You’ve seen it. Everyone has. It’s that shot of Donald Trump, blood streaked across his cheek, right fist shoved into the air, while Secret Service agents swarm him like a human shield. Behind him, the American flag is draped almost too perfectly against a crisp blue sky. It’s the kind of image that looks like it was staged for a high-budget political thriller, but it happened in a chaotic, terrifying blur on a July afternoon in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Ever since that moment at the 2024 rally, everyone has been calling it "the Trump Pulitzer prize photo." But here is the thing: the story of who actually won the Pulitzer for those shots—and why—is a lot more complicated than most people realize. Honestly, there’s a bit of a "snub" narrative floating around that isn't entirely accurate, but it isn't entirely wrong either.
Who actually took the famous fist-pump photo?
The man behind that specific, defiant frame is Evan Vucci, the chief photographer for the Associated Press in D.C. If you feel like he’s a pro at this, it’s because he is. Vucci isn’t some lucky amateur who happened to be standing there with an iPhone. He’s a veteran who’s covered wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
When the pops started—those "firecracker" sounds that turned out to be AR-15 rounds—Vucci didn't duck. He ran toward the stage.
His brain went into what he calls "autopilot." He actually told reporters later that he was mentally telling himself to "slow down, think, compose." That’s the hallmark of a world-class photojournalist. While the world was screaming, he was checking his f-stop and anticipating where the Secret Service would move the former president.
The Pulitzer Prize Twist: Mills vs. Vucci
This is where the confusion starts. People keep searching for the "Trump Pulitzer prize photo" assuming Vucci won the big prize for the fist pump.
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Actually, the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography went to Doug Mills of The New York Times.
Mills was also there that day, just feet away from Vucci. While Vucci captured the defiance of the aftermath, Mills captured the physics of the attempt. He caught a one-in-a-million shot: a gray streak of air representing the actual bullet whizzing past Trump’s head.
The Pulitzer committee chose Mills’ sequence for its technical impossibility and the sheer timing required to capture a projectile moving at roughly 3,000 feet per second.
A tale of two photos:
- Evan Vucci (AP): Captured the iconic "Fist Pump" image. It became the symbol of the 2024 campaign, used on t-shirts, posters, and endlessly on social media. It's the "emotional" winner.
- Doug Mills (NYT): Captured the "Bullet" image. It won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize. It’s the "technical" winner.
It’s kinda wild to think about. You have two legendary photographers standing in the same "buffer" zone, both Pulitzer winners already (Vucci won in 2021 for the George Floyd protests; Mills won in 1993 and 1999). They both did their jobs perfectly, but they captured two completely different versions of the same history.
Why people think the Vucci photo was "snubbed"
There’s a lot of chatter online about why the fist-pump photo didn’t take the top spot. Some critics and fans of the image say it was "too good." They argue that because the composition was so perfect—the flag, the blood, the triangular shape of the agents—it felt almost like "photoganda" or a movie still.
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Some photographers even whispered that the image was "dangerous" because it was so flattering to Trump’s image of strength. But let’s be real: Vucci didn’t pose the guy. He just saw the shot and took it.
The Pulitzer committee usually looks for "raw and urgent" storytelling. By choosing Mills, they rewarded the documentation of the event (the shooting itself) over the symbol (the defiance).
The technical madness of that day
Think about the pressure. You’re at a rally. It’s hot. Suddenly, people are dying—one spectator was killed, others were hurt. Your heart is pounding.
Vucci was using a wide-angle lens. He had to get low, right at the edge of the stage, to get that "hero" angle looking up at Trump. He’s literally looking through a viewfinder while people are shouting "Get down!"
Meanwhile, Doug Mills was using a high-speed shutter—$1/8000$th of a second. That is the only reason the bullet showed up as a visible distortion in the air. If he had been shooting at a normal speed, the bullet would have been invisible. That’s why the Pulitzer board leaned toward him; it was a feat of photography that almost shouldn't be possible.
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What this means for history
We don't really use the word "iconic" correctly most of the time. We use it for a cool outfit or a catchy song. But the trump pulitzer prize photo (whether you mean the one that won or the one that went viral) is actually iconic. It changed the trajectory of an election.
Historians are already comparing Vucci’s shot to Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima. It has that same "monumental" feel. Even if it didn't win the 2025 Pulitzer, it's the image that will be in the history books 50 years from now.
Key takeaways and insights
If you're a photography student or just a news junkie, there are a few things to learn from the Butler shooting coverage:
- Experience is everything: Both Vucci and Mills had decades of experience in war zones and high-pressure political events. You don't get those shots without "muscle memory."
- The "Winning" Photo isn't always the "Famous" Photo: The Pulitzers have their own criteria, often favoring technical difficulty or deep investigative sequences over a single viral moment.
- Anticipation beats reaction: Vucci didn't wait to see what Trump would do; he positioned himself at the stairs because he knew that’s where the evacuation would happen.
If you want to see the full sequence of these photos, the best place is the official Pulitzer Prize website (for Mills' work) or the Associated Press archives (for Vucci's). Looking at the frames taken seconds before and after the famous shots gives you a much better sense of just how much chaos was actually happening on that stage.