Since President George W. Bush climbed into the rubble of 9/11 and grabbed his famous megaphone, no president or national political figure has had the opportunity to unify the country the way Donald Trump is doing this week.
An inch (or less) is all that separated Trump from death or serious injury on Saturday night in Butler, Pennsylvania. While the image of Trump with his fist raised and the American flag over his head will live on, the image I can’t stop thinking about is the incredible shot of Trump speaking, with a bullet trail appearing behind his head — possibly the bullet that grazed his ear.
“I'm not supposed to be here, I'm supposed to be dead.” Trump told Michael Goodwin of the New York Post. “I'm supposed to be dead.”
Since then, President Biden has addressed the nation four times in an effort, at least partial, to reclaim the narrative or at least a shred of our collective attention. But the president has failed to do so, and now the most important moment in Trump’s political life approaches — and with it, the opportunity to take away from Biden the argument for his political existence.
Biden is supposed to represent stability, but many Americans perceive economic and political turmoil, if not outright chaos.
Biden ran on being a unifier, on “healing the soul of the nation,” but now it seems we are more divided than ever.
And Biden was supposed to be the adult in the room with a promise to rise above politics and move the country forward, especially in restoring America’s standing in the world. While some of our allies may be happier with Biden than they were with Trump, that hasn’t translated into domestic political success. Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 deeply sank his job approval, and it has never recovered. From a purely political standpoint, Biden has struggled to shake the sense that he and his team are anything more than slow, indecisive amateurs whose performance falls short of expectations.
Trump’s strategy for the 2024 election has always been simple: his strength versus Biden’s weakness. That message was already working in a big way after Biden’s disastrous debate performance, but now it has reached a whole new level.
The image of Trump standing amid a crowd of Secret Service agents and imploring the crowd to “fight” stands in stark contrast to Biden’s withered appearances.
The debate over what Trump will do with his acceptance speech this week is on the lips of every delegate in Milwaukee, where the Republican Party has gathered to officially give Trump his third shot at the presidency. And it seems Trump himself may be having a personal epiphany of sorts in the wake of his near-death experience.
“I had prepared an extremely tough, very good speech about the corrupt and horrible administration,” Trump told Goodwin. “But I threw it away.”
Will this be the week Trump puts aside his pugilistic animal spirit and rises above the fray? It very well could be.
In 2016, his campaign often seemed less Republican than independent. He took on both parties and rejected long-standing Republican political orthodoxy. He took on the Washington swamp and all who inhabit it, sparing none of the party elites in the process.
Trump was not a lifelong Republican when he won the Republican nomination, but today he is the undisputed leader of a party remade in his image. His choice for vice president, 39-year-old Ohio Senator JD Vance, signals a MAGA-style succession plan for American politics that could long outlive Trump himself.
But inside Trump there has always been an independent, even a moderate, bubbling beneath the surface of the major-party nominee.
“I want to try to unite our country,” Trump told Goodwin. “But I don’t know if that’s possible. People are very divided.”
Maybe we are, but wouldn't it be nice to see a presidential candidate trying to unite the country around something better and more hopeful?
Yes, there will be “never Trumpers” as long as we are all alive, and there will be old-school Republicans who are not entirely comfortable with Trump’s new populist platform.
But this week, Trump has our national attention. He has the influence. He has the political capital. And he has the moment.
And on Thursday night, he could deliver a speech that leaves his opponent in the hands of history and begins to free this country from the grip of the disunity that has paralyzed us for so long. Will he do it?
Scott Jennings is a contributor to Opinion, a former special assistant to President George W. Bush and a senior political commentator for CNN. @ScottJenningsKY
