“This isn’t my father’s Secret Service.”

That’s what I immediately tweeted in response to the assassination attempt on Donald Trump.

Little did I know.

Every day, drip by drip, we get more proof of the incredible incompetence of the agency that is supposed to prevent the kind of shooting that happened in broad daylight near Pittsburgh.

While we wait for the inevitable shocking new revelations about the attempt on Trump’s life, he, his family and millions of other people are saying they believe it was not just luck but an act of God that saved his life.

I bet his experience will have a long-lasting effect on him that will be similar to the profound impact Ronald Reagan’s shooting had on him 43 years ago.

My father and millions of other people believed it was an act of God that saved his life from being ended by the hail of bullets fired by John Hinckley.

We’ll have to wait a year or so to see how Trump reacts, but my father’s near-death experience is why he dedicated the rest of his administration — more than seven years — to God.

One of the lasting effects of surviving an assassination attempt was always knowing that several others were also shot and wounded by bullets that were meant for him.

I remember flying from Washington back to California on Air Force One with my father on Good Friday of 1988. As we were landing, he was counting out the number 9 on his fingers.

I asked why the number 9 was significant. He said, “In nine more months, I’ll no longer be President of the United States.”

“Is that something you’re truly looking forward to?” I asked.

“I am,” he said.

“Ever since I looked out the rear window of my limousine on March 30 of 1981 and saw people laying in their own blood from bullets that were meant for me, I haven’t gone to church on a regular basis, if at all, because I worry about putting people in harm’s way because someone’s after me.

"I’m looking forward to no longer being president so I can, on any given Sunday, begin going to church again to visit my Lord and Savior. That’s why I counted the Number 9.”

After my father left office January 20, 1989, he never missed church on Sunday again. Even when he could no longer go because of his Alzheimer’s, the pastor of Bel Air Presbyterian would come up and minister to him.

I think Donald Trump may be changed by the same haunting thought that people were killed and wounded with bullets meant for him and he wants to reduce the chance of it ever happening again.

It’s interesting to compare the ways Trump and my father reacted to their shootings that reflected their different personalities.

Trump stood up with his fist in the air and defiantly yelled, “Fight, fight, fight.” He basically said, “Screw you, whoever did this.”

My dad handled his more serious injury with humor — with quips like, “Nancy, I forgot to duck” and “I hope all you doctors are Republicans.” And his warning to me the next morning was, “If you ever get shot, don’t be wearing a new suit.”

Both men reacted in ways that were true to themselves. They showed courage. They humanized and personalized a horrible event.

It was like, “You missed me. I’m still Ronald Reagan. I’ve still got a sense of humor.” And “I’m still Donald Trump. You can’t kill me or my movement.”

Both men in their own natural ways endeared themselves to the American public and the world. And in Trump’s case, the iconic images of his defiance and bloodied face virtually clinched his victory in the fall.

Copyright 2024 Michael Reagan