For Donald J. Trump’s most devoted supporters, the bullet that nicked his ear and came within inches of ending his life was only further proof that a higher power is looking out for him.
“I don’t see this as luck,” said the Rev. Nathaniel Thomas, a Republican National Convention delegate and a pastor from the Washington, D.C., area. “I see this as God’s protection.”
After he spent decades pursuing riches, fame and power, Mr. Trump’s life has been far from pious. Yet he has drawn a committed core of followers — many in Milwaukee this week for his nominating convention — who view him as handpicked by God for a second term in the White House.
These supporters are less likely to explicitly compare him to Jesus and instead view him as the latest example of a morally flawed Old Testament hero, like Cyrus or David, who was ordained by the heavens to lead profound missions of good versus evil. Their passion for Mr. Trump has long transcended slogans on faded rally T-shirts or political bumper stickers, but now, it appears to be reaching new heights after the assassination attempt on Saturday.
“Something’s got to be at play,” said Michael Thompson, the Republican chairman in Lee County, Fla., while looking toward the sky as if to invoke the heavens. “I don’t think the average person could withstand a tenth of what he has gone through. So yeah, I think he’s probably chosen at the right time in our country’s history.”
Sue Means, 73, a delegate from Bethel Park, Pa., the hometown of the gunman accused by law enforcement officials of attempting to assassinate Mr. Trump, is an evangelical Christian who has been a member of a prayer team for the former president since 2016.
She marveled at the miracle of his survival: “I mean, he turned his head right when the bullet went past him.”
Gregory Rice, 33, a Rhode Island delegate who is Catholic, said the outcome of the shooting struck him more as luck than divine intervention. Still, he added of Mr. Trump, “He can definitely be God-like for many people, myself included.”
Mr. Trump’s ability — and willingness — to capitalize on such devotion for political purposes remains crucial to understanding how he will coast to his third consecutive Republican presidential nomination this week, despite being convicted of 34 felonies, charged with even more felonies and ordered to pay $83.3 million to the writer E. Jean Carroll for defaming her after she accused him of rape.
In the aftermath of the shooting, Mr. Trump has described the near-miss both in terms of luck and divine intervention. In an interview with The Washington Examiner, he credited himself for turning his head to look at an immigration chart on a rally screen and avoiding the bullet hitting his skull.
“The most incredible thing was that I happened to not only turn but to turn at the exact right time and in just the right amount,” Mr. Trump said. “If I only half-turn, it hits the back of the brain. The other way goes right through. And because the sign was high, I’m looking up. The chances of my making a perfect turn are probably one tenth of 1 percent, so I’m not supposed to be here.”
On his social media website, Mr. Trump said, “it was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening.”
Not all of Mr. Trump’s supporters were comfortable with the spiritual narrative.
“It is sometimes disappointing to see people give him prophet-like status or anything like that,” Wes Virdell, 44, a delegate from Texas. “I think it’s very impressive what he’s done. He is an imperfect person who has done many, many things that can be criticized and credited for.”
The former president’s success at portraying his prosecutions as persecutions — and warning, without merit, that his followers could be targeted next — has fueled enthusiasm for his candidacy and for his new role as a warrior-survivor.
“God protected President Trump,” Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who had been one of Mr. Trump’s top running mate contenders, posted on social media after the shooting.
Speaker Mike Johnson said Mr. Trump’s survival was “miraculous,” a sign of God’s work that he compared to George Washington staying alive during the Revolutionary War. Franklin Graham, the evangelical leader, said on Fox News that “God’s hand of protection” was on Mr. Trump.
Stephen K. Bannon, who was Mr. Trump’s chief strategist in the White House, said that Mr. Trump was protected by “the armor of God.” Mr. Bannon is serving a four-month prison sentence after being found guilty of being in contempt of Congress and reacted to the shooting in an interview with The National Pulse, a conservative outlet.
Those armor-of-God themes were threaded through a prayer vigil on Sunday in Milwaukee organized by Turning Point Action, a conservative activist group.
“A miracle,” said Tyler Bowyer, a Republican National Convention delegate from Arizona, where he is chief operating officer of Turning Point Action. “It’s going to activate a lot more people to join that fight.”
Brett Galaszewski, the vice chairman of the Milwaukee County Republican Party, described the election as “more than just right versus left.” He added, “This is good versus evil.”
Chuck Wichgers, a Republican state legislator from Muskego, Wis., said the nation could find common ground if more Americans spent time in church, and he described Mr. Trump as a righteous shield against nonbelievers.
“He’s putting himself out there against those people that are guiding and ruling you that aren’t with God,” Mr. Wichgers said.
In repeated fund-raising messages since Saturday, Mr. Trump has urged supporters to “fear not,” which recalled the verse from the Book of Isaiah in the Old Testament in which believers are urged to fear not and instead live by their faith in the Lord.
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