Yesterday, as we all know, there was an assassination attempt on Former President Donald Trump, campaigning in Butler, Pennsylvania. A few observations:

• God is in control. It appears to me that if Former President Trump had not looked to his right, the shot might have gone right through his temple.

It was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening. – Donald Trump

• Secret Service agents on the ground were phenomenal and largely worked with little verbal coordination. They knew what to do and how to do it together. This is my favorite scene, which I shot from broadcast video. You can’t see Mr. Trump. He is behind the female agent, and the agent to her left has raised his arm to cover Mr. Trump’s face. Incredible teamwork and self-sacrifice.

• I’m a bit concerned that the building from which the shot came was not cleared. I was at Offutt Air Force Base (near Omaha, Nebraska) when President Ford came to town in 1975 or 1976. NO ONE was permitted on the second floor or higher of any of the buildings near where the president would be. What happened yesterday?
• Both parties are guilty of inflammatory rhetoric. Maybe a version of Wesley’s Rules for Voting needs to be in effect all the time. Something like:
  • Support the person you think most worthy.
  • Don’t run down the other guy.
  • Don’t run down people who support the other guy.

The nation’s civic debate, now casually referred to as political combat, has driven the country to new levels of partisan distrust, with nearly two-thirds in each party believing those in the other party are immoral, dishonest and close-minded, the Pew Research Center has found. – A Nation on Edge…, WSJ, July 14, 2024

The best word may come from Chuck Blakely, a 60-year-old tile installer from Butler, PA, where the shooting occurred. Blakely was interviewed for the article cited above, which closes with:

Blakeley, the tile installer, said that what gave him hope in this fraught moment is the fact that he believes Americans are the most resilient people on earth. “Tomorrow’s another day,” he said. “And come Monday, I will still be putting tile in.”

Just go out and put in tile…

LORD, my heart is not proud; my eyes are not haughty. I don’t concern myself with matters too great or too awesome for me to grasp. (Psalm 131.1, NLT)