ISABELLE MULLEN: Two attempts on former president Donald Trump’s life have made him a Republican hero

Kamala Harris may have won the US presidential debate, but the Democrats know much more needs to be done to beat Donald Trump.

Especially now.

The latest apparent assassination attempt on the former US president has slowed the Democratic freight train.

Not only has it solidified Trump’s base and cemented the support of his most loyal followers, but it’s also changed the narrative after his poor debate performance.

The almost viral tone of criticism and ridicule directed at Trump post-debate has changed to sympathy and concern.

His name is still in the headlines but for different reasons.

In this instance, he’s not only a victim after surviving two assassination attempts, but he’s also become a Republican hero.

Unsurprisingly, Donald Trump has politicised the latest apparent assassination attempt.

Speaking to FOX News about the suspect he said: “He believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it.”

“Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country — both from the inside and out.”

Elon Musk weighed in on his social media platform X writing: “And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala.”

In a country with more guns than people, this is a dangerous argument.

Sadly, this sort of violence is not unusual in the United States.

Since 1835 there have been 14 assassination attempts on sitting US presidents and presidential candidates — some deadly.

For the Democrats, it’s important Harris gets the chance to debate Trump again and regain control of the election narrative.

More than 67 million people watched their first debate, 15 million more than the Biden-Trump debate viewership.

This time Harris won convincingly and for the former prosecutor it appeared too easy.

Showing a degree of self-preservation, Trump declared on Truth Social: “THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!”

CNN’s first post-debate poll illustrated the landslide. Harris won convincingly 63-37, while YouGov had her ahead of Trump 54-31.

But will the debate impact the polls?

Despite her performance another CNN poll showed 82 per cent of respondents said their vote hadn’t changed.

The debate made 14 per cent reconsider who they’ll vote for while just 4 per cent said they had changed their mind.

The biggest challenge for Harris now is showing undecided voters who she is and what she stands for.

Trump’s base is unlikely to have shifted, despite his performance.

Trump said some wacky things throughout the debate, one of the weirdest being his suggestion that Haitian immigrants in Ohio were eating families’ pets.

“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs.”

It sounded out of this world but accusing immigrants of eating pets is not new. it’s an American urban legend born in the 1970s.

Trump knows his audience.

Aside from the economy, immigration is his strongest card.

The conspiracy theory had real-world consequences. Hospitals were locked down in Springfield after Trump’s pet-eating rant because of bomb threats. Haitian immigrants were “scared for their lives.”

People won’t think worse of Donald Trump for saying this because they know who he is. Nothing he says is shocking.

Trump’s gift is that his supporters will vote for him regardless of whether they like his personality.

They can separate his character from his policy.

Kamala Harris has a tougher road ahead.

New to the race, she’s the first female presidential candidate of colour and needs the American people to both like her personality and believe in her policy.