The Magic, Harmless Bullet

In a rare moment, Donald Trump slips up and tells the truth, in the process revealing two things about himself. He tells Will Cain 

And there was- people were screaming "get down, get down. The whole thing was just crazy. And it's hard to believe a year is up and uh, here we are and a lot of things have happened since then, including the presidency. So I have an obligation to do a good job, I fee. I was really saved. I was really saved by (points upward) somebody really special. 

Since he was wounded by shrapnel (oh, I mean, his ear hit by a bullet) a year ago, Trump has peppered his remarks with mention of God, hoping to convince Americans that he believes in said entity. He has innumerable conservatives on social media convinced and on June 21, he outdid himself in a four minute address following the bombing attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. He remarked at one point  "I want to just thank everybody, in particular, God. I want to just say we love you God, and we love our great military, protect them. God bless the Middle East, God bless Israel, and God bless America."

One doesn't have to have a Master of Divinity to have read John 4:24a, which states definitively "God is spirit." One fairly typical commentary explains

First—and this is important—we know what spirit is not, and that is physical. Anything physical (made of matter) is characterized by limitations. As an example, consider human beings. We each have a beginning, a limit. We all die, another limit. We occupy a certain space in the universe, also a limit. We live in the present, not the future. This is, again, a limit.

But God has no limits....

God is not somebody because God is not a person. This perspective is not limited to theologians but is basic to an understanding of the Old Testament and of the New Testament.  Donald Trump will not use only people, but also God, for political gain.

God is "really special," in the manner of a young man telling a young woman "you're really special," which often the young woman finds insincere. Nonetheless, that is not the more significant portion of Trump's remark to Cain. The President added

The people that are shooters- not so much, but people that, who are shooters, say "it's almost impossible that that was a miss". And it was a hit (pointing to his ear) but it was a miss.

President @realdonaldtrump was saved in Butler, PA by the Grace of God: “I was really saved by somebody very special…. people that are shooters say it is almost impossible that was a miss." pic.twitter.com/rugD5RODCh

— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) July 11, 2025

Good save, man! But we know what you said. No one says about anything "it's almost impossible that that was a miss" unless it was a miss. Realizing he had let the cat out of the bag, Trump promptly contradicted himself by stating "it was a hit but it was a miss."

He didn't explain how it was a "hit" because it was not. After allegedly being struck by a bullet, Trump wrestled Secret Service agents to get back onto his feet,  requested his shoes, and then

forced his right fist through a tangle of agents' arms. He raised it high into the air before pumping his fist. "Fight" he mouthed to the crowd and cameras as he pumped his arm sharply three times, in a sign of undeniable defiance and assurance that he was OK. The gesture sent the crowd cheering, with many rising to their feet.

Yet, no medical report ever has been released. It was an actual act of defiance, put on by an accomplished, professional actor. If the candidate were in fact hit by a billet, he is Superman, and not the fictional character but the real deal.

As Michael Kinsley once noted, "a gaffe is when a politician accidentally tells the truth." It is "a mistake whereby a politician inadvertently says something truthful which they had not meant to reveal." As FBI director, Christopher Wray was not technically a politician but committed a Kinsley gaffe when on July 24, 2024, eleven days after the assassination attempt, he

indicated there might be more the American public did not know about the injury. Wray suggested in congressional testimony that the wound may have been caused by shrapnel, while Trump and his former White House physician had said it was caused by a bullet.

Wray remembered that he wanted to leave the Bureau on his own terms rather than be fired by an someone who could be President again and is known for holding grudges. However, his agency on July 26 claimed "what struck former President Trump in the ear was a bullet, whether whole or fragmented into smaller pieces, fired from the deceased subject's rifle."

O.K., but amazed that it was "a miss" in Butler, Pa., Donald Trump begs to differ. 

The President was uncharacteristically sloppy when he let in on the secret. But it really presented no danger to his image as the tough guy who can thrust aside a deadly bullet. When Christopher Wray suggested Trump's wound may have been caused by shrapnel, he probably hoped that the media or Democratic politicians would pick up on the hint and not accept the official, Trump-approved version.

He was mistaken, And though the President, a year later, was uncharacteristically sloppy when he let us in on the secret, he really needed not fear for his image as the tough guy who can thrust aside a deadly bullet. He banked on what he got.

It would be a media unwilling to probe where it must in a free society. It was a media which during the last campaign was unwilling to ask Trump: if his call for terminating the Constitution included freedom of religion; if his wife, born in Yugoslavia (now Slovenia), is one of the immigrants who "poison the blood of our country"; or whether he would he'd provide a document proving he was shot on July 13, 2025. It's almost as if the media are afraid of the answer they would get.

And now that the President has let his guard down and virtually admitted that no bullet hit him a year ago, silence still will reign. Donald J. Trump is good for business, and the bottom line is the bottom line.

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