It probably won't register in the annals of presidential quotes, but
at least now we know what Trump may be thinking when he's in near death crisis mode.
Whatever he was thinking in the moment, it didn't take him long to transition to defiance mode, pump a fist
in the air while surrounded by Secret Service and turn the moment into an image the media instantly hailed as the most photographically symbolic one since an AP photographer from another era captured
the iconic American flag-raising by U.S. marines during World War II's battle of Iwo Jima.
"In its surface details, it carries echoes of the marines at Iwo Jima. In the former
President’s bloody defiance, it even evokes Rocky Balboa. On that stage, Trump seemed well aware of the image he was creating. It is an image that captures him as he would like to be seen, so
perfectly, in fact, that it may outlast all the rest," wrote The New
Yorker's Benjamin Wallace-Wells, calling it "an image that will last."
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Images aside, the past 24-hours of Trump assassination attempt coverage was cable news and social media frenzy
on steroids -- all leading into today's opening of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, which otherwise should have been a simple, perfunctory cakewalk to his nomination. Instead, an
ear-bandaged Trump likely will be hailed a triumphant hero, shoes and all.
Though as an AP analysis of the GOP's plans highlights, the party had originally been focusing on a
kinder, gentler tone, seeking to quell the nerves of already rattled American voters, following the Democratic party's disarray and lack of unity after President Joe Biden's dismal performance during
the first debate.
Lost in the weekend's crisis coverage was the fact that Meta
late Friday announced it was further relaxing its guardrails on public figures during "civil unrest," though many media outlets reported that as lifting restrictions on Donald Trump who continues
to use his own publicly-traded Truth Social platform as his main social media outlet.