It is not every day that one gets to be an eye-witness of an assassination attempt, but that is what happened to me and to thousands of Americans on 13 July as we sat watching the evening news.
Donald Trump was holding a political rally that the networks were covering, when suddenly shots rang out and blood started flowing from his right ear. It soon became clear that one man was killed, two others were injured and that Donald Trump himself had come within inches of losing his life. What motivated the shooter will probably never be known, since he was soon dispatched by security forces - but his action changed the American political landscape almost instantly.
Up until then, Donald Trump had been proclaiming himself the victim of malign forces that were out to destroy America, and the bullet that grazed him gave substance to that claim. Suddenly the dubious victim was turned into an obvious martyr for the cause of Making America Great Again and the country has not been the same since.
