It was the moment when Donald Trump won the November presidential election. I don’t mean the fateful decision to turn his head, which saved him from death by a quarter of an inch.
We are not talking about the miraculous fact of his survival, at 6.11pm in Butler, Pennsylvania, when tens of thousands of horror-stricken admirers saw him go down, with blood streaming from a head-wound whose significance was at first worryingly unclear.
No, the moment of truth, perhaps of revelation, came a few seconds later when the Secret Service agents were trying to bundle him horizontally — without his shoes — from the scene. It was then that Donald Trump showed his character.
He confirmed in a flash, not just his theatrical instincts, but also his courage. Having just been struck by a high-powered rifle bullet, he did not allow himself to be passively carted away. He took command of the situation. Wrestling himself free from his security people, flouting their safety protocols, he raised himself up until he was sure the crowd could see him.
Donald Trump knew how important it was to show America that the assassin’s bullet had not prevailed against him – either physically or psychologically
Pumping his fist, he urged his supporters to ‘Fight, fight, fight’; and in so doing, at the moment when it really counted, he surely proved the most important fact of all: that he is made of the right stuff.
He knew that there was one thing far more important than his evacuation from the scene, and that was showing America that the assassin’s bullet had not prevailed against him — either physically or psychologically.
That photo, with the police officers arranged in what art historians would call ‘heroic diagonals’, and with Trump’s blood-streaked face and hand at the apex, has already become, in the minds of many Americans, the defining image of this campaign. That is because of the message it sends.
This is Trump saying to America and to the world, I will not be bowed, I will not be beaten.
More important still, that image says to Americans, with me as your leader, YOU will not be bowed. YOU will not be beaten. That is why the gesture has thrilled the hearts of his fans — and perhaps even some others.
I believe that indomitable spirit is exactly what the world needs right now, and exactly what is needed in the White House.
As we approach the end of the first quarter of the 21st century, the world is at a crossroads. We face ghastly potential conflicts — in the Middle East, between Israel and the proxies of Iran; in the South China Sea, over Taiwan; and in our own continent of Europe we are witnessing the bloodiest and most horrific war for 80 years.
Having talked to Donald Trump this week, I am more convinced than ever that he has the strength and the bravery to fix it, to save Ukraine, to bring peace — and to stop the disastrous contagion of conflict.
Whatever some other Republicans may have said about Ukraine in the past, I believe that Trump understands the reality: that a defeat for Ukraine would be a massive defeat for America. It is not just about the extinction of freedom and democracy, those cardinal American values, and the enslavement of the Ukrainian people — though that result would be grim in itself.
It is about the long-term consequences of a Putin victory; the practical effect of that catastrophe on Europe, America and the world. If Putin wins in Ukraine, he of course won’t stop there.
Look at the map; listen to some of the chilling things the Russian president now says — his topsy-turvy understanding of the history of Poland, and the reasons for the outbreak of World War II.
Putin has made it clear that he regards the collapse of the Soviet Union — in his own words — as ‘the biggest disaster of the 20th century’, and he wants to rebuild it.
He won’t just go for Georgia, but the whole Russian ‘near abroad’. Already, he has begun Hitlerian denunciations of the treatment of Russian-speakers in the Baltic states. Where will that end?
If Nato is seen to have failed Ukraine, and if America is seen to have failed, then who will be confident that the alliance will stand up for its own members?
As Putin destabilises the whole of eastern Europe, destroys the achievement of Ronald Reagan and lays waste to the post-Cold War settlement, his Chinese partners and enablers will be only too happy to seize Taiwan, while Hezbollah attacks Israel.
Suddenly, we could be on the threshold of a truly appalling conflict in which Americans are faced with a choice: either abandon all pretence of global leadership — or else pay trillions of dollars to restore order and send young Americans overseas again to die on foreign soil.
It is a terrible prospect, and yet it could be averted at a relatively trivial cost, with no loss of American life, if we — the U.S.-led West — are decisive in standing up for freedom in Ukraine.
The Ukrainians have shown they can and will win. Even today, they are pushing Putin back again in the Kharkiv region, and they are exacting a huge toll on the Russians in Donetsk. Their heroism is incredible. But the war has been going on too long, and the cost is immense, in lives, in economic misery and instability.
I believe that Trump can end it — on the right terms for Ukraine and the West. I stress that I cannot be sure exactly what he would do, if elected. But this is what he could do.
He could construct a great deal for the world, in which Putin is ultimately persuaded that Ukraine’s future is as a free, sovereign and independent European country; and that means a two-stage approach.
The first step is to strengthen the hand of the West, and to strengthen Ukraine. Over the past two years we have continually willed the Ukrainians the end — victory — without willing them the means.
We have been chronically slow to give them the right kit, and even now we place ridiculous restrictions on how they can use it, so that the Ukrainians are fighting with one hand tied behind their backs.
At present, the Russians are using air-launched glide bombs to do significant damage to Ukrainian positions. But the Ukrainians can’t fire back because the U.S. won’t let them use the ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile Systems) to get at the Russian airfields, and the UK, I am sorry to say, won’t let them use Storm Shadow (our long-range air-launched cruise missiles).
Trump could simply do what comes naturally to him — end the bureaucratic dither and delay; give the Ukrainians the permissions they need; and then, when Putin has once again been pushed back, he could offer the deal.
Putin would have to pull back at least to the pre-invasion boundaries of 2022, and to avoid future conflict and uncertainty the rest of Ukraine would have to be recognised as a free country, able to choose its destiny within the EU and Nato, and absolutely welcome to join as soon as possible.
Boris with Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this week
The Ukrainians have more than a million people under arms. They are now well used to working with Nato equipment, and they are the most effective anti-Russian force in the world. Once the war is done, there is no reason why Ukrainian forces should not backfill for some of the 70,000 U.S. troops still in Europe.
That would enable Trump to save money, and to bring U.S. forces home, and get the Europeans to do more in their own defence: one of his key objectives.
What would Russia get in return? Well, I believe there are all sorts of inducements that might work with Putin. He would, of course, be able to claim that the ‘special military operation’ — aka invasion — had been a success, and that he had de-Nazified Ukraine. There could be special protections for Russian language speakers.
Above all, with Trump in the White House, there is the real prospect of some global rapprochement with Russia, and with Putin, a return to the days when Russia was a respected partner of the G8 and even of Nato.
But there is only one way to achieve this outcome — through strength. Washington under Trump will have to show that international borders must be respected, and that the Soviet empire cannot be rebuilt by force.
That means backing the Ukrainians to the hilt. If Trump had been in the White House, I don’t think Putin would have been so reckless and criminal as to invade Ukraine.
Never forget, it was Trump, not Obama or Biden, who gave the Ukrainians the Javelin anti-tank weapons that were so crucial in the Battle for Kyiv in 2022. Trump already has a record of making decisive military intervention on behalf of Ukrainian democracy.
If and when he is back in power, later this year, Trump has a massive chance — not just to fix his predecessor’s legacy, but to take the world forward. Donald Trump can see the risk: that a defeat for Ukraine would exact a huge long-term cost on America and the world.
On the other hand, a win for Ukraine — properly handled — could pave the way, paradoxically, for a new and far better relationship with Russia. That would be a big win, for America and for the whole world.
I am not saying it will be easy. It will take strength. It will take resolve. It will take nerves of steel. In Butler, Pennsylvania, Donald Trump showed he has exactly the mettle for the job.