One year after Butler, Americans need to rally around President Trump more than ever
Opinion-editorial by Summer Lane | July 14, 2025
On July 13, 2024, President Donald Trump was nearly assassinated – and the course of American history was almost irreparably altered.
Had Trump perished that fateful day in Butler, Pennsylvania, under a hot summer sun, the world not only would have lost a wonderful leader, but the nation would have been forced to contend with either a second-term Biden presidency or worse, a Kamala Harris administration.
America as we know it would have been lost.
During his 2024 campaign, President Trump often stated that “2024 is our final battle.” He said it often, and it always drew a big reaction from the crowd of Americans who would rally to see him, energized and ready for change.
“With you at my side, we will demolish the Deep State, we will expel the warmongers from our government, we will drive out the globalists, we will cast out the communists, Marxists, fascists, [and] we will throw off the sick political class that hates our country and we will route the Fake News Media…we will drain the swamp once and for all!” he said in 2023, while speaking at Turning Point Action in West Palm Beach, Florida.
His commitment to retaking the White House was almost superhuman, and were it not for the grace of God, President Trump would not be the leader of the free world at this moment, and America would be in a much more precarious situation.
In the glow of victory, some are overly critical
Winning the White House in 2024 required national unity. President Trump overcame untenable odds, an assassination attempt, a swirl of salacious felony charges, and nasty media smear campaigns.
The more his enemies pushed against him, the more the American people rallied around him. Americans love an underdog, after all, and that’s what Trump was in the wake of 2020. He was an underdog, meant to be cast aside by the “sick political class” who pervades the innards of Washington rot.
President Trump did what he has done best throughout his decades-long business career: he worked hard, he learned from the past, and he won bigger than ever before.
Since his inauguration in January, it’s been one week of winning after another – from new tariff policies to sealing the southern border, keeping up with the Trump administration this time around has been nearly impossible.
So it’s no surprise that, whether it’s for clicks or for kicks, some will never appreciate the sacrifice and unyielding work it took to get here. Some, it seems, are just born to complain.
We are still free, and there is tremendous grace in that
President Donald Trump is in the White House, the southern border is secure, deportation is underway, the economy is improving, and we have the greatest dealmaker in the world negotiating peace talks on behalf of the United States.
And yet, some commentators and influencers have nothing positive to say about Trump and his riveting work, choosing instead to fixate on something important (the Jeffrey Epstein files, perhaps) that they haven’t received on a timeline they want.
It is a bit puzzling, given President Trump’s excellent track record of protecting the best interests of the American public and delivering on his promises. The man went through so much to be president again – and so did the entire nation. He’s only been in office for a handful of months, and what the American public has received so far has been extraordinary in terms of tariff revenue, border security, and inflationary easement.
Disgruntled influencers are not wrong to point out the need for accountability on every level of the federal apparatus, but they are wrong to be overly critical and distrusting of President Trump.
He has repeatedly come through for the American people, and he will continue to do so.
It’s time to think positively and lock in
While it is good and just to call for transparency on issues like the Jeffrey Epstein files, it is important and critical to remain clear-eyed when scrolling through social media and reading through rage-bait X posts designed to stir heavy emotions and direct unnecessary anger toward President Trump.
Unity is the only way this republic will continue to be preserved. People are quick to forget that the 2026 midterm elections are right around the corner, and it is integral to remain steadfast and united behind this great president and his chosen candidates to maintain GOP control of the House and Senate.
At the end of the day, President Trump’s administration is a miracle. The United States, had the Democrats gotten their way in 2024, would not be entering a “Golden Age” of success. Indeed, it would have been staring into an abyss of very real communism and globalist assimilation.
By the grace of God, the nation was spared from such a bleak fate, and going forward, Americans should do more to work together rather than nitpick tiny details that threaten to tear them apart.
Photo: Contributed/Scott Brandt
