden, as well as a looming sense of political violence that now permeates through the political discourse.

"I think we're all shocked," said 22-year-old Cooper Waldron, a registered Republican and Trump supporter from East Peoria, Illinois. "You never expect something like that to happen in an election in the US."

Half of swing state voters already said they feared violence around the election in a Bloomberg/Morning Consult poll taken in May.

David McCormick, a Republican candidate for Senate in Pennsylvania, was at the rally and near Trump when he was shot. Two people sitting behind him at the rally were also shot, according to a person familiar with the matter, bringing the specter of violence into not just a presidential campaign, but a down ballot campaign as well.

Several Republican lawmakers pinned blame Saturday for the shooting on the rhetoric of their political opponents, peppering social media with fiery statements and making unsubstantiated claims that Democrats incited the violence.

Prominent Democrats, including President Biden, rallied around Trump.

"I'm grateful to hear that he's safe and doing well," Biden said Saturday night. "There's no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it."

Many polls show Trump with a consistent lead over Biden in both national and swing state polling. Biden's disastrous debate performance last month was considered — by both sides — to have helped Trump's bid.

In the coming week, Trump is slated to both announce his pick for vice president and headline the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

A huge chunk of the Trump campaign, including top advisers, were in Milwaukee at the time of shooting. It was unclear how the shooting would affect the security in Milwaukee, where thousands of Republicans are gathering for their once-every-four-years political convention.

Disclaimer: This article first appeared on Bloomberg, and is published by a special syndication arrangement.

Top News / World+Biz

Former US President Donald Trump / US shooting / Trump rally shooting

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Soldiers sit atop an APC after armed forces were deployed, following a clash during a National Citizen Party rally, in Gopalganj, Bangladesh. Photo: REUTERS
    Gopalganj unrest: Case filed against over 400 including banned AL, BCL supporters, 45 held so far
  • Security forces throw tear gas cans and sound grenades to disperse the Awami League supporters following a clash during the National Citizen Party rally, in Gopalganj, Bangladesh, July 16, 2025. Photo: REUTERS
    Death toll rises to 5 in Gopalganj unrest
  • Ongoing curfew in Gopalganj on 17 July 2025. Photo: Olid Ebna Shah/TBS
    Curfew underway for second day in Gopalganj after violent clashes

MOST VIEWED

  • Obayed Ullah Al Masud. Sketch: TBS
    Islami Bank chairman resigns
  • GP profit drops 31% in H1
    GP profit drops 31% in H1
  • Illustration: TBS
    Cenbank recognises 10 banks, 2 NBFIs as sustainable financial institutions
  • Rohingya refugees queue for water in a camp near Cox’s Bazar. File Photo: REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain
    Rohingyas start internal civil society polls in Cox's Bazar to form rights body
  • Around 99% of the cotton used in Bangladesh’s export and domestic garment production is imported. Photo: Collected
    NBR withdraws advance tax on imports of cotton, man-made fibres
  • Illustration: TBS
    FY26 monetary policy: To ease when is the question

Related News

  • Manhunt underway after Minnesota lawmaker, her husband killed in 'politically motivated' attack
  • US Secret Service chief says local police warned of gunman at Trump shooting
  • Trump agrees to sit for interview with FBI as it investigates shooting
  • Obamas endorse Harris, Trump vows return to site of assassination attempt
  • Trump doctor disputes suggestion that shrapnel, not bullet, hit his ear

Features

Illustration: TBS

20 years of war, 7.5m tonnes of bombs, 1.3m dead: How the US razed Vietnam to the ground

13h | The Big Picture
On 17 July 2024, Dhaka University campus became a warzone with police firing tear shells and rubber bullets to control the student movement. File Photo: Rajib Dhar/TBS

17 July 2024: Students oust Chhatra League from campuses, Hasina promises 'justice' after deadly crackdown

20h | Panorama
Abu Sayeed spread his hands as police fired rubber bullets, leading to his tragic death. Photos: Collected

How Abu Sayed’s wings of freedom ignited the fire of July uprising

2d | Panorama
Illustration: TBS

Open source legal advice: How Facebook groups are empowering victims of land disputes

3d | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Why the conflicting claims over Gopalganj autopsies?

Why the conflicting claims over Gopalganj autopsies?

13h | TBS Stories
Gopalganj violence in international media

Gopalganj violence in international media

14h | TBS World
The Philippines has become a laboratory for China's disinformation propaganda

The Philippines has become a laboratory for China's disinformation propaganda

15h | TBS World
Gopalganj clash: Army urges not to be misled by rumors

Gopalganj clash: Army urges not to be misled by rumors

16h | TBS Today
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net