The news cycle froze for a moment in July 2024 when a gunshot rang out at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The target was Donald Trump. He survived, but the incident instantly reignited a chilling question many people quietly wonder about: what would actually happen if a sitting U.S. president were killed?
Sadly, history shows this fear isn’t hypothetical. The United States has lost four presidents to assassinations. Abraham Lincoln was killed in 1865 at Ford’s Theatre. James A. Garfield died after being shot in 1881. William McKinley was fatally wounded in 1901 while visiting the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo. And in 1963, John F. Kennedy was killed during a motorcade in Dallas. Each event reshaped the nation in real time.
That’s why the Butler rally incident hit such a nerve. Although Trump was injured and survived, the moment showed how quickly a single event can throw the entire country into uncertainty. Almost immediately, social media filled with speculation about “what if” scenarios and how the government would respond.