By Felicia Persaud
News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Mon. July 15, 2024: I was attending a gospel concert at a local Florida church on Friday evening, July 12th, when I received a breaking news alert from the New York Times that said that former President and convicted felon, Donald Trump, had been shot. My immediate prayer was, “Dear Lord, please don’t let it be an immigrant, a person of color, or a Muslim.”
That prayer was answered by Sunday morning when the FBI announced that the shooter was 20-year-old Butler, PA native and registered Republican voter, Thomas Crooks. But there was more shocking news to come also on the Sabbath. Never would I have imagined that hours later, an immigration chart would be credited by Donald Trump himself with saving his life. The irony of all ironies.
The morning papers in Melbourne on July 15, 2024, show the headlines and photos after the assassination attempt on Republican candidate Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024. (Photo by WILLIAM WEST/AFP via Getty Images)
The New York Times on Sunday quoted Trump’s former White House doctor, Dr. Ronny Jackson, as saying 45 would have been struck “right in the head” if he hadn’t turned and pointed at an immigration chart. It’s a profound and somewhat bitter irony that a chart filled with misleading and inflammatory information about immigrants inadvertently saved Trump’s life.
Dr. Jackson recounted in an interview on Sunday with the New York Times said that Trump marveled that the chart saved his life. “‘I was going over that border patrol chart. If I hadn’t pointed at that chart and turned my head to look at it, that bullet would have hit me right in the head,’” Trump reportedly said according to Jackson in the Times.
The chart, of course, focused on Trump’s favorite topic – how many immigrants are supposedly “invading” America. A photograph of the chart in the New York Times showed the headline” “Illegal Immigration Into The US,” in bold and black.
Below that, in bold red, read: “Biden World Record Illegal Immigrants.”
Immediately following, also in bold red, was the lie that Trump has repeated endlessly, including at the recent CNN debate, that the immigrants crossing the border are from “prison and mental institutions” and are also “terrorists.”
Trump now claims he turned his head to the right to view the chart that was on screen next to the stage “a quarter of an inch,” and that is what saved his life. According to Fox News’ Brett Baier, he told him in a phone call that he looked at the chart “early” and was then shot in the ear, instead of the head.
Baier added that Trump is “amazed that it happened” and “understands that he’s blessed to be where he is today.”
Perhaps Trump should thank the same “illegal aliens” he has built his entire campaign around, sowing division, hate, violence, lies, and xenophobia, for saving his life. But, of course, he won’t.
This situation should serve as a moment of reflection for Trump and his supporters. It underscores the randomness of life and the unexpected ways in which our actions and beliefs intersect. For a man who has repeatedly used fearmongering tactics about immigrants to rally his base, this twist of fate might be a humbling reminder of the shared humanity that transcends borders and political divides.
Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that this incident will change Trump’s rhetoric or the policies that continue to target and vilify immigrants. Still, for those of us who value truth, compassion, and unity, it’s a poignant example of the unexpected ways in which life’s narratives unfold.
In the end, it’s not the charts or the rhetoric that define us, but our actions and our ability to recognize humanity in everyone, regardless of their immigration status. Here’s hoping for a future where such recognition is the rule, not the exception. But honestly, I won’t hold my breath.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Felicia J. Persaud is the publisher of NewsAmericasNow.com, a daily news outlet focused on positive news on the Black immigrant communities of the Caribbean and Latin America.
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