The Sunday Subject – July 14, 2024

Donald Trump was shot at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Trump posted on Truth Social after the attempted assassination that “a bullet… pierced the upper part of my ear.” The former president appears to have made a full recovery. One attendee of the rally was killed, while two others are in critical condition. The suspected shooter was killed on the scene.

A NATO summit took place in Washington, DC, marking the 75th anniversary of the alliance’s creation.

Support for Ukraine dominated discussions. The US, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Romania announced that they would provide five extra air-defense systems to Ukraine. The summit began a day after Russia carried out its biggest wave of attacks across Ukraine in months, including striking a children’s hospital in Kyiv . 

The French parliamentary election concluded with a victory for the left.

In a surprise result, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally Party came in third place, after progressive and centrist forces came together at the last minute to defeat the hard-right. The hard-left New Popular Front alliance won the most seats, while Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Ensemble alliance came second. No party is close to a majority, meaning they will need to form alliances – a rarity in French politics.