United States President Donald Trump was abruptly escorted out of his press conference shortly before 6 p.m. on Monday evening. He returned to the room a few minutes later and announced to reporters that a suspect had been shot by a Secret Service agent directly outside the White House grounds.

The Secret Service later confirmed the situation in a tweet. A 51-year-old male rushed the Secret Service officer, pulled an object from his clothing in a drawing motion, and then crouched into a shooter’s stance. The Secret Service officer then shot the individual in the torso. Both the man and the Secret Service agent were rushed to hospital. The Secret Service did not elaborate on why the officer was also taken to hospital. The White House perimeter was not breached at any point.

When President Trump returned to the conference room, he thanked the Secret Service for acting quickly, adding that he felt “very safe with Secret Service …. They are the best of the best.”

A reporter asked President Trump if he was rattled by the event, and in his usual calm manner, he responded, “I don’t know; do I seem rattled?”

It is unclear whether the incident had anything to do with President Trump or not, but the timing of the event, just minutes after the president began the press conference and occurring about a block from the entry to the White House’s northern perimeter, may be more than coincidence.

Coincidence or not, we are facing a more divided America than ever before. Attacks on the president are likely to continue.

Every year the division within America gets worse and worse. And 2020 has been no different. When it comes to Donald Trump’s presidency, the lines are clear. And the two sides facing off against each other have never been more ferocious.

In his November 2012 web exclusive, “Why the U.S. Is a House Divided,” Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry said, “The gravest danger is not from the enemies without, it’s from bitter division from within. That’s the real problem. That’s worse than all of them.”

Knowing the state of America today, this statement should make everyone sit up and listen.

In Matthew 12:25, Jesus Christ warned: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.” This warning is repeated in Mark 3:24-25 and Luke 11:17.

America has never been so divided, and God says that this will bring the nation to desolation. The recent death of George Floyd, a convicted criminal, and the following riots show how quickly the nation could implode. The country is that volatile.

President Trump said, “The world has always been a dangerous place. … It will continue, I guess, for a period of time.” While that’s true, the world, and especially America, is more dangerous than ever before. And it will continue as the prophesied collapse of America rapidly approaches.

In The United States and Britain in Prophecy, Herbert W. Armstrong wrote that America “is fast riding to the greatest fall that ever befell any nation!”

This is where division leads: to absolute destruction. The division we see daily in America through protests, riots, shootings and political fighting may be the “new normal,” but we cannot grow complacent to it. It is leading to the collapse of the greatest single-nation superpower ever, and it will be the greatest collapse this world has ever seen. To understand the rise and the fall of this great nation, as well as the hope to emerge after this fall, read The United States and Britain in Prophecy.