MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin– A number of Republican National Convention attendees Breitbart News caught up with in downtown Milwaukee believe divine providence saved former President Donald Trump from the assassination attempt on his life Saturday.
Trump, the leading presidential candidate in the race for the White House, was nearly murdered on national television at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, as the bullet from would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks struck Trump in the ear but narrowly missed his brain.
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An extremely strong theme being discussed among Republicans in Milwaukee is that God had a hand in protecting Trump, who one woman described as “an instrument of God.”
Detroit pastor Lorenzo Sewell told Breitbart News on Tuesday that “we saw the hand of the good Lord protect him.”
“The Bible makes it very clear: prayer is preventative, prayer is proactive, and we prayed for him a month ago, and then last week. What do we see? We saw the hand of the good Lord protect him. And whether you love Trump or hate Trump, at the end of the day he triumphed because of the answer to prayer,” Sewell said.
As the Detroit Free Press noted, Sewell is a senior pastor at Detroit’s 180 Church, which hosted a roundtable with Trump in June.
Sewell also “absolutely” believes that Americans are beginning to turn to faith.
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Matt Perdie / Breitbart News“That is why we started the podcast Politics and the Pulpit, because, at the end of the day, God put in people’s hearts a longing and desire, according to the Book of Ecclesiastes, a longing and desire to know him,” he said. “So people have a God-shaped hole in their heart, and whether they’re seeking it through alcohol, drugs, through women, through men, at the end of the day, it’s going to fail. That’s just a cheap imitation. People want Jesus.”
Former Iowa congressional candidate and alternate delegate Gary Leffler (R) said “100 percent” divine intervention was at play Saturday.
“I’m a hunter. I know that 130-yard shot. Deer hunting, that’s just an easy shot,” he said.
“The shooter had a stable platform, unobstructed view, and he had a clear line of vision, and he was set up,” Leffler said. “I mean, in my mind, he had scouted that position out ahead of time. He knew where he wanted to go. He knew what he wanted to do. He knew where Trump was going to be.”
The scene outside Panther Arena in Milwaukee where Breitbart News interviewed several subjects for this story. (Nick Gilbertson/Breitbart News)
Leffler said faith “certainly has a heightened awareness about it” when asked if he believes people are turning to God. He also directed Breitbart News to his nearby 1957 Ford 860 tractor outside the Panther Arena, which has been restored and bears “John 3:16” just above its steering wheel.
Gary Leffler’s tractor reading “John 3:16.” (Nick Gilbertson/Breitbart News)
“We’re out sharing the gospel today,” he said.
Gary Leffler’s tractor. (Nick Gilbertson/Breitbart News)
Jennifer Breitenbach, a North Carolina resident, retired teacher, and the guest of her husband, who is a delegate at the convention, told Breitbart News on Monday evening she also believed greater forces were at play Saturday to protect Trump.
“Right from the get-go, when I saw it on TV, I was like, ‘He just turned his head in the nick of time, and he was spared from having that go through probably his temple.’ I mean, that’s what it looked like to me, and I was like, ‘Thank God that he was spared,’” she recalled. “And I do think he is an instrument of God to turn this country around. He has been attacked on every level. The lawfare has been unbelievable. In my humble opinion, its demonic, you just can’t keep pounding away at a person like that.”
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Matt Perdie / Breitbart News“I love President Trump for the fact that he didn’t have to do this. He didn’t take a salary when he was in the White House; he could have just retired, gone to Mar-a-Lago, and golfed,” she said.
Tennessee delegate and Maura County GOP vice chair Lona Heins told Breitbart News, “Evil has a plan, but God’s plan is bigger” regarding the attempt to the 45th president’s life.
“If he had turned his head just a tiny bit, we’d be planning something completely different. The fact that he survived it and evil was thwarted is proof that God has a plan and a purpose for him, and it’s for us, to serve us to help us,” she said.
“He’s bent his knee to the Father. When we bend our knee to God, when we pray out to him, he inclines his ear to us, and he hears our prayers. So I think it was a miracle. Only God could do that,” she added.
