Trump could ride a sympathy wave to win US election

DONEGAL, Pennsylvania - Will it be remembered as the moment when everything changed in the 2024 US presidential election?

- Bhagyashree Garekar

The moment when former president Donald Trump escaped death by a quarter of an inch and at the same time breathed fresh life into his candidacy?

Of course, he is already ahead in the opinion polls, but by only a whisker. So could the July 13 attempt on his life become the moment that tilted the scale decisively?

The optics certainly suggest that.

Blood streaming down his face, flanked by his protective detail in mere seconds, the billionaire real estate mogul and former reality television star pumped his fist in the air and silently mouthed the word "fight" as he was led off stage at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

"It's done, the race is won," a Republican Party insider told The Straits Times off the record because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

"The photo alone that is being widely circulated, a bloodied and bold Trump with a clenched fist, will stick in people's minds and will be the key image of this election cycle," he said.

"There's massive sympathy for him across the spectrum on the right," he said, adding that he expects to see a moderate but definite impact on undecided voters and those who are leaning towards Trump.

"I expect the energy to be through the roof," he said.

"It's already palpable in e-mail chains and group chats. Many on the right already viewed him as a martyr. This will solidify it," he said, in a reference to Trump supporters who view the clutch of lawsuits being waged against the former president as political persecution.

An hour away from the site of the Trump rally in Butler, two old friends who were out golfing rushed back into town as soon as they heard Trump had been shot.

"The chances of Trump being elected just went way up," said Mr Ron Aldom, the executive director at Somerset County Chamber of Commerce, speaking outside the HillBilly's Grub-n-Pub where he stopped for a beer.