Courage is Calling
book review and the attempted assassination of Trump
The following is a book review of Courage is Calling by Ryan Holiday and thoughts on the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.
Before I begin, I must say I am not really a fan of these sorts of books as I think the writing style is too simplistic. It also doesn’t help that it’s usually fast paced and lacks depth in both examples and analysis. While these types of books are easy to write and earn a chunky book advance for the author, I doubt they would stand the test of time. However, the blog post writing style of this book brings me some comfort after I got tired of reading thousands of delightfully detailed but dry pages about the life of Theodore Roosevelt and his quest to garner power in American politics.
Courage is Calling makes the case for courage being one of the virtues that everyone must strive to possess to be a great person. Holiday explores ideas such as facing fears, being brave, being heroic and more through the lens of history. He references examples from thousands of years ago right up to the recent pandemic. Overall, Holiday’s book is an easy, light and fun three hundred page read about courage that is supported by its wide range of historical examples that are fascinating.
While I had been deliberating reading this book for months and it sat unread in my to-read list, I decided to read it in one sitting the day after Donald Trump’s attempted assassination. This was because his immediate reaction to the shooting was questioned on whether it was courageous or not. Thus, I thought there would be no better way to judge this recent but already historical event but by comparing it to past historical examples that exemplify courage, cowardice or even foolishness.
To give some context as to why courage was brought into question pertaining to the former President’s assassination attempt, here’s what had happened. Donald Trump, former American President and Presumptive Republican Presidential Nominee for the 2024 election, was giving a speech at a rally in Pennsylvania when shots were fired at him from a rooftop nearby. At that precise moment, Trump had tilted his head to view a chart on a screen and the bullet which would have otherwise shot through his head and killed him instantly missed his head by just a couple of centimetres. It instead shot a small piece of his right ear.
Trump fell to the ground and immediately secret service pushed him to the ground and used their body to shield him from further bullets. Further shots were fired and missed Trump. They instead killed or severely wounded members of the crowd. The crowd starts screaming in panic. As soon as the secret service agents get confirmation that the shooter has been killed, they get Trump to stand up. Trump asks them to let him put on his shoes and then they try to get him away from the stage into his armoured vehicle.
At this point, Trump says “wait wait wait” and pushes himself above the secret service agents holding him down. His right ear is filled with blood and his face is smeared with blood from his ear. He pumps his fists in the air repeatedly and shouts “Fight!” three times. The crowd which was in shock starts going wild and starts cheering “USA” after seeing that Trump is fine. During this moment, Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Evan Vucci captures a historical image of Trump.
Regardless of what you think about Trump, this image goes so f**king hard. Former President Trump shouting with his fists in the air with a bloodied face. Secret service agents holding him down. American flag in the background. Blue sky. It’s perfect. It reminds one of the historic photographs of the battle of Iwo Jima or the moon landing.
The vibe is simply impeccable.
Now, there are a few ways that one can view this action by Trump.
1. Trump showed insurmountable courage
2. Trump is the greatest media man of all time
3. Trump is a fool and wanted attention
4. It was faked for the photo
Number four is so incredibly deranged. Number three and number two are pretty similar except one is a slightly more positive interpretation of the events that transpired. While I was originally in the camp two, I am leaning slightly towards camp one but not so optimistic that I would say that Trump is the toughest Presidential candidate since Theodore Roosevelt like Elon Musk tweeted right after officially endorsing him for President.
Here’s the case that could be made for Trump being courageous. There’s a famous Mike Tyson quote that I find relevant to this occasion, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face”. Similarly, everyone has a plan until they are at their rally and get shot in the right ear and fall to the ground. I seriously doubt that Trump or any other human who has just been shot at and is bleeding and in pain could have been thinking anything about the media or how the photographers were going to take an iconic photo or portray him as a martyr.
I doubt he was thinking about the perfect American flag behind him and how pumping his fists and appearing strong could flip a few swing states red and he could become the second President in American history after Grover Cleveland to serve two non-consecutive terms in office.
There’s a photo of him facing the ground that went viral as well. At this point, the crowd was screaming and several supporters were severely wounded and might even have been dead. His first thought was to show a sign that he was okay and that he was fine physically to his supporters.
In Courage is Calling, Ryan Holiday showcases a bunch of examples of people being courageous and deciding events that would shape their lives in seconds. During these moments which Holiday calls “callings”, people don’t have time to ponder and deliberate on their decision, they instinctively make a call based on gut feeling which is shaped by every single action that they have made in their life up till that point and act courageously. Similarly, there could not have been enough time for Trump to think about what he was doing and what its effects would be.
Moreover, considering the last time that a President, Former President or Presidential candidate was shot was Ronald Reagan in office over 43 years ago, I doubt Trump had plans for how to act should the moment come to maximise his chances of getting elected.
While we will never truly know what was going on in his mind, what we do know is how he reacted and that is represented in that now iconic picture. Here are some quotes from Trump the day after the shooting.
“The doctor at the hospital said he never saw anything like this, he called it a miracle,” said Trump, who was sporting a large, loose white bandage that covered his right ear.
“I’m not supposed to be here, I’m supposed to be dead,” Trump said. “I’m supposed to be dead.”
“They took him (the shooter) out with one shot right between the eyes,” the former president said as he pointed to the bridge of his nose.
“They did a fantastic job,” he added. “It’s surreal for all of us.”
Trump also addressed the incredible photo of him raising his fist and saying “Fight” three times as the agents tried to get him off stage and into an armored SUV.
“A lot of people say it’s the most iconic photo they’ve ever seen,” Trump said. “They’re right and I didn’t die. Usually you have to die to have an iconic picture.”
He added, “I just wanted to keep speaking, but I just got shot.”
The doctor at the local hospital, which has a trauma center, told him he’s never seen anyone survive getting hit by an AR-15, Trump recalled.
“By luck or by God, many people are saying it’s by God I’m still here,” he said.
As I currently happen to be the midst of reading the three volume biography of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris, I the find the whole Trump comparison with TR completely absurd and inappropriate considering how tough and strong TR was.
I get that people relate this with TR since TR was also shot when he was running for a non-consecutive term in office as a Presidential candidate and showed great strength after getting shot. In TR’s case, he continued speaking for another fifty minutes after getting shot in the chest before he sought medical help
Moreover, even though TR was born into considerable wealth that did not stop him from being tough and strong throughout his life whether that is in combat during the Spanish-American war leading his rough riders to victory in Cuba or hunting bears or dangerous retreats to the frontiers of the American west and being tough in the badlands.
Similarly to TR, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was also born into a wealthy family and fought courageously in WWII. He famously swam three and a half miles in the Pacific while clenching his crew member’s life jacket strap to drag him to shore after a Japanese destroyer smashed his PT boat. John McCain spent five years in a North Vietnamese POW camp getting tortured. George HW Bush flew dozens of combat missions against the Japanese in WWII and even completed a bombing mission in a burning plane before bailing out into the Pacific Ocean where he floated for hours before being rescued.
There are countless more examples of Presidential candidates showing immense courage. While this doesn’t necessarily mean Trump didn’t act courageously, it’s a bit too far and factually incorrect to claim that he’s the toughest since TR.
The point is that Trump could have been a bully for most of his life, he could have dodged the draft, he could have been a spoilt imbecile who disintegrated his inherited billions or even been impeached twice while president and convicted of felonies, but the truth that will be forever eternalised in the annals of American history by that photograph still stands. The truth of the matter is that when he was in the greatest danger a President or human can face, he didn’t quiver or crumble. He resisted the grasp of the secret service agents holding onto him and showed insurmountable strength and courage when he pumped his fists in the air with blood on his face to calm the crowd and show that he was still standing strong. If that isn’t courage, I don’t know what is.
Trump showing immense courage and having the most iconic presidential picture in recent history is so ironic, absurd and hilarious.