As the only president ever to be twice impeached -- and twice acquitted -- and the country's only ex-president convicted of criminal charges, the septuagenarian has often struggled to stay afloat.
His blunders, multitude of scandals and vitriolic statements have shocked millions of Americans. Many heads of state see him as a danger to global stability and the fight against global warming, and he has stood accused of indulging far-right groups and disparaging immigrants.
But each time he is said to be sunk, he roars back to the surface, and this week he is heading into Milwaukee riding very high.
On Thursday the Republican National Convention will overlook Trump's vows of vengeance against his political enemies and swat aside his various legal woes to formally nominate him as the party's flagbearer going into the November election against President Joe Biden.
Trump, the brash billionaire who burst onto the political landscape a decade ago as a super disruptor and champion of conservatives, appears unstoppable.
"It sure seems he's on a roll," Texas alternate delegate Orlando Dona, wearing Trump pins and a straw-colored cowboy hat, told AFP.
The 64-year-old Dona, like many conservatives, believes the various cases against Trump have been politically motivated, "and he is coming out of all this justified."
As for the shooting, some are chalking it up to divine intervention.
"I personally think it was the hand of God," Wisconsin former governor Scott Walker told AFP at the convention.
Walker, who ran for president against Trump briefly in 2016, said Trump the man has earned a reputation for taking on anything.
"He's never going to stop being a fighter," he said. "And I think people here realize he's fighting for them, and these wins are not just about wins for him, they're wins for the American people."
- 'A lot of obstacles' -
Trump earned the nickname "Teflon Don" for weathering a multitude of storms.
The #MeToo movement precipitated the downfall of dozens of powerful Americans. Not Trump, despite multiple accusations of sexual abuse, a 2023 civil trial finding of liability for the sexual assault of writer E. Jean Carroll, and an alleged affair with pornographic actress Stormy Daniels.
After an explosive "Access Hollywood" tape emerged in 2016 in which Trump makes degrading remarks about women and boasted about groping their genitals, some Republican heavyweights withdrew their support, and he was predicted to lose the female vote.
That collapse didn't happen, and he won the White House a month later.
Now, it appears he will pull off another miracle, avoiding three of the four lawsuits he had been facing before the election.
"If the story of even the last 18 months teaches us anything, there were a lot of obstacles that were put up to president Trump, and the fact that he's gotten through them shows, I think, part of what gives me faith in this country," businessman and former 2024 Vivek Ramaswamy told reporters at the convention.
"As Martin Luther King said, the arc of history is long but it bends towards justice," Ramaswamy said. "I believe that's exactly what it is doing in recent months, days, and over the last year of president Trump's journey as well."
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