This Photo Seen as an 'Indelible Image of Our Era'

Donald Trump, his face bloodied by a bullet, raised a fist and said, "Fight! fight! fight!" on Saturday as Secret Service agents helped him from his rally stage. In doing so, he "struck one of the iconic poses in US history," writes Nico Hines at the Daily Beast. The sentiment is a common one:

• "Make no mistake, the image of a bloodstained Trump standing with one arm aloft instantly takes its place alongside the greatest photos in American history," writes Hines, up there with Neil Armstrong on the moon and the Times Square kiss. In his view, the moment is historic in part because it all but seals Trump's victory in November.

• "It is already the indelible image of our era of political crisis and conflict," writes Benjamin Wallace-Wells at New York magazine. The photo by Evan Vucci of the AP evokes Iwo Jima and even Rocky Balboa, he writes. "On that stage, Trump seemed well aware of the image he was creating. It is an image that captures him as he would like to be seen, so perfectly, in fact, that it may outlast all the rest."
• "It's difficult to imagine a moment that more fully epitomizes Mr. Trump's visceral connection with his supporters, and his mastery of the modern media age," writes Shawn McCreesh at the New York Times. His take differs a bit from the one above in that he doesn't think Trump consciously thought out the image. "This was instinct."
• "Trump, with his bloody fist raised in proud defiance of the Reaper and anyone else crazy enough to try and take him down, is going to become one of the most famous photographs in modern American political history," writes Jeffrey Blehar at the National Review. If "you're uncomfortable with that you best start adjusting to it." He adds to the common sentiment that Trump "probably won the election" in that moment.
• Trump allies immediately seized upon the image and began sharing it on social media with messages of defiance, notes Politico.
• Photographer Vucci recalls that "it all happened really fast," per Business Insider. "At the moment I heard the shots being fired I knew that this was a moment of American history that had to be documented." Vucci recounts the moment in a video. He said he recognized the noises as gunshots immediately and began running toward the stage.

(More Trump rally shooting stories.)