Saturday’s assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump served as a “breaking point” for many voters on the fence in the 2024 election, former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) said during a sit-down interview with Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Boyle pointed out that many at the convention are keenly aware of God intervening to save Trump’s life on Saturday, as a bullet grazed his ear milliseconds after he turned his head. Zeldin agreed.
“A lot of people feel like God’s hand was on his shoulder, that there was an angel that saved his life,” he said, explaining that it was about more than just saving Trump’s life.
“And this wasn’t just about one man dodging a bullet. This is our country dodging a bullet, and there are a lot of people who are showing up here at the convention in Milwaukee, where, maybe, in past conventions, they’re showing up in a celebratory mood, and there’s just a lot more outward emotion that was planned for a while celebrating a nomination. Yes, President Trump had a hard-fought primary. Yes, he’s been through a lot in the past, but it was like almost everything else added up didn’t equal what we all witnessed for ourselves Saturday — the emotion that we felt ourselves on Saturday,” he said, noting that people have been “deeply reflective” and “emotional.”
“It was almost like, as we’re going through the speeches — there were some great remarks that were delivered on important issues, but really — everyone was kind of waiting to be able to see the big guy, just seeing that he’s alive, that he’s fighting, the inspiration that we get off of that,” Zeldin said.
“If he is going to go through all this, if he’s going to risk so much, then we need to fight harder tomorrow than we did today. We need to do everything in our power to make sure that — not just he’s successful. This isn’t about doing it for Donald Trump. It’s about doing it for America. I think Donald Trump wants us to do this to make America great again,” he continued, detailing what it was like to see Trump’s moving entrance to the convention Monday night, just two days after nearly being killed.
WATCH: PRESIDENT TRUMP MAKES FIRST APPEARANCE AT RNC - 7/15/24 pic.twitter.com/I9Yjcm6vlG
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“Thank God I was in the arena at that moment to witness that firsthand. I don’t think at any point in life going forward will I ever get a chance to experience something that beautiful, that emotional, that powerful, and I was looking around for my seat at the moment. I was with my wife. We’re sitting in the 100s…I was getting a good vantage point of some of the media that are usually more hostile,” he said, noting that even they were impacted by the moment.
“And I was just watching their facial expressions, their body language, and you could tell it was impacting them. It was an American moment, and Lee Greenwood singing “God Bless the USA” and…paying tribute with his words. It was so amazing that just two days after this attempted assassin got so close…milliseconds, millimeters away from taking out President Trump. God bless him and his family,” he said, remembering the innocent victims, one of whom lost his life protecting his family. He mentioned that the GoFundMe set up for the victims and their families has raised more than $4.7 million.
“These are Americans, hard-working Americans across the country, who are deeply moved,” he said, explaining that this is affecting people who were on the fence, too.
“There have been all sorts of long-time people who have not liked President Trump, who say they’ve never voted for him in the past, but they’re so proud of the bravery, the courage, and what he went through,” Zeldin said.
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C-SPAN“They said it’s too much, what they witnessed on Saturday,” Zeldin said. “It was their breaking point where they decided, ‘You know what, I’m with Donald Trump in ’24.'”
