Ben Ferguson with you, Sendra Cruz with you. And the headline says it all. Trump rushed off the stage after assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally. Think the Lord the President is fine, that coming from his spokesperson, but there are others who have lost their life. Center your reaction to the shocking news.
Well, it is shortly after eight pm East Coast time on Saturday, and the entire world just witnessed what appears to have been an assassination attempt. I'm President Donald Trump. All of the world is reeling. I am sitting here. Heidi and I watched it together. We are filled with anger and horror and shock. I can tell you that Heidi and I have been praying for Donald Trump. I don't know that there has been a moment when more people have prayed for Donald Trump than in the last hour.
Lifting him up. Uh. It appears that he has struck in the ear. At this point, they're conflicting reports whether it was a bullet or a fragment of glass or something else. That he was bleeding from his ear. Uh. And and we are praying praying number one for protection, number two, that that he is all right. But we're also praying for for The reports are right now UH that that at least one person in attendance at the rally is dead and that another is in critical condition.
And the report is also UH that that the suspected gun man is dead as well, presumably at the hands of Secret Service or local police. It is so recent that that we recognize that the facts are going to come out in hours and days to come as to who exactly this shooter is. That there are all sorts of reports on the internet, but I'm not going to speculate right now because I don't know if those tweets are accurate or not. But I am sure we will find out more about the shooter or if there was
more than one shooter. There have been conflicting statements on that and what their motivation is. But I will say, sitting here, I am horrified. I am grateful for the Secret Service agents and for law enforcement who presumably stepped in and took out the shooter. I am incredibly grateful for God's providence that Donald Trump appears not to be
seriously injured, and I'm praying. At this point, we don't know how many people at the rally may have been injured or worse, So I'm certainly praying for everyone there who was in harm's way. This is a horrific and dark moment in American history. We have not had an attempted presidential assassination since Ronald Reagan, since I was ten years old. That was a horrific moment in American history. And now twenty four years later, we're once again in
a comfortable moment. Thankfully, then, as now the president survived.
There are emotions that so many people listening to this are having. One is thankfulness that the president is okay. There's also sorrow that we hear that others have not survived, and then there's also this anger and frustration, and people look to leaders for advice, for wisdom, for comfort. I ask you the same question that my kids asked me, Why did this happen? And what happens next? And it's a question that all three of my boys asked me as I was watching this unfold on TV, and I said,
I don't know why this happens. There are bad people in the world and there's good people, and sometimes evil comes after good.
Well, that's right, and I hope comes of this is that everyone counts to ten and exhales. I hope that the political anger and rhetoric that it ratchets down. There is so much vitriol, there is so much hate. There's been so much hate directed to Donald Trump, so much just just just vile bitterness. You and I and many others have worried for some time that that some lunatic would attempt to harm the president. And and you know, there is zero place for political violence on any side
of the aisle. This has no place regardless of whether you agree or disagree with the office holder. If you disagree with the office holder, you can make your views plain. That's why we have debates, that's why we write off eds, that's why we vote the ballot box. But political violence has no place. And I hope the overheated and in
far too many instances, unmitigated hate. My prayer is that that that some of that is diminished, that that that that that we move in the direction of having a civil and real public discourse rather than just just screaming at each other. I will tell you then, I fear. I fear things are going to escalate, that there's going to be anger on both sides of the aisle. I don't want to see this happen. I will tell you.
I sat there. You know, my immediate thoughts were thinking back, thinking back to the nineteen sixties, thinking back to to to win in rapid succession. JFK and Martin Luther King Junior and Bobby Kennedy were all assassinated, and the horrors that brought this country through. What I We're not at that moment in time, and I pray that we are not, but it is going to take the leaders be escalating for a moment, and I hope that's what we see.
Finally, I just want to humanize the president for a second, because I think sometimes people forget that not only is he a husband, he is a dad, he is a grandfather. I've spent time with President Trump. You spent a lot of time with President Trump. I know personally that he is. When I see him, I don't always see him as this guy that was the president. I see him as a genuinely sincere and kind man. I remember when he
found out we were having twins. He said he wanted to talk to Anna and tried to convince her for ten minutes to name one of the boys, Donald saying it was presidential and he was so happy that we were going to have kids. And he called and he said, I hear you're expecting twins. I said, yes, or miss President I am And he said, he said, well you got a name. Two of them are they? What are this? They're boys. He goes, well, you need a good name.
Donald's a pretty pretty good name. And I laughed at He said, well, you'd have to talk to my wife about that. And he goes, well, where is she And I said, she's downstairs and he goes put her on the phone. That is the human side of him. He also called after they were born. It wasn't done that day. He called after they were born. And that's the side of Donald Trump that I want people to understand to night,
these are human beings. You're a human being, Senator. People that say horrible things about you and come after you, and I remind people. I try to remind me and they say it about me, not at the same level as you get it every day and the president gets it every day. But we're still people.
Yeah. Look, I spoke with President Trump on the phone. I think it was three days ago. He was in good spirits. I have to say, watching the footage tonight when the shots are fired, when he's hits, and then when he surrounded by Secret Service and being escorted off and he eats, clutches his fist and pounds his fist into the air. Sh'S extraordinary. I mean it is breathtaking
after being shot. The leadership he demonstrated. You know, it reminded me when when Reagan was shot and in nineteen eighty one, and when he when he was going into the hospital and he said to Nancy Reagan, he said, honey, I forgot the duck. And he also said to the doctors as he was being wheeled into to surgery, and a lot of people don't remember how close Ronald Reagan came to dying that day, and that the bullet, had it been just an inch further over, would have killed
him that day. And and and he said to the doctors, I hope, I hope you all are all Republicans, and and and having the sense of humor to and and the presence to say that even while going into surgery is extraordinary President Trump, like crowning it's fist and standing up strong. It was a remarkable moment of leadership, but also was reminiscent of Teddy Roosevelt when he was shot giving a speech and kept on giving the speech. I mean, he is a fighting spirit that that is inspirational. And
I just want to call on everyone listening. We're going to have time when we learn more about what exactly happened. We learned more about the shooter and who he was and what his motivations were, and there's going to be time to figure out what went wrong, what could have been done to prevent this. But right now, just as a country, I hope we have a moment, a moment, you know. I think back to after after nine to eleven.
After nine to eleven, we had a moment where's a country we came together and we had unity, and we hugged each other and we just lifted our country up. And I'm going to ask every one in the country prayed for President Trump, whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, Pray for President Trump so that that that that he is our right now, but also that he'd be protected. But also pray for President Biden and and pray for all of our leaders that they be protected from political violence.
That we don't see uh crazed angry, zealous, uh engaging in violence. We have seen that shoe. We have seen that to nice and and and my prayer is that our country steps back from this brink and and and again, I just just want to express my my, my incredible thanks for secret service at law enforcement, and also pray, pray for the people who who may have been shot today, but the bystanders, the families of anyone injured or killed, and just pray for our nation. I I really believe
America that needs God's grace right now. That's my prayer, and and and and I hope it cheers Stuck.
It is Hug your family, hug your kids, call your friends and tell them you love them. And I just think this is, like you said, a very pivotal moment in our country's history. And I hope that we all take that deep breath and pray for the president and especially those at that rally. Senator Cruz, and I will be back with you, I can promise you in a couple of days. We'll have a lot more to talk about. But I thought it was important that we come on
here and have this conversation now. Senator, take care of the fam and and I will see you, and to everyone listening, we'll see you guys soon.