Trump's attempted assassination becomes a potent political force in a single striking image

By now you've almost certainly seen the picture: Donald Trump, his face bloodied in the wake of an attempted assassination, his fist raised to the sky, flanked by Secret Service agents as an American flag flutters in the background. As the country reels from its first major presidential assassination attempt in decades, photographs of Trump before, during, and in the immediate aftermath of suspected shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks' hail of gunfire have quickly become some of the most inescapable political imagery in modern memory. 

"I just went into work mode, and I just started doing my job," said Associated Press photographer Evan Vucci to CNN. "It was scary as hell, in hindsight," agreed The New York Times' Doug Mills to the same network. "Probably did not make the most wise decision for my safety. But I was doing my job." For Getty's Anna Moneymaker, the goal was to simply "document history and get the picture." But of all the shots taken during those frantic, frightening moments, Vucci's image of the defiant-seeming Trump with his fist held high has become something more than simply a "document" of this historic event. Instead, it's become a photograph that could alter the trajectory of the presidential election — and in doing so, change the course of history for the United States. 

'A reality more real than reality'

Vucci's image has "become the most iconic image of [Trump's] reelection among Republicans," and it was shared by both of Trump's adult sons and a cadre of other conservative figures, Business Insider said. 

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No matter your personal opinions on Trump, Vucci's picture is "undeniably one of the great compositions in U.S. photographic history," Tyler Austin Harper said in The Atlantic. The image "encapsulates our American ideal" of "bloody defiance and stubborn pride that teeters just on the edge of foolishness," and in doing so created a "moment when Trump supporters' idea of him — strong, resilient, proud — collided with reality." 

It is an "illusion" to say that Vucci's picture "captures 'the moment' or 'a shot'" since in actuality it "doesn't capture the moment of the shooting, but its immediate aftermath," said Sara Oscar, senior lecturer in Visual Communication at the University of Technology Sydney School of Design, for The Conversation. What it does show is "Trump's media acuity and swift, responsive performance to the attempted assassination." 

To that end, the image creates a "reality more real than reality," in which the "chaos and messiness of a few moments of peril onstage" are transformed into a "surpassing icon of Trump's courage, resolve and heroism," The Washington Post said. At the same time, Trump's inner circle describes a man who is "constantly thinking about how he will appear at a given moment," The Telegraph said. "Whether he was acting on pure instinct, or he had time in those 60 seconds on the ground to actually think through a photo opportunity, it paid off." The picture, and others from that day, are powerful "not in what they depict politically but what they convey about political depiction, which Mr. Trump seems to understand better than any other political figure of his day," The New York Times said. 

A 'window into the MAGA mindset'

Trump and his team have wasted little time capitalizing on not just the assassination attempt, but Vucci's encapsulation thereof; as of Sunday afternoon, the Trump campaign website now "redirects to a fundraising platform for conservative candidates across the U.S." featuring "Trump's campaign logo, with a black-and-white photograph of Trump raising his fist shortly after the shooting occurred, blood streaked across his face," USA Today said. The campaign also sent out a fundraising email featuring a "retouched version of one of these new vitalist icons — the color altered to grayscale, and with added noise to suggest an older photograph. A historic image?" said the Times. 

The strength of the photograph ultimately is that it offers a "badly needed window into the MAGA mindset," The Atlantic said. It is not a "portrait of a man but a through-the-looking-glass vision of America as she would have herself and as many in this country would have her." Democrats hoping to defeat Trump in November need to see Vucci's image and "need to understand the appeal."