Former President Donald Trump told Dr. Phil McGraw in an interview published on Tuesday that he thinks he survived last month’s assassination attempt for a reason: to get the United States back on track.
“Why were you spared?” McGraw asked the Republican presidential nominee.
“There has to be some great power because you just can’t say ‘millions to one,’” Trump replied. “I used to say a million to one. It’s much more than that.”
He noted that he turned his head to refer to a graph on the big screen at the July 13 Butler, Pennsylvania, rally just in the fraction of a second needed for a would-be assassin’s bullet to graze his ear rather than kill him.
“Out of all the time we’re on this planet, it’s one-eighth of a second. So I shouldn’t be with you,” Trump told McGraw.
“Is there a purpose? Is there a reason you think you were spared?” the psychologist wondered.
“I mean, the only thing I can think is that God loves our country,” Trump responded. “And He thinks we’re going to bring our country back. He wants to bring it back. It’s so bad right now what’s happening.”
The 45th president said he believes the problems facing the United States “can be solved fairly quickly,” but it’s going to take new leadership.
“It has to be God,” Trump reiterated, regarding his survival. “How can you say it’s luck when it’s, you know, 20 million to one? … It’s the only position where that bullet could have missed.”
“You believe in God?” McGraw queried.
“I do,” Trump replied.
“You believe God’s hand was in this that day?” McGraw further inquired.
“I believe so, yeah, I do,” Trump answered.
“And you talk about the country. You believe you have more to do,” McGraw followed up. “You weren’t done. You were spared for a reason.”
“Well, God believes that, I guess. We’ll have to see,” Trump responded.
The day after the assassination attempt, Trump, like Ronald Reagan did in 1981, credited “God alone” with protecting him.
