thunderbolt

Across the floor and walls sprawl grand mosaics and sculptures depicting lions, piles of gold, thunderbolts and ancient Roman gods.

The same familiar blue and gold thunderbolt greeted Mike Williams as he drove through the welcoming Southern California streets.

The reaction resembles the thunderbolt that struck the U.S. aerospace community — and the government — in 1957, when the Soviet Union placed Sputnik in orbit while American rockets were still blowing up on their launchpads.

Trump also survived a gunshot that could have taken his life, and a little more than a week later absorbed another thunderbolt — President Biden’s departure from the race.

It sent a thunderbolt of fear down Asian and minority communities.