In a moment of raw personal courage at local fair-grounds in Butler, Pennsylvania, Donald Trump upended America's presidential race by surviving an assassin's bullet and then leaping to his feet and punching the air while proclaiming "USA!" and "Fight! Fight! Fight!" The resulting photographs may well change America and the world in ways no one seriously imagined even last week.
At the core of every story is a human being whose character, as expressed through his actions, will be judged favourably or not by his or her fellow humans - such stories being especially important in societies where people elect their leaders, as shown by the rapturous reception that Trump received at the opening of the party's National Convention in Milwaukee.
Even worse for the Democrats is Trump's ability to seize the most valuable ground in American politics: the future.
To underline the importance of the future, Trump then chose a Vice Presidential candidate, J.D. Vance, who is 40 years younger than he is, anointing a successor who can inherit his movement - and who could in theory serve two terms as president after Trump's term is done.
A heroic Trump who has energised his base and proven his personal courage while laying claim to the future is likely to have significant appeal to American voters.
The structural imbalance between the parties has suggested that Democrats could run a cardboard cut-out of Taylor Swift for the presidency in 2024 and still win - especially given the immutable presence of the polarising Trump at the top of the Republican ticket.
"The Democratic Party is a well-functioning, massively-funded, centrally-directed machine." Trump's fairground heroics hardly guarantee a win in November.
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