Former President Donald Trump’s ability to stand firm and “command the crowd,” even after being shot, made Riley Gaines see the 45th president as the “symbol of unity” we need in America. In an interview with Breitbart’s Alana Mastrangelo at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Gaines says that she initially thought the reports about Trump being shot were an internet meme.
Speaking of the notification on her X feed, Gaines said, “It said, all caps, TRUMP SHOT ON LIVE TELEVISION.’ I clicked on it, thinking this was going to be some sort of meme. I watched the clip, and it was not a meme. My hand immediately went over my mouth. I’m with my husband. I’m showing him the video. Trying to still decipher if this was real, what had happened. Was he shot? Was it the glass? We didn’t know. So much uncertainty. Did anyone die? What about the shooter?
“And we lived in that state of confusion, of feeling entirely demoralized, disheartened, this overwhelming sense of sadness, really. For what this means, not just for President Trump, not just for the husband and the father who lost his life there. But what this meant for the country.”
Gaines saw Trump’s raised fist and appeal to the crowd to “Fight! Fight! Fight!” as a moment that showed the former president’s ability to command.
“I think it shows President Trump’s leadership. Uh, the crowd responded in a way that Donald Trump, former president, future President Donald Trump, in a way that he commanded the crowd, and the way that he kept composed and dignified, even in a time where he’s quite literally…I mean, when he’s quite literally…I mean, that was an assassination attempt.
“But nonetheless, of course he’s yelling where are my shoes, get me my shoes. He stands up, he puts his fist up, with blood dripping down his face, into his mouth. And he threw up his fist and said, ‘Fight! Fight! Fight!’ And that is the symbol of patriotism. That is the symbol of hope. That is almost impossibly enough. In the weirdest way, that is the symbol of unity that this country has so desperately…at least at least the Republican Party…that is the symbol of unity that has been long overdue. It’s tragic in the way that it all played out. But nonetheless, it was a symbol of unity we needed to see.”
When asked about those on the left who have advanced hateful rhetoric against Trump and what impact that may have had in fostering dangerous levels of hate against the former president, Gaines says there are indeed people who need to be held responsible.
“There’s lots of fingers to point. But one of those fingers should certainly be pointed back at those people who have advanced this rhetoric. Who have essentially called for this, in many ways, without directly saying go assassinate President Trump, in comparing him to Hitler, in saying he is a fascist. In saying that, he will be a dictator on Day 1. All those things, when you have a vulnerable, naive audience crowd, the American people, who believe this, who believe the narrative that MSNBC is pushing. That CNN is pushing. There’s a finger largely to be pointed at these people.”
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