Stacey Goodman was not hurt.
But to show her support for former President Donald Trump in the wake of a bullet appearing to graze the tip of his right ear, Goodman tucked a small square of white gauze into the band of her red “Make America Great Again” cap.
“We stand in solidarity with him, and we wish him well. We’re with him 100%,” said Goodman, a Republican National Committee delegate from Cave Creek, Arizona.
It’s far from the most outrageous way thousands of Republican National Convention delegates and attendees have sought to stand out in a sea of people with other creative ideas for expressing their love of Trump. But it is on the cutting edge of Make America Great Again trends, given that Trump was just wounded on Saturday in an apparent assassination attempt.
In what’s certain to be an enduring image, the former president returned triumphantly to the public eye two days later at this convention with a bandaged ear. Trump may be visibly wounded, but his standing here among the party loyalists who voted on Monday to make him their 2024 presidential nominee is as strong as it’s ever been.
Trump’s ear, both bloodied and bandaged, has become a symbol of resilience after the attack, embodying the party’s aspirations for an election less than four months away. “The ear hurts like hell, but will feel better in November,” read a sign from a man who had attached a piece of paper to the right side of his face with masking tape and covered it with an American flag Band-Aid.
Most of the bandagers appeared to be from Arizona, a key swing state where Trump is running ahead of President Joe Biden. Craig Berland, the Republican chairman in Maricopa County, Arizona, said a bunch of delegates came up with the idea Tuesday on their bus. It began with some paper; then they bought medical gauze. “It was a funny thing to do, but it was a serious thing because of the tragedy that happened,” Berland said.
Liz Harris, a delegate from Chandler, Arizona, said she cried upon learning the news of the attempt on Trump’s life. “Then I got upset,” she said, a bandage covering her right extremity. “I’ve been to many Trump rallies, and he’s just a sitting duck up there. You just pray nothing like this happens, and then it happened. It was sad.”