Photo: Alamy | Op-ed by Summer Lane
“The bullet is in me now, so I cannot make a very long speech, but I will try my best,” said President Theodore Roosevelt in 1912, just moments after being shot while preparing to deliver a speech during his campaign for a third presidential term.
With steely defiance, Roosevelt delivered an entire speech despite the wound, declaring raucously at one point, “I give you my word, I do not care a rap about being shot – not a rap.”
Roosevelt’s tenacity is the stuff of legend. His run for a third term was unprecedented and surprising. It was aggressive and adventurous, going against the unspoken rules of the two-party system, which heavily frowned upon presidents seeking a third term in office.
Decades later, another president survived an assassination attempt – President Ronald Reagan in 1981 – and the ordeal effectively guaranteed his reelection landslide in 1984, which resulted in him winning a record 525 electoral votes.
Both Reagan and Roosevelt shared special qualities: grit, heart, and strong leadership. It was their fighting spirit that got them through some of their most difficult moments, and it was that same fighting spirit the American people rallied around when both leaders were attacked by enemies.
Today, we are living through a once-in-a-century historical moment that echoes the significance of yesteryear. Like Roosevelt and Reagan, President Donald Trump is a fighter. He’s got grit, he’s got heart, and he’s got the leadership skills needed to usher America out of an era of darkness and into a golden age of success.
Also like Roosevelt, President Trump was campaigning when he, too, was shot by an attempted assassin’s bullet in 2024. Trump came back swinging, rocked the Republican National Convention, and kicked the establishment to the curb by solidifying a massive landslide victory last November.
His win signaled to the rest of the world that America’s heart is strong and unbroken. Despite setbacks, government corruption, and executive weakness, Americans always come back stronger and better than ever before. Their decision to reelect President Trump yet again is a reflection of that yearning for stability and strength.
President Trump’s victory and incoming administration cemented his spot as one of the most important leaders this country has ever had. Like George Washington, Trump is a visionary. Like Abraham Lincoln, he’s a man of unity in times of great division. Like Roosevelt, he’s tenacious and unwavering. Like Reagan, he can laugh about the hard times and shake hands with even his most bitter enemy.
And, in a way that is unique only to President Trump, he can overcome historically unprecedented odds in the media, the murky justice system, and the bureaucratic swamp to do what no president has ever done before. President Trump’s second term is a mandate in more ways than one – it is the assurance that Americans are here to stay, here to dream, and here to reclaim the liberty that has been stolen from them.
During the early days of America, Georgia Washington was often compared to the Roman General Cincinnatus – a man who defended his country when needed but was happy to step away from power when the job was adequately done.
So it is today with Trump. He is our modern-day American Cincinnatus, which truly speaks to the character of his heart.
Such a leader is hard to find. Indeed, it is often only those who sacrifice much and endure hardships who make their mark on history. With President Trump, there is no doubt Americans will be talking about his legacy for centuries to come, and what a story it will be.