Trump: God Saved Me because He Wanted Me to Save the US, World

Former US President Donald Trump  - AFP
Former US President Donald Trump  - AFP
TT

Trump: God Saved Me because He Wanted Me to Save the US, World

Former US President Donald Trump  - AFP
Former US President Donald Trump  - AFP

Donald Trump insisted that he is “not a threat to democracy” in an interview with TV personality Dr Phil on Tuesday night, during which he also suggested that he survived an assassination attempt last month because God wanted him to save the US - and possibly the world.

During the hour-long, sit-down in Las Vegas, the former president attempted to clarify previous remarks about wanting to be a “dictator for one day” and ensuring people would “not have to vote again” if he wins the White House in November, The Independent reported.

Trump once again laid into Democratic rival Kamala Harris over her border policy; baselessly claimed that mail-in voter ballots would result in “massive fraud”; and pushed the Big Lie that he had won the 2020 election.

Discussing the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, last month, he was asked by Dr Phil McGraw why his life was spared.

“I mean, the only thing I can think is that God loves our country, and he thinks we're going to bring our country back. He wants to bring it back. It's so bad right now,” Trump replied.

Asked by Dr Phil if he believed that “God’s hand” had played a part in his survival, the former president replied: “I do.”

Trump also said that being president was “much more dangerous than a race car driver,” or any other profession.

“I said to the Christians, we’ve got to win this election,” Trump asserted.

Trump also claimed that his comments to Fox News’ host Sean Hannity in December about being “a dictator for one day” were in jest, and were really referring to his desire to get work quickly.



Russian Missile Strikes Ukrainian President's Home City

In this photo taken from video released by the Russian Defense Ministry on Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024, a Russian Army Buk-2M self-propelled, medium-range surface-to-air missile system fires at air targets in an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
In this photo taken from video released by the Russian Defense Ministry on Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024, a Russian Army Buk-2M self-propelled, medium-range surface-to-air missile system fires at air targets in an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
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Russian Missile Strikes Ukrainian President's Home City

In this photo taken from video released by the Russian Defense Ministry on Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024, a Russian Army Buk-2M self-propelled, medium-range surface-to-air missile system fires at air targets in an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
In this photo taken from video released by the Russian Defense Ministry on Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024, a Russian Army Buk-2M self-propelled, medium-range surface-to-air missile system fires at air targets in an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

A Russian missile slammed into Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s home city on Wednesday, local authorities said, just as Kryvyi Rih was observing an official day of mourning for an attack the previous day that killed four civilians at a hotel.

The latest attack on the city struck civilian infrastructure, wounding eight people, local administration head Oleksandr Vilkul said on social media.

Tuesday's attack, which also wounded five people, was part of a barrage of dozens of missiles and drones across Ukraine that Russia launched for a second consecutive day, The AP reported.

“When Kryvyi Rih is in mourning, the enemy attacks again. And it once again aims at civilians,” regional head Serhii Lysak said Wednesday.

Russia stepped up its bombing of Ukraine on Monday, firing more than 100 missiles and a similar number of drones in its biggest onslaught in weeks.

The intensified bombing campaign coincided with what could prove to be a decisive period of the war, which Russia launched on Feb. 24, 2022.

Russian forces have been driving deeper into Ukraine’s partly occupied eastern Donetsk region, whose total capture is one of the Kremlin’s primary ambitions. Russia's army is closing in on Pokrovsk, a critical logistics hub for the Ukrainian defense in the area.

At the same time, Ukraine has sent its forces into Russia’s Kursk region in recent weeks in the largest incursion onto Russian soil since World War II. The move is in part an effort to force Russia to draw troops away from the Donetsk front.

At the hotel in Kryvyi Rih, rescuers on Wednesday found a final body under the rubble. The rescue operation then ended.

Meanwhile, Ukraine claimed its anti-aircraft defenses destroyed a Russian Su-25 jet in the Donetsk region.

Ukraine also kept up its long-range drone attacks on Russia’s rear logistical areas.

Ukraine’s military intelligence claimed responsibility for an attack on an oil depot in Russia’s Rostov region, and in the first known Ukrainian attack on Russia’s Kirov region, Kirov governor Alexander Sokolov said three Ukrainian drones fell near an oil depot there. The region is about 950 kilometers (roughly 600 miles) northeast of the Ukrainian border.