BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA: Only Donald Trump could turn a near-death experience into something straight out of a TV drama.
Right after the assassination attempt on July 13, 2024, the future US president wasn’t just thinking about surviving. According to an excerpt from the upcoming book ‘2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America’, his mind jumped straight to proving how sharp he was.
The Washington Post reports that after being rushed to the hospital, Trump demanded doctors give him a CT scan. When the medical team asked why, Trump said he just felt he needed one.
Then-candidate Trump apparently browbeat the doctors into doing the scan. But he wasn’t content with just a medical report—he wanted visuals.
“I want the film,” Trump insisted when the doctor said they don’t really hand out CT “films” anymore. When offered a written report instead, Trump reiterated, “I want the film.”
As the doctor left to try and get him a copy, an aide asked Trump why he was so obsessed with seeing it.
“It’s like an IQ test,” he said, raising eyebrows. “They tell you that your brain is good, so I just want to have that.”
Donald Trump soaked up the spotlight in hospital after assassination attempt
The CT scan demand is just one wild anecdote from the new book by reporters Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager, and Isaac Arnsdorf.
The trio deep-dive into not only the attempt on Trump’s life but the bizarre and surreal aftermath, including how the former real estate mogul handled his recovery.
“Trump kept talking about the shooting. He couldn’t believe it. He seemed to want to relive it over and over,” the book recounts. “Trump loved it. He was having a great time.”
Trump reportedly told the authors he was “bleeding like a b***h” when he arrived at the hospital and that the scene was so bloody, “they thought I had four or five bullets in me.”
Eventually, his inner circle realized he’d be okay—because the jokes started flowing.
Susie Wiles (his future White House chief of staff), Steven Cheung (future communications director), and Dan Scavino (future deputy chief of staff) reportedly figured Trump was fine once the wisecracks resumed from his hospital bed.
The day Donald Trump’s haters became his fans
The shooting notably shook up his entire campaign.
One by one, several high-profile figures who hadn’t exactly been fans of the MAGA movement began to flip.
The book notes that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos praised Trump’s instincts after the assassination attempt and even hinted at a budding friendship. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly called Trump’s defiant fist pump after the shooting “one of the most badass things” he’d ever seen.
Even Elon Musk, who had been circling the Trump orbit for a while, made it official. On that very day, Musk declared on X, “I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery.” He would eventually become Trump’s “First Buddy.”
Of course, the money also followed. Musk would go on to bankroll the rest of Trump’s campaign.
RFK Jr and Joe Biden called Donald Trump after the shooting
Not all support came from the usual suspects.
After leaving the hospital, Trump even took a call from then-President Joe Biden. Despite facing off in a heated debate just two weeks earlier, Trump described the call as “very nice, actually.”
Then there was Robert F Kennedy Jr. At the time, RFK Jr was still running as a third-party candidate, but Trump picked up the phone and invited him to Milwaukee for a face-to-face.
It eventually resulted in a new political alliance that would shock just about everyone. RFK Jr would later join Trump’s administration as health secretary, per the Daily Beast.
‘2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America’ is expected to hit shelves on July 8.
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