Donald Trump shooting ‘has the power to change election outcome’ – political analyst

The shooting at Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday was believed to be an assassination attempt, with former President Trump wounded, but [2024 presidential] According to a well-known political scientist, “the Republican Party will surely win the election.”

The claim is Newsweek Mark Shanahan, an expert on American politics at the University of Surrey in the UK, argued that Republicans would contrast Trump’s fist-raising defiance with ongoing concerns about the health of 81-year-old President Joe Biden.

As Trump was addressing supporters near Butler in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania, several shots rang out, one of which hit the Republican front-runner in the ear, leaving him bleeding.

Broadcast footage showed Trump crouching and clutching his right ear as the gunshots were heard, before pumping his fist defiantly as he was escorted off the stage by Secret Service agents, drawing cheers from his supporters.

One protester was killed and two seriously injured, according to a Secret Service spokesman, and the suspect, identified by the FBI as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was shot and killed by police.

talk Newsweek “It would be terrifying for any candidate to be the victim of an assassination attempt. Thankfully Donald Trump was not seriously injured. His strategists, no matter how ruthless, will seize the opportunity this presents. Trump now has the image of a hero, bloody but unyielding, in stark contrast to Joe Biden’s recent image of decline. The Trump campaign will no doubt do just that,” Shanahan said.

“This will boost Trump’s approval ratings and increase the Republican vote in Pennsylvania in November, which will have the power to tilt the election in the Republican’s favor.”

If you contact us Newsweek Political scientist Thomas Gift, director of the Centre for American Politics at University College London, added: “Trump’s image of raising his fist in defiance will likely go down not only as the most iconic image of the campaign, but one of the most indelible in the history of modern American politics.”

“The yellow police tape surrounding the crime scene and the American flag hanging in the background are symbolic of the dangerous threat environment that unfortunately characterizes the political atmosphere in our country today.”

Newsweek Representatives for the 2024 Republican and Democratic presidential campaigns were reached for comment via email Sunday outside of normal working hours.

President Trump responded to the shooting on his website Truth Social, writing: “I was shot above my right ear.

“I heard a whoosh and a gunshot and immediately felt the bullets cutting through my skin so I knew right away something was wrong.” Trump was taken to hospital for treatment but has since been released.

Biden strongly condemned what appeared to be an assassination attempt in a post on Twitter, saying he had been “reportedly informed of the shooting at a Donald Trump rally in Pennsylvania.”

“We are pleased to hear he is safe and well. As we await further information, we are praying for him, his family and all those who were at the vigil.”

“Jill and I are grateful to the Secret Service for getting him to safety. This kind of violence has no place in America, and we must come together as a country to condemn it.”

Concerns about Biden’s age and mental capacity were raised after the Democratic incumbent appeared to lose his train of thought at several points during his first presidential debate with President Trump on June 27. In response, several prominent Democrats, including members of Congress and actor George Clooney, called on Biden to step aside from the race so that another candidate could be selected.

According to the latest poll from election analysis website FiveThirtyEight, Trump has received 42.3% of the vote to Biden’s 40.3% in the presidential contest as of July 13. Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was in third place with 9.1%.