Spiritual tone at RNC heightened in wake of Trump assassination attempt

“God was with me,” Trump said on Wednesday while speaking to a group of convention delegates, adding the close call “in many ways changes your attitude, your viewpoint on life. I think, honestly, you appreciate God even more.” / Credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images

Milwaukee, Wis., Jul 18, 2024 / 09:15 am (CNA).

Acknowledgement of the supernatural is off the charts at this year’s Republican National Convention in the wake of former U.S. president Donald Trump’s harrowingly narrow escape from an assassination attempt.

Invoking the presence and blessing of the Author of Life, at both the Democratic and Republican parties’ presidential nominating conventions, is usually limited to just the opening and closing prayers of convention sessions or a closing phrase in a speech.

This year, however, former president Trump and his supporters have frequently invoked God’s role in human affairs. The day before the convention began, which was the day after a just-in-time turn of Trump’s head prevented a bullet from killing him, the former president himself credited “God alone” for saving his life. His supporters have frequently echoed that sentiment, both in conversations and in speeches from the convention podium.

“God was with me,” Trump said on Wednesday while speaking to a group of convention delegates, adding that the close call “in many ways changes your attitude, your viewpoint on life. I think, honestly, you appreciate God even more.”

Pauline Shultz, a Catholic attending the convention from Minnesota, said she thinks Trump’s new lease on life marks the beginning of a new chapter not only for him but also for the nation as a whole. 

“I believe that when President Trump gets back in, he’s going to be a changed man. He will be led by the Holy Spirit, and I think he’ll be softer in his spirit, but lead in strength,” Schultz said. “I believe that we as a nation are moving into a reawakening, or awakening,” she added.

Former U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan commented on the fact that at the decisive millisecond when the bullet was speeding his way to strike him dead, Trump turned his head to look at a projected chart about the flow of illegal immigration.

“I’m a Christian, too, and I believe in divine intervention. I think that’s what we saw that day,” Morgan told CNA. “If he had not turned his head to look at that chart, we would be going to a funeral.”

U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina also drove the point home in his speech to the convention. “If you didn’t believe in miracles before Saturday, you better be believing right now,” Scott said. “Thank God Almighty that we live in a country that still believes in the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the Alpha and the Omega. Our God, our God, still saves, he still delivers, and he still sets free.”

“On Saturday, the devil came to Pennsylvania holding a rifle,” Scott added, “but an American lion got back up on his feet, and he roared.”

In his speech to the convention, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio also squarely addressed the matter. “The last few days remind us that the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind is in the hands of God,” Rubio said.

“We were brought to the precipice of the abyss, and by the hand of God, reminded of what truly matters in our lives and in our country,” the Catholic senator noted, while also pointing to Trump’s remarkable feat that “although wounded and facing danger, he stood up and raised his fist and reminded us that our people and our country are always worth fighting for.”

In his own deeply spiritual remarks to convention delegates, renowned neurosurgeon and former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Dr. Ben Carson told Americans on Tuesday that “these events have brought unusual clarity to the times we are living in.”

“I have no doubt that God lowered a shield of protection over President Trump,” Carson said. “And I join millions of Americans in thanksgiving for President Trump’s safety. And I encourage you to join me in praying each day for his continued protection.”

Meanwhile Bob Unanue, a Catholic who is CEO of Goya Foods, America’s largest Hispanic-owned food company, recalled to the delegates how “four years ago, I dared to say that we were blessed by Donald J. Trump” and how he “got into trouble for that” as the statement sparked furious calls from Democrats to boycott the company’s products.

Lambasting the Biden administration for going after “traditional Catholics,” Unanue called Trump “a courageous leader, and he will bring this nation closer to God.” 

Even the invocations and benedictions were more spirited than usual, with pastor Corey Brooks of Chicago’s New Beginnings Church using the opportunity to lead the delegates in a prolonged, loud shout of praise. “Why?” Brooks rhetorically asked and then immediately answered: “Because this week we could be having a week of mourning, but because God did not let any of those things be, this is a week of celebration and a week of life.”