On Thursday night, the Republican National Convention concluded in Milwaukee, where former President Donald Trump was formally elected as the Republican candidate for the November presidential election. Trump was seen at the convention with a large white bandage over his injured right ear, the result of an assassination attempt that took place last Saturday at an outdoor political rally in Pennsylvania.
Television coverage on Saturday night showed a truly horrifying scene as Trump was speaking. As the bullets came flying, Trump crouched behind the podium, clutching his right ear, but then realized it was a bullet and tried to prevent further injury. He quickly rose to his feet, guarded by Secret Service agents. The right side of his face was covered in blood. Trump was waving his right arm and shouting “fight, fight, fight” as he was ordered off the stage.
Trump’s shooting was, at the very least, a remarkable coincidence. But some of his political supporters claim it was a “miracle” and that God protected him. Why so? Just seconds before the bullet struck him, Trump turned his face to the right, at an angle of about 90 degrees to 45 degrees. By that time, he was on the roof of a building 125 yards away, facing a 20-year-old assassin armed with an AR-15 assault rifle. If Trump had not turned his face, the bullet would likely have entered his skull near his right eye, killing him instantly.
On Thursday night, Trump delivered his acceptance speech with a large white bandage over his right ear. In the wake of the recent assassination attempt, many expected Trump to forego his usual rhetoric. And it seemed that way when he opened his speech with an appeal for national “unity.” However, Trump reportedly quickly went off script and reverted to his usual false claims of election fraud and other lies. The speech lasted 92 minutes, the longest in Republican National Convention history. In other words, Trump was back to his usual rhetoric. His words, despite his recent near-fatal injury, are rightly subject to scrutiny.
I wrote a book about Donald Trump called “The Bible Predicts Trump’s Downfall.” When Trump first ran for the US presidential election in 2016, I began to think that he was the biggest liar I had ever seen, unfit to be president, and a danger to democracy. However, in the conclusion of the book, I said, “I wish no evil against Donald J. Trump. I only wish what the Apostle Peter says about God, which is, ‘I do not wish that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance’ (2 Peter 3:9). But I believe in justice.”
The book frequently quotes from the Bible and applies it to Donald Trump. Here is a passage from the Bible written by wise King Solomon that applies to Trump’s lengthy 12,219 word acceptance speech on Thursday night:
“Let your words be few” (Ecclesiastes 5.2 NRSV).
“The more words there are, the more vanity there is” (Ecclesiastes 6:11).
“A fool talks endlessly” (Ecclesiastes 10:14).
King Solomon concludes the book of Ecclesiastes with these words: “Fear God and keep his commandments.” [and the Ten Commandments include, “You shall not bear false witness] This is the duty of every man, for God will bring every deed into judgment, and every secret thing, whether good or evil (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).
