Donald Trump has moved further to turn his survival of an assassination attempt into mythology by putting the memorable images of the incident on the cover of his latest book, due out next month.
The dramatic news picture, taken by the Associated Press photographer Evan Vucci, captured a defiant and bloodied Trump pumping his fist and mouthing “fight, fight, fight” to the crowd moments after the failed attempt on his life by a 20-year-old gunman at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on 13 July.
Now the photo will be used on the front of the Republican presidential nominee’s new tome, Save America, a book mainly of pictures, which goes on sale on 3 September, Axios reported.
The book, Trump’s third since leaving the White House in January 2021, is already being offered online for $99. Copies bearing the former president’s signature are being offered for $499.
It is not Trump’s first move to recycle the shocking event – which resulted in the death of one spectator trying to shield his family, and injured two others – as merchandise.
During last week’s Republican national convention, 45Footwear a company that previously sold golden Trump-branded sneakers, offered a pair of white sneakers carrying the same image for $299.
The monetisation of the failed assassination attempt which has led to hearings on Capitol Hill and triggered the resignation this week of the Secret Service director, Kimberly Cheatle – continues a theme of Trump converting apparent political and legal reverses into profit making enterprises.
He also recycled his notorious mugshot taken after surrendering himself to authorities at Fulton County jail in Georgia last August, after being indicted on election-related charges, onto mugs and T-shirts used as merchandise for his 2024 campaign.
Meanwhile, in his first rally since the withdrawal of Joe Biden from the presidential race, Trump on Wednesday night unleashed a fusillade of attacks against Kamala Harris, the president’s presumptive replacement as the Democratic nominee in the 2024 election.
Focusing on Harris’s White House-tasked role of dealing with migration into the US from the south, he told supporters in Charlotte, North Carolina: “Kamala’s deadly destruction of America’s borders is completely and totally disqualifying. She shouldn’t be allowed to run for president with what she’s done.” He mispronounced Harris’s first name repeatedly, apparently deliberately.
Interviewed on Fox News on Thursday morning, the former president also called for a swift end to Israel’s war on Gaza as he prepared to meet with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, who on Wednesday controversially addressed a joint session of the US Congress.
