Eric Trump, son of President Donald Trump, discussed in an interview Thursday how his father used humor to bring levity after the 2024 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.
"I was the first person he called after Butler. Right, I mean, they shot his ear off. They almost took off his head. And like the first thing he says to try and bring levity, when I want to literally fight the entire world because I was so pissed off at what happened, was something about having the worst earache in the history of the world," Trump told the hosts of the "Ruthless Podcast."
"I think he equated it to Tyson and Holyfield," Eric Trump continued. "The guy’s always been able to bring kind of levity to dark situations. And I actually think that’s like a great, like, disarming tool, if that makes sense."
Trump was shot in the ear during the campaign rally on July 13, 2024. The shooting killed one rally attendee and injured two others.
Donald Trump Jr, President Donald Trump and Eric Trump attend the opening of the Trump International Golf Links, the president's new golf course on the Menie Estate in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire, on July 29, 2025. (Jane Barlow/PA Images via Getty Images)
Eric Trump also pointed to his father’s return to Butler after the attempt as another example.
"There are times where people are uncomfortable. I mean, when he went out at Butler, when he returned to Butler, you know, ‘as I was saying,’ right, that wasn’t what was expected. It was far, and the place just starts chanting, ‘USA, USA,’" he continued.
President Trump returned to the rally site three months later on Oct. 5, 2024.
TRUMP REVEALS CRUCIAL, SPLIT-SECOND MOMENT THAT SAVED HIS LIFE DURING BUTLER ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT
Then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump pumps his fist as he is rushed offstage by U.S. Secret Service agents after being grazed by a bullet during a rally on July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Trump's speech in Butler opened with thanks to Pennsylvania supporters and a light joke about the attempt on his life with the line, "And as I was saying."
Eric Trump said on the podcast that all traditional politicians sounded "full of it" and scripted, but his father broke that mold.
President Donald Trump points to a reporter in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
"And finally, you had a guy go out there, and he was un-PC [politically-correct], totally politically incorrect. He said what was on his mind. He said what everybody was thinking. He wasn't afraid. He didn't back down. He had backbone. And Americans instantly, especially the tough guys, right, I mean, especially people with like a little, you know, like they appreciated a little bit of the bravado and the lack of staleness," he said.