Former President Donald Trump suggested during a Wednesday appearance on Fox News' late-night show "Gutfeld!" that God allowed him to escape the two recent assassination attempts against him.
Making his first appearance on a broadcast or cable late-night show in an election cycle since 2016, Trump at first made light-hearted remarks with host Greg Gutfeld about the most recent attempt against his life on a golf course in Palm Beach, Florida.
"Well Mr. P, how's your golf game?" Gutfeld asked.
"Well, I haven't been thinking about it too much lately," Trump said. "I always said golf is a very dangerous game."
WATCH ????
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) September 19, 2024
President Trump gives all the glory to God when discussing the assassination attempts on Gutfeld:
"It's always a consequential president that gets shot at and fortunately, so far, I've been very lucky.. or something is greater than all of us!" pic.twitter.com/SCh81I9fWK
The discussion took on a more serious tone as Trump reflected that being president is dangerous, especially if one's presidency is seen as "consequential."
"The only good thing is that it's always a consequential president that gets shot at, and fortunately so far, I've been very lucky," Trump said, adding, "Or [there is] something is greater than all of us."
"Something is up there; someone is up there, maybe watching over us," Trump said.
Gutfeld then asked Trump if his repeated brushes with death have led him to reflect more on God, mortality and the afterlife.
"You bring up God, and you've almost been killed twice," Gutfeld said. "Do you think more about your own mortality and what happens after you move on?"
Trump acknowledged that he has been thinking more about God, especially given the unusual circumstances that allowed him to avoid an assassin's bullet on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania.
"Not about mortality, but I do think more about God. Butler was really the greatest of all miracles."
Trump reflected on how narrowly he escaped being fatally shot in the head that day, remembering that had he not slightly turned his face to consult a large chart about illegal immigration that he doesn't typically have at his rallies, he would be dead.
"I wouldn't be here right now, and your ratings would be a little bit lower, perhaps," he joked to Gutfeld.
Trump avoided another attempt on his life last Sunday after a Secret Service agent spotted a gun barrel emerging from the bushes just yards from where Trump was playing golf on the sixth hole at Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach.
After an agent shot at him, alleged would-be assassin Ryan Wesley Routh fled in a black Nissan but was later apprehended by police and remains in jail. During his first court appearance on Monday, he was charged with possession of a firearm while a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
During an interview last month with Russian-American podcaster Lex Fridman, Trump noted the place of religion in finding peace with the inevitability of death and expressed his desire that the United States would become more religious like it once was.