Donald Trump Ditches His White Ear Bandage for a Less Flashy Update

Josephine Walker
·2-min read
Tom Brenner/Reuters
Tom Brenner/Reuters

Donald Trump’s first rally since an assassination attempt clipped his right ear hit almost every one of his signatures; shade thrown at his opponent, Joe Biden, attacks on election security and his ever-present red tie and suit.

The only detail missing in action was the white bandage on his right ear, which he swapped out for a smaller, fleshed-colored one at the campaign rally in Michigan on Saturday.

Trump’s decision to ditch the bulky bandage comes the same day his former White House physician, Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), shared an update on the former president’s healing process.

ADVERTISEMENT

“The swelling has since resolved, and the wound is beginning to granulate and heal properly,” Jackson wrote in a memo Saturday morning. Jackson said earlier this week that the original bandage was bulky because the area where Trump was shot at naturally bleeds profusely.

Donald Trump

The bandage swap was particularly notable because attendees at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this past week have made wearing a white bandage on their ear a badge of honor, showcasing their solidarity with Trump.

The trend was continued at the Michigan rally on Saturday, with supporters in the crowd seen sporting a white bandage.

Trump Says He ‘Took a Bullet for Democracy’ at Michigan Campaign Speech

Trump reflected on the assassination attempt, telling the crowd, “I begin this evening with a very special thanks to Americans nationwide including all of you here today for your extraordinary outpouring of love and support in the wake of the horrific last Saturday event.”

ADVERTISEMENT

“And when you think of it, it was exactly one week ago today, almost to the hour, even to the minute,” he said. “Terrible, incredible. What a day it was. As I said earlier this week, I stand before you only by the grace of Almighty God. I shouldn’t be here.

“They keep saying, ‘He’s a threat to democracy,’” Trump explained.

“I’m saying, ‘What the hell did I do for democracy? Last week I took a bullet for democracy. What did I do against democracy?’ Crazy,” he continued to a roaring crowd. “Crazy.”

Read more at The Daily Beast.

Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now.

Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now.

Latest stories

  • TikTok CEO One-Ups Zuckerberg With Bootlicking Trump Post

    TikTok CEO Shou Chew appealed to Donald Trump’s ego in a video statement on the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the TikTok ban. “I want to thank President Trump for his commitment to work with us to find a solution that keeps TikTok available in the United States,” he said. “This is a strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship.” Trump said that he had “a warm spot” for the app during a December meeting with Chew, who was sure to mention Trump’s popularity on the app

  • Nvidia CEO says not attending Trump's inauguration

    Nvidia's chief executive Jensen Huang said on Friday he will not be attending U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, but will instead be "on the road" celebrating the Lunar New Year with employees and their families. Asked by reporters outside Nvidia's new year party in Taipei whether he had talked with the incoming Trump administration about the new artificial intelligence export control rules the outgoing Biden administration unveiled this week, Huang said, "not yet". He also said he had met C.C. Wei, the chairman of Nvidia's main supplier TSMC for lunch where they talked about ramping up production of Nvidia's most advanced AI chips Blackwell.

  • Bill Gates on Trump meeting: ‘Frankly I was impressed’

    Billionaire philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates reflected on a recent dinner he had with President-elect Trump in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, saying he was “impressed” by the former president. “I had a chance, about two weeks ago, to go have a long and actually quite intriguing dinner with him,” Gates told…

  • Two Iranian ‘judges of death’ gunned down in Tehran

    An armed assailant fatally shot two notorious Iranian judges inside the Islamic Republic’s supreme court on Saturday.

  • CNN Plots to Bury the Anchor Trump Hates Most

    CNN is considering a substantial demotion for one of its highest-rating stars—who also happens to be a longtime antagonist of President-elect Donald Trump. CNN chief Mark Thompson called Jim Acosta on Wednesday to propose that his show, CNN Newsroom with Jim Acosta, be moved from its 10 a.m. ET time slot to midnight, according to the newsletter Status News. “The move would effectively exile Acosta to the Siberia of television news,” media reporter Oliver Darcy pointed out.

  • 'No money': gloom on Beijing streets as economic growth slows

    Consumers pinching pennies, businesses seeing fewer customers, and a pervading sense that the economy just isn't bouncing back -- the mood was grim in Beijing as China posted some of its lowest growth in decades."For us who do business, it's obvious that there are much fewer customers coming to our store, and customers' consumption levels don't compare to before," Yang said.

  • Dutch government excludes most ASML sales to China from 'dual use' export data

    The Dutch government excludes billions of euros of sales by technology company ASML to China from disclosures on sensitive goods exports, it has told Reuters, following a policy decision that has not been previously reported. The move is of interest because disclosure of exports of "dual use" goods with potential military applications had previously been routine in the Netherlands, and experts who rely on public data to understand states' military capabilities, including parliament, may no longer have the full picture. Computer chip equipment maker ASML itself releases sales data for China - around $7 billion worth in the first nine months of 2024 - but it does not specify the type of machinery it sells by region.

  • US trade envoy finds China's shipbuilding policies warrant 'urgent action'

    The US Trade Representative said Thursday that its probe into China's practices in the shipbuilding, maritime and logistics sectors found that Beijing's undermining of fair competition warranted "urgent action.""Beijing's targeted dominance of these sectors undermines fair, market-oriented competition, increases economic security risks, and is the greatest barrier to revitalization of US industries," USTR Katherine Tai said in a statement.

  • China crisis looms as Europe's gravy train stalls: 'nobody is making money'

    It was just past 11 on a freezing December morning on the outskirts of Brussels, but already workers at the city's Audi factory were cracking open frosty cans of beer. They had just finished a long night shift - not on one of the production lines at a plant that has produced 8 million cars since 1949, according to a huge sign on its exterior wall - but on a picket line outside. Pallets and old furniture were added to roaring fires in the middle of a road. Hand-painted signs raged, in French, aga

  • Cameron Diaz surprises Jamie Foxx with Elon Musk claim

    Diaz surprised co-star with her jab at tech billionaire’s friendship with Trump

  • Israel-Hamas ceasefire latest: Netanyahu says US will back return to war with only hours until Gaza ceasefire

    The ceasefire deal was signed off by Israel’s government on Saturday morning - but attacks have continued on the Gaza Strip

  • Commerce Secretary Raimondo offers a parting shot at Trump and advice for Democrats' future

    When Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo looks at Donald Trump, she says she sees a president-elect who for all of his aggressive talk is afraid to let America compete with the rest of the world, responding instead with tariffs and curtailing immigration. “What Trump is saying is I want to protect you from competition,” Raimondo said in a Wednesday interview. Raimondo's four years in Washington have established her ability to cajole CEOs, work with labor unions and stare down foreign leaders.

  • Trump's New Official Portrait Tells Quite The Story. Body Language Experts Explain Why.

    The president-elect's new eyebrow-raising photo spurred a lot of conversations online. Experts think his expression and pose reveal a lot.

  • US TikTok ban looms as Trump seeks last-ditch solution

    TikTok has pledged to "go dark" in the United States on Sunday, threatening access for 170 million app users without 11th-hour guarantees from the government, as President-elect Donald Trump says he is considering a reprieve -- after he takes office.After discussing TikTok with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday, Trump told NBC News on Saturday that he could activate a 90-day reprieve from the ban after he reclaims the Oval Office.

  • The UK gave Ukraine an improvised air defense system that could help solve one of its most expensive problems

    Gravehawk has been retrofitted to fire air-to-air missiles that Ukraine already has, the UK MOD said. It's a possible solution to a major problem.

  • ‘I Feel Lost and Defeated’: Anti-Trump March Can't Compete With the One 8 Years Ago

    At the anti-Trump protest in Washington, D.C., words like “devastated,” “destroyed,” and "lost" tumble forth. “I cannot believe that normal people voted for this man. But they did."

  • Taiwan delegation to take 'highest blessings' to Trump inauguration

    The head of Taiwan's delegation to next week's inauguration of Donald Trump as U.S. president said on Saturday he was going there to extend the island's "highest blessings" to the United States. Taiwan, which China views as its own territory, enjoyed strong support from the first Trump administration, including regularising arms sales which have continued under President Joe Biden. Taiwan parliament speaker Han Kuo-yu, a senior member of the opposition Kuomintang party and who unsuccessfully ran for president in 2020, said at Taoyuan airport before leaving for Washington that many foreign leaders were also on their way even with the threatened heavy snow.

  • Donald Trump's and JD Vance's official portraits released

    The portraits of the president-elect and the incoming vice-president "go hard" their press team said.

  • A US exit from NATO under Trump would likely trigger a legal showdown

    Congress passed legislation that a president cannot unilaterally withdraw from NATO, setting up a major legal fight if Trump tries to pull the US out.

  • Former CIA analyst pleads guilty to leaking classified documents on Israel’s plans to attack Iran

    A former CIA analyst pleaded guilty to leaking classified documents about Israel’s preparations to attack Iran late-last year, according to the Department of Justice.