The legal proceedings are themselves on trial, on hold or in the process of being dismissed. More strikingly, the case Mr. Trump would have made for himself in his acceptance speech as a witness, a martyr to serial partisan persecution, has suddenly been transcended. It was shoved aside by the would-be assassin’s bullet, which came within an inch of its target, drawing blood but not brain. The scene instantly recalled worse American tragedies — the assassinations of John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy, the Rev. Never Trumpers have frequently accused Mr. Trump of lacking courage — sometimes because he has never faced death on the battlefield.

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Persons: Donald Trump, Trump, John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr, Abraham Lincoln Organizations: Republican National Convention, Democratic Locations: Manhattan, Milwaukee, Florida