Trump has proven his courage under fire is real | Opinion

President Donald Trump is not known for embodying the virtues Americans traditionally associate with the presidency. He can be vain, thin-skinned, impulsive and deeply polarizing.

Yet for all his flaws, Trump has shown a striking degree of physical courage under genuine threat. The man who fires off erratic social media posts at 3 a.m. and rambles through news conferences has, when bullets have actually flown, been steady.

Trump's composure was on display again days after surviving his third assassination attempt, when he and first lady Melania Trump welcomed King Charles III and Queen Camilla for a state visit complete with formal ceremony and afternoon tea.

Trump welcomes King Charles days after assassination attempt

In another presidency, such pageantry would have been routine. Coming days after a direct threat on his life, it was striking. Trump moved forward with the visit calmly, showing no visible sign that the assassination attempt had rattled him.

He toured the British royal guests around the White House grounds, including the new beehive, and used his public remarks to emphasize the U.S.-British alliance rather than dwell on grievance.

Whatever one thinks of Trump's broader presidency, the willingness to return so quickly to public duty after a serious threat is its own form of fortitude. Heightened security and visible nerves would have been understandable.

He showed neither.

Trump has shown humor in the face of danger, too

Trump's composure has also surfaced as humor.

After the 2024 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, when a bullet grazed his ear, Trump eventually showed a willingness to joke about it publicly. At a private crypto dinner in Virginia in May 2025, after a sudden loud noise, he quipped, "Whoops. My ear." The crowd laughed.

The moment was dark, but it suggested a willingness to confront what happened without seeming consumed by it.

More striking was his immediate response in Butler. With blood on his face, chaos around him and Secret Service agents rushing to cover him, Trump rose, pumped his fist and mouthed what became the defining word of his reelection campaign: "Fight."

Whatever else can be said about him, his reaction under direct fire showed a rare kind of public fortitude.

Trump is the right man for this moment

Trump's ability to remain calm under repeated threat appears tied, at least in part, to his belief that his presidency carries historic weight.

Speaking after the latest attempt, he framed such dangers as part of the burden of consequential leadership ‒ a reminder that he sees himself not as another political figure but as a president pursuing disruptive change against deep resistance.

That self-conception may help explain his resilience. Trump is not a conventional politician, and his populist challenge to entrenched institutions has earned him both fierce loyalty and fierce opposition.

Critics often describe him in apocalyptic terms; supporters see a singular disruptive force. Either way, the polarization has produced an environment in which threats against him have become disturbingly routine.

Watching Trump address the news media with striking calm after the April 25 assassination attempt, I was reminded that whatever his flaws, his capacity to absorb serious personal threat without visible collapse is unusual in modern American politics.

Not every president would respond to repeated assassination attempts this way. Trump's ability to keep projecting confidence, humor and resolve under those circumstances could become one of the defining personal traits of his presidency.

Trump's flaws are real. So is the fact that, under extreme pressure, he has repeatedly shown a rare steadiness. That is worth recognizing, whatever side of him you see first.

Nicole Russell is an opinion columnist with USA TODAY. She lives in Texas with her four kids. Sign up for her newsletter, The Right Track, and get it delivered to your inbox.