‘Dark day in American politics’: what the papers say about the Trump rally shooting

The suspected attempted assassination of Donald Trump during a Republican campaign rally on Saturday in Pennsylvania immediately made headlines across the US and internationally.

In the US itself, the New York Times website led with “Trump is safe after assassination attempt at political rally”, showing footage from the rally’s live broadcast of the moment the former president was hit on stage and then bundled into a car by secret service agents.

With many members of the press in attendance, the Times, like other papers, was able to publish direct accounts of what people saw unfolding. Simon J Levien was one of them, writing that in the chaos of the aftermath, he heard a man shout: “Trump was just elected today, folks … He is a martyr.”

“Trump rally shooting investigated as assassination attempt”, ran the Washington Post ’s online liveblog headline.

The blog was accompanied by a witness account from journalists who watched from the press riser at the rally. It said the former president got bored of his stump speech and veered off script before gunshots, “high-pitched pops”, burst through the air: “Trump swatted his ear, as if he heard a mosquito. Then he hunched his shoulders and ducked.”

The Guardian US led with a liveblog including comments from both Donald Trump and US president Joe Biden, with the headline: “Trump says bullet ‘pierced upper part of right ear’ in rally shooting; Biden says ‘everybody must condemn political violence’ ”. That was accompanied by a full report, eyewitness accounts, reaction from other politicians in the US and around the world, and more.

The Wall Street Journal also focused on the assassination investigation, with exactly the same headline as the Washington Post: “Trump rally shooting investigated as assassination attempt”. The paper described the incident as a “dark day in American politics” .

A video of President Biden’s short press conference after the incident was also highlighted, along with Trump’s own account of the events: “‘I heard a whizzing sound’ Trump says.”

Politico ’s main news story, also focusing on Trump’s head injury and experience of the shooting, was accompanied by analysis from senior political columnist Jonathan Martin, headlined “Trump’s raised fist will make history – and define his candidacy”.

“Republican anger at the shooting turned to admiration at Trump’s instinctive response and then jubilation at his defiance, a reaction that underscored the persecution his supporters feel,” Martin wrote.

Axios focused on the FBI’s treatment of the incident as an attempted assassination, and its “5 big things” sidebar was all stories about the shooting, with the number one story there being the news of the House Republican leaders’ intention to hold hearings with the Secret Service and other federal law enforcement officials.

Outside the US, many UK newspapers had already sent their Sunday pages off to print when the shooting occurred, but the Sunday Telegraph pushed football aside for a picture of a bloodied Trump with his fist raised defiantly in the air – a now-ubiquitous image that will probably come to define the incident in the days ahead.

The headline said: “Trump ‘shot’ at rally”; the inverted commas around “shot” suggesting the speed of the update, as there was a lack of confirmed information early on about whether it was in fact a shooting, and if it was a bullet that had hit the former US president or shards of glass, as some reports said.

The UK Sunday Mail ’s updated front page focused on Trump’s injury, leading with “Trump hurt in gun attack”.

The BBC ’s online coverage included video testimony of a man who claimed to have seen the shooter on a roof just outside the rally, and attempted to warn secret service agents before the shooting actually occurred.

In Australia, where the news broke just before 9am on the east coast, the Sydney Morning Herald ’s online front page showed a looping gif of Trump ducking in the moment after being struck in the ear. An assault rifle was recovered from the scene, it noted.