Topics: Donald Trump, US News, Politics
Donald Trump has shared his theory on why he believes he has been the target of numerous assassination attempts just days after a man was fatally shot for breaking into his Mar-a-Lago residence.
Over the weekend, an armed man was reported to have broken through the secure perimeter surrounding Trump's Mar-A-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
The suspect, who has since been named as 21-year-old Austin Tucker Martin, was killed by the Secret Service after allegedly raising his gun at agents when they confronted him.
The president was not at his Florida residence at the time of the ordeal.
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While Sunday's incident did put Trump's life in danger, should he have been home when it happened it wouldn't have been the first time an armed individual had been near the POTUS.
The most historic attempt on Trump's life was in July 2024 in his campaign to become president for a second time.
A bullet grazed his ear in the shooting, but other than that Trump remained largely unharmed.
Ryan Routh then tried to carry out a second assassination attempt on the president in September 2024.
Routh was sentenced to life behind bars earlier this month.
In light of the numerous close encounters the president has had, Trump has revealed why he thinks he's been targeted so many times — and it's supposedly because he's 'consequential'.
Speaking yesterday (February 23) at the White House while hosting families of victims of crimes committed by immigrants living in the US illegally, Trump said: "You read about all these crazy shooters, but they only go after consequential presidents. They don't go after non-consequential presidents, you know?
"If you take a look—Abraham Lincoln, some big, some big one. John Kennedy, in a certain way, was very consequential. He represented something very important."
He continued: "I was told that—I saw that the other day—they say they only go after consequential. So maybe I want to be a little bit less consequential."
Trump went on to say to Border Czar Tom Homan: "Can we hold it back a little bit, please, Tom? Can we just, like, nice and easy. Let's be a normal president for a little while."
Away from talking about himself, yesterday's event saw the president declare February 22 to be National Angel Family Day.
He said in a statement of the newly-recognized day: "I call on the American people to assemble in their respective places of worship to pay homage to the victims killed by illegal aliens and to those taken by the fentanyl epidemic, and lift up the Angel Families and families devastated by drug overdoses.
"I further call upon public officials, community leaders, and all citizens to end the violence and lawlessness that have claimed so many innocent lives."
