Thank God that the attempted assassination of US Presidential hopeful Donald Trump was unsuccessful. 

Violence is the last refugee of failed thinkers.  When poor debaters cannot win the argument they attack the man rather than “play the ball”.  This takes various forms, such as slander, mockery, threatening, followed by a long line of Machiavellian techniques, including legal cases and imprisonment – witness the latest against Imran Khan, rearrested on new charges immediately after the Supreme Court overturned his convictions – until it reaches the spectrum of various forms of violence ending in murder.

Donald Trump has suffered almost all of these in a vicious public vendetta to try to prevent his return to the White House.

What does a 20-year-old youth know about political debate to such an extent that he attempted to assassinate a former US President and candidate to be the next US President?  Someone has misled him, and probably multitudes of others like him, into such a dark mindset that the only “solution” he could think of was assassination.

He now has eternity to rue his error, and to ask himself why he listened to these siren voices inflaming his immature passions. Why did he not make better use of the 20 years the Lord gave him on Earth?

Consider the Lord’s Providence

If this assassination attempt had been successful, imagine the international pandemonium to say nothing of the effect upon internal US politics and civil life. After the murder of Martin Luther King Jr there were riots throughout American cities. On this occasion, the Lord spared us this and so we thank God once more. God’s providence permitted the attempt to take place, but the assassin’s bullet was allowed only to damage Trump’s right ear, to show us what could have been, but was not. Similarly, Jesus stopped a riot in the Garden of Gethsemane, after the apostle Peter cut off the right ear Jn 18:10 of Malchus the Jerusalem high priest’s servant with his fisherman’s knife. Jesus immediately healed the servant’s ear Lk 22:51 and said: “All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword” Mat 26:52. The young assassin has discovered this.

What next?

Notice how many people still referred to Trump as “President Trump” throughout the Biden Presidency. It is highly likely that this will be the outcome of the approaching US Presidential election. After the attempted murder of Ronald Reagan, his poll ratings jumped 8% and it will now be difficult for the Democrats to continue their vindictive mis-calling campaign against Trump, just as it will be difficult for them to manage the current attempt to replace Joe Biden in such a febrile atmosphere.

Updates:

2 Sep 2024: it might be worth collecting some examples of extraordinary providences such as mocking God. Here is a list on my own blog.

16 Sep 2024: there has been another assassination attempt on Donald Trump at his golf course in Florida. This reminds us that when people cannot win the argument they resort to other means. They attack the man verbally, emotionally, psychologically, financially, legally and physically. Sometimes it goes to the extreme of killing opponents. It happens all the time. On 26/3/1979 the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty was signed by President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel, brokered by US President Jimmy Carter. Sadat was assassinated in 1981. On 26/10/1994 king Hussein of Jordan signed a peace treaty with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel, brokered by US President Bill Clinton. Rabin was assassinated in 1995. So it will go on until the teaching of the Prince of Peace prevails intertnationally.

14 Nov 2024: the significance of Trump’s reaction to his attempted assassination.