Photographers snapped pictures as Donald Trump raised his fist in the air shortly after the failed assassination attempt at an election rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday. They are already iconic photos: a determined former president, eyes half-closed, a bleeding ear, a clear blue sky. Surrounding him is a group of guards, their multitude of arms and bodies reminiscent of a classical Greek statue.
Trump’s fist is a bit spontaneous, a bit strategic, thinks Sara Polak, an associate professor of American Studies at Leiden who specializes in presidential portraits. “Trump doesn’t have an initial response ready for two hundred scenarios. He has a strong intuition of how the media – including social media – will want to play with that image: interpret it, play it up, make jokes about it. That’s almost second nature.”
A great gesture
Polak recalls the time when Trump hosted the reality show The newbie used to be. There, the former president evaluated aspiring entrepreneurs. “I think that’s where he learned how strong images work. You are fired!, He said in every episode, when dismissing a candidate. It was a grandiose gesture, a little grotesque, like that of a cartoon character. It sticks.”
With his fist, Trump creates a specific framework, the “tip of the iceberg” of a larger story. “Trump shows that he is a victor, a leader, perhaps even that strict gun legislation is not necessary at all, because after all he is the boss.”
The image of the invincible leader.
Viewers can hardly avoid participating in this framework. “Now that we are analyzing this as a journalist and as a scientist, we are strengthening his story: that he threatened to be the victim of an incident, but that did not happen, because he is very strong.”
This is not the first time Trump has presented himself as an invincible leader. “Even when he contracted a corona infection in 2020 and was discharged from the hospital, he came out like this.” On the balcony of the White House, Trump triumphantly removed his face mask.
Even when Trump was banned from all social media platforms in 2021, the narrative came back. He decided to create his own platform: Truth Social. “Trump has fewer readers there, but they know how to spread his story. Plus, he’s also back on X since Elon Musk took over.”
‘This only makes it stronger’
According to Polak, the power lies in the fact that journalists and internet users often immediately play on Trump’s message, both visually and in text. “His statements are often fertile material – you can make cartoons out of them, make pro- or anti-Trump memes, or write news articles about them. Trump knows exactly how to use images to his own advantage.”
Trump’s powerful presentation stands in contrast to that of current President Joe Biden, who was recently accused of being too old and too weak. “Biden immediately said: I will not campaign today, a logical step in a traditional political candidacy. Trump believes that the traditional laws of campaigning do not apply to him. In 2016, he said that even if he shot someone on Fifth Avenue, he would still be elected president. If someone shoots him, it can only make him stronger.”
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In the United States, there is a surprised response to the attack on former US President Donald Trump, although Republicans also point to Democrats as instigators. Republican members of Congress have launched an investigation into Trump’s security.
