And it’s impossible to chronicle the former president’s wild ride to election day without the moment when another iconic image emerged and the contest was all but over.

The July shooting of Trump by an assassin in Butler, Pennsylvania, deeply shook this race and this nation. As he was helped to his feet by Secret Service agents, blood pouring from his ear, he raised his fist in the air and urged his supporters to fight.

Just 48 hours later, when he covered his ear with gauze at his party’s convention in Milwaukee, some in the crowd were crying. I could see tears streaming down the face of a delegate standing next to me. It was Tina Ioane from American Samoa.

“He is the anointed one,” he told me. “He is called to lead our nation.”

At that stage in the summer, Trump appeared electorally unopposed.

Democrats, on the other hand, were becoming increasingly depressed about their own prospects. They were deeply concerned that their candidate, Joe Biden, was too old to be re-elected.

In late June, I was in the press room watching his chaotic debate against Trump. There was stunned silence as we watched Biden’s 50-year political career essentially end before our eyes.

But even then most of those who openly suggested he step aside were rebuffed. Biden’s campaign even harshly criticized the “bed-wetting brigade” who wanted him gone.

Of course, it was a matter of time.

Just days after the spirited Republican convention in July, when it looked like Trump wasn’t going to lose, Biden announced he was abandoning his re-election bid. The mood among Democrats’ supporters quickly changed from worried pessimism to excited anticipation.

Any reservations he had about whether Kamala Harris was their best candidate were erased at a pleasant meeting in Chicago a few weeks later. The people who had resigned themselves to defeat were now caught up in a wave of enthusiasm.

To loud cheers, he said this election represented a chance to “leave behind the pain, skepticism and divisive wars of the past.”

However, this burst of excitement did not last long. After an initial surge in the polls, Harris struggled to maintain momentum. He quickly won back traditional Democrats who apparently did not support Biden but had trouble winning over key undecided voters.