EXCLUSIVE: Following the attempt on his life on Saturday Donald Trump left the stage with a defiant fist held aloft, with an expert now claiming that ‘messianic image’ could mean a ‘dark period’ for the US

Screams and gunfire crackle were audible at the Butler rally which saw the ex-president hit the floor, before being surrounded by Secret Service members.

Not long after, Donald Trump was back on his feet. Blood trickled down from his ear as he held a raised fist and bellowed “fight, fight, fight.”

“That’s not the way most normal people react when they’ve been shot,” historian and terrorism expert Professor Anthony Glees told the Daily Star. “Most of us would be vomiting.” The enduring image from the assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Pennsylvania on Saturday was the Republican Presidential nominee’s reaction to the shooting. Since the incident, Trump himself has said his near-miss into martyrdom was caused by “divine intervention“. “I think he regards himself as a messianic figure, and his closest supporters do too,” Glees added. “The blunt picture of Trump with blood on his white shirt, shaking his fist in defiance and shouting fight, fight, fight. That’s a religious picture as much as it’s a religious one. It’s almost revolutionary.”

But it’s that stark picture of the “reborn Trump” that emerged after the weekend, that scares Glees the most.

“I think what’s terrifying is that Trump’s followers will take this as a ‘Christ-like’ reincarnation of Trump, post-shooting,” he said. “Violence breeds violence, and it was of course Trump himself who called for violence against legislators in the Capitol building. “Once politics becomes about beliefs and emotions, people will do all kind of things. Even if Trump is to lose the election – and he won’t while Biden stays in the White House – it’s a scary time.”

The expert also weighed in on what might happen if Trump wins the US election in November, which for many is now considered a formality.

“We know what he’s got planned – he said he wanted to be a dictator, just for 24 hours,” said Glees. “And he said how he’d like all the institutions of the federal American state to be ‘purged’ of Democrats. Now, he probably just meant the removal of them, but it may well go beyond that if they [the Democrats] were prepared to resist.” Glees claimed “there is a hidden army of Trump supporters armed to the teeth” with guns that “Trump himself believes they should have.” He added: “[Trump] will say, ‘this man who tried to kill me got shot very quickly’ and this proves his point that the only protection against a shooter with a gun is a shooter with a gun. And that is very dark.”

About six minutes into his speech at Butler, Trump suddenly stopped speaking and touched the side of his face before ducking for cover.

Loud detonations reverberated through the audience and blood was observed trickling down Trump’s face before additional shots were fired to “neutralise” the perpetrator. One rally-goer lost their life and two others were critically wounded.

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