Former president Donald Trump and German Führer Adolf Hitler share many qualities: A far right ideology, a mythos centered around a Big Lie, a predilection for theatrics. Until July 13, 2024, however, only Hitler had nourished his cult of personality around assassination attempts.
From a drunken brawl in 1921 (back when Hitler was just a Nazi Party speaker and long before he rose to national power) and an ordinary citizen's pistol in 1939 to multiple official bombing conspiracies, Hitler survived so many attempts on his life that his followers claimed he was protected by a higher power. Certainly, Hitler had luck on his side; one attempted bombing only failed because of a defective fuse, while three others failed (two in 1943 and one in 1944) because Hitler randomly happened to leave the locations he was expected to be when the bombs went off. Regardless of whether it was dumb luck or a malevolent god, though, Hitler's repeated brushes with death were a figurative godsend for the Nazis: They helped spread the impression that their victory was inevitable and that Hitler was worthy of admiration.
