Speaking in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, President Biden condemned the shooting, while his campaign announced it would suspend communications and pull all television advertising as soon as possible.
“There is no room in America for this kind of violence,” Biden said during remarks at the Rehoboth Beach Police Department. “This is terrible. This shouldn't happen. We can't tolerate this.”
Less than 10 minutes into his speech in Butler, Pennsylvania, Trump heard several loud bangs and the former president put his hand to his right ear, where a bullet had penetrated the top half, he later said on social media. As Secret Service agents surrounded the former president, Trump raised his right fist in defiance, grimaced and mouthed the words “Fight. Fight. Fight.”
Photos of the moment have already been circulating on social media, including one showing a bloodied Trump hiding behind an American flag, and are sure to become iconic. Several Republican lawmakers simply posted the photos without saying anything.
The U.S. Secret Service said the suspected shooter has died.
The shooter's motive was unclear as of late Saturday, but the shooting, whose shock waves are still reverberating far beyond, and Biden's barely buoyant debate performance has raised questions about his age and his ability to mount an active campaign, are sure to destabilize a presidential election that was already in turmoil just two weeks ago.
Trump is often most comfortable and effective playing both martyr and victim, and Saturday's shooting rightly put him back into that role. Trump immediately issued a statement thanking the Secret Service and police, offering condolences to the other victims and dramatically re-enacting moments from the incident.
“I was shot above my right ear,” he wrote. “I heard the whoosh and the gunshot and felt the bullet penetrate my skin and immediately knew something was wrong. I was bleeding profusely and realized what was happening. God Bless America!”
Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian at Rice University, said a photo of Trump in the aftermath of the shooting is likely to be iconic.
“There's something about the American psyche that likes to show fortitude and courage under pressure, and the fact that Trump has his fist raised will be another symbol,” Brinkley said. “Surviving an assassination attempt makes you a martyr, because it gets you national sympathy.”
For now, at least, the violence appears to have upended the prevailing narrative of the race, which has seen the Democratic Party in turmoil after Biden's debate performance and many Democrats wanting him to step aside and put forward a younger candidate.
But it's also likely to complicate the calculations going forward for Biden and his team. Biden said in a private call with donors on Monday that it's time to narrow his focus on Trump.
“I have one job: to defeat Donald Trump,” he said. “I believe I'm the best person to do that. So, no more talk of debates. It's time to put Trump at the center of the target.”
Trump had not yet left the hospital when Republicans began alleging that Biden's comments led to Saturday's violence.
Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) cited Biden's comments, particularly his harsh criticism of President Trump, and accused him of responsibility for the violence.
“Joe Biden has issued the order,” Collins wrote on social media Saturday night, shortly after the shooting.
The America First Institute, a key outside group that seeks to improve policies favored by President Trump, held a virtual prayer vigil at 9 p.m. Saturday night. Religious leaders offered prayers. One said there was no doubt that God intervened to save President Trump's life. Another thanked God that Melania Trump is not a widow.
Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, who offered a prayer for the victims of the rally, said the attacks on Trump were an attack on “all of us,” echoing the spirit of martyrdom that Trump regularly claims.
“We're reminded of what President Trump always tells us: They're not after him. They're after all of us. He's just getting in the way,” Pavone said.
Brinkley said the shooting, which came on the eve of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, highlighted the similarities between Trump and former President Theodore Roosevelt, who was shot while campaigning in Milwaukee in 1912 in an attempt to return to the presidency.
Brinkley said that after being shot in the chest, Roosevelt remarked that “a bullet isn't enough to kill a bull moose,” and “continued to talk as he handed him a winch before going to the hospital.”
“The timing of Trump's trip to Milwaukee, the site of President Theodore Roosevelt's shooting, marks one of the biggest stages yet for Trump,” Brinkley said.
Steve Schmidt, a former Republican strategist and prominent Trump critic, agreed.
“The political fallout from this assassination attempt will be enormous and will benefit Donald Trump, who reacted to being shot in the exact same way that Teddy Roosevelt did,” Schmidt wrote on social media.
Roosevelt lost the 1912 election, coming in second to Woodrow Wilson.
Isaac Arnsdorf, Maeve Reston and Michael Scherer contributed to this report.
