Sam Altman says, post-Trump assassination attempt, that he's 'thinking a lot about what a difference an inch can make to history'
The OpenAI CEO made a call for unity following the failed assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania.
Mike Coppola via Getty Images; Anna Moneymaker via Getty Images
- OpenAI CEO Sam Altman made a call for unity following the failed assassination of Donald Trump.
- The tech billionaire said the nation needs to "turn down the rhetoric and find slightly more unity."
- "I am happy to see most Democrats having the grace to step up and lead on this point," Altman said.
The failed assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump has left OpenAI CEO Sam Altman with a lot to think about.
"Thinking a lot about what a difference an inch can make to history," Altman wrote in an X post on Sunday.
"Hoping this can be a moment where we stare into the abyss and be grateful that there but for the grace of god went we, and collectively decide to turn down the rhetoric and find slightly more unity," he continued.
Altman also commended the Democratic Party's response toward the shooting: "I am happy to see most Democrats having the grace to step up and lead on this point, and resisting the urge to both-sides it."
Representatives for Altman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.
thinking a lot about what a difference an inch can make to history.
— Sam Altman (@sama) July 14, 2024
hoping this can be a moment where we stare into the abyss and be grateful that there but for the grace of god went we, and collectively decide to turn down the rhetoric and find slightly more unity.
i am happy…
On Saturday, a gunman tried to assassinate Trump during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The Secret Service said that one rallygoer died in the shooting while two others were left critically injured. The shooting suspect, a 20-year-old man named Thomas Matthew Crooks, was shot dead.
Trump later said in a Truth Social post on the same day that he'd been wounded by "a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear."
After the shooting, Altman, like other business leaders, posted that they were relieved Trump got out safe.
According to Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson, Trump's former White House doctor, Trump said he survived the shooting because he happened to tilt his head to look at a chart on immigration statistics.
"He said, 'If I hadn't pointed at that chart and turned my head to look at it, that bullet would have hit me right in the head,'" Jackson, who'd previously served as Trump's White House physician, told The New York Times in an interview on Sunday.
Like Altman, both Trump and President Joe Biden made similar calls for unity.
"In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand United, and show our True Character as Americans, remaining Strong and Determined, and not allowing Evil to Win," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Saturday.
"Let's remember, here in America, while unity is the most elusive of goals right now, nothing is more important for us now than standing together. We can do this," Biden said in an Oval Office address on Sunday.