Less than a week after he was shot at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, former President Donald Trump was officially nominated by the GOP at the 2024 Republican National Convention.

At least that’s what happened on paper.

To his supporters, the RNC was more than just another political gathering—it was a celebration of Trump’s survival and of what it foreshadows in their devoted minds.

The way in which they nominated Trump, showering him with praise like a god-king, was a spiritual experience for them. He was canonized, sanctified or even deified on that stage in that Milwaukee convention center.

The assassin’s bullet was the cross upon which their idol was nailed in a sacrifice on behalf of a righteous conservative America. Trump’s fist pump and chant of “fight, fight, fight” was the resurrection of their savior. And the convention was a chance for them to gather and watch their hero ascend to the heavens before their very eyes.

In short, the RNC was the apotheosis of Donald Trump. He was made divine.

Trump has become to his supporters more than just a politician or leader. He is a sentient symbol of his ideology—the incarnation of “America First.” He is MAGA-made-flesh.

As he once said, he is his supporters’ “retribution.” He’s their warrior king, boldly leading them into a metaphysical battle for the soul of their imagined traditional America. He’s what Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., called “the founding father” of America First.

Some supporters affixed a bandage to their ears as if they’d suffered the same injury as their liege and lord Trump. They paraded around as if stigmatic.

His followers openly claim that they genuinely believe Trump experienced a sort of religious metamorphosis upon being shot.

Famed evangelical leader Franklin Graham said there was a “transformation” at the moment Trump “rose from that platform…with his fist raised in strength.” God “spared his life.”

Rep. Greene said God’s “hand was on President Trump.” Kimberly Guilfoyle said God had given Trump “an armor of protection.” Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson said Trump “became the leader of this nation” in a primal, almost animalistic sense the second he proved himself “the bravest man” in the country.

His supporters say that he’s a changed man—a humble servant of the American people. But that is certainly not how they treated him.

They didn’t honor his service or offer applause for his accomplishments. They glorified him and his family like a royal court above serfs or a pantheon of gods above men.

Greene framed his attempted assassination as “evil” coming for the man they all “admire and love so much.” Former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan said “they took a shot” at his “hero.” Graham said it was “an honor to be asked to pray for Donald Trump.” For Carlson, Trump’s survival was evidence that “god is among” them—that he dwells within their movement.

Chants of “U.S.A., U.S.A.” and “Trump, Trump, Trump” were interchangeable. He walked in on the final night to Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.” in front of a giant gaudy sign simply reading “TRUMP.” To Greene, his survival meant that the “American Spirit” is alive and well.” His injury was a “somber moment for our nation.” His experiences were the experiences of America itself.

Carlson asserted that the only question to ask after the past week’s events was “Where is he leading us?” He’s the alpha, solely devoted not so much to defending the members of the pack as to directing them toward some higher purpose. He’s what Hogan called “the toughest of them all.” 

Trump is the light that guides the ships floating on the stormy waters of the modern world to the shore of safe, comfortable tradition. He will “make America great again” for them. They just have to follow his lead and submit to his power.

As Guilfoyle put it, they are to “rise up” for Trump to take “America’s future [into their] hands” and “America’s destiny” [into their] control.”

Of course, the America that his supporters talk about is not the America that actually exists. Nor is it one that has ever existed. It’s a figment of their historically illiterate and revisionist imaginations. 

When Hogan says Trump fights for “real Americans,” he means that “Trumpites” are the only valid American citizens. They’re the only ones who matter. They’re the only ones who need to be taken into consideration. They’re the ones for whom Trump shed blood.

And with his sacrifice, Trump will now lead his chosen people to salvation. Everyone else be damned.

Matthew Pellittieri is a 20-year-old history and political science junior from Ponchatoula.