President Donald Trump’s campaign is sending fundraising emails with the subject line, “I want to try and get to Heaven.”
The emails, which reportedly started on Saturday, Aug. 23, ask supporters to donate $15 during a “24-HOUR TRUMP FUNDRAISING BLITZ,” according to the Independent, Snopes, and Newsweek.
“Last year, I came millimeters from death when that bullet pierced through my skin. My triumphant return to the White House was never supposed to happen!” the message says, referencing the July 2024 assassination attempt against him in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“But I believe that God saved me for one reason: TO MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! I certainly wasn’t supposed to survive an assassin’s bullet, but by the grace of the almighty God, I did. SO NOW, I have no other choice but to answer the Call to Duty, but I can’t do it alone,” the email continued, according to the Independent.
The emails were sent just days after Trump, 79, appeared on Fox & Friends on Tuesday, Aug. 19. In his phone interview, he said he wants to end the war in Ukraine, adding: “If I can save 7,000 people a week from being killed, I think that’s pretty — I want to try to get to heaven if possible.”
“I’m hearing that I’m not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole,” he joked, as the Fox News hosts laughed. “But if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons.”
Later that day, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said she didn’t believe Trump was joking.
“I think the president was serious,” she told reporters. “I think the president wants to get to heaven — as I hope we all do in this room as well.”
The fundraising push also comes as questions swirl about Trump’s health. Over Labor Day weekend, rumors spread online after people noticed his cleared schedule. Vice President JD Vance also fueled speculation when he told USA Today that he was prepared to step in if necessary.
At a Sept. 2 press conference, Trump was asked if he knew people had been speculating he had died.
He responded that he often sees “reports” about his health but claimed he was unaware of the viral, but false, conspiracy theory about his death.
Though the theory began with social media chatter, Trump blamed the “fake news” media for spreading it — even though major outlets never reported it as fact.
That same day, he posted on Truth Social: “NEVER FELT BETTER IN MY LIFE.”
