Talk about an electrifying event.
A Chicago resident appears to have captured footage of a bolt of lightning striking the Trump Tower in Chicago on Tuesday — the same night Illinois primary voters overwhelmingly supported Donald Trump.
Michael Vithoulkas, 33, a Chicago resident, said in an interview with The Boston Globe that he and his fiance were watching the lightning storm, and had set up his iPhone to record the show of nature show in slow motion.
Just before 10 p.m., the race was called for Trump in Illinois. At 10:45 p.m., Vithoulkas says lightning hit the Trump Tower.
“There was a lot of lightning in the sky, but that was the only building that got hit that I saw,” he said.
Vithoulkas posted the video to Instagram with the caption, “Lightning storm ironically hitting the #Trump building on #supertuesday.”
As of Thursday night, the post had gotten more than 100 likes and two dozen comments.
“I think the thing most interesting is how people see the video and comment in either direction, whether supporting Trump or against Trump,” said Vithoulkas. “People who are against him usually comment that God is trying to say something. Trump supporters will say something like it’s showing the energy.“
When it comes to politics, Vithoulkas said he doesn’t have much of an opinion, but can understand why the video has made its rounds.
“The face that it hit the Trump building on Super Tuesday, and he had just won Illinois, made everyone want to share the video and talk about it,” he said.
While some say the video simply appears too good to be true, Vithoulkas swears by its authenticity.
“There were definitely people who commented on it thinking it was fake, but it’s 100 percent real,” he said. A verification call to the Trump Tower in Chicago went unanswered.
But, to Vithoulkas, the happenstance is just that to him — a happenstance.
“I was definitely more interested in the weather and catching the lightning,” he said. “If I had captured it hitting another building, I would have been just as excited.”
In Illinois, Trump received 38.8 percent of the vote from Republican voters. In Cook County, where Chicago is located, 40.7 percent of Republicans supported the real estate mogul.
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