Donald Trump returned to Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday to the site of the July attempt on his life, declaring the gunman who tried to kill him did “not stop our movement,” and praising God for intervening.
He also thanked the Secret Service agents who “threw their bodies on top of mine” after he was grazed by a bullet. “They were on top of me so fast, and there was not even a moment of doubt in their minds.”
The Republican nominee for president recounted: “For 16 harrowing seconds during the gunfire, time stopped as this vicious monster unleashed pure evil from his sniper’s perch, not so far away, but by the hand of providence and the grace of God, that villain did not succeed in his goal.
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“Did not come close. He did not stop our movement. He did not break our spirit.”
Trump’s repeat rally in the crucial battleground state marked his first return to the site where 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks fired eight shots at him while he was speaking on stage—wounding Trump’s ear, and killing an off-duty firefighter.
The event featured the wife and children of slain firefighter Corey Comperatore, who was shielding his family when he was shot dead on July 13.
Trump’s arrival on stage at the made-for-TV spectacle was preceded by an appearance from his son Eric Trump and his wife, RNC co-chair Lara Trump, who also introduced conservative voter registration influencer Scott Presler.
Trump invited around 60 “special guests” to the rally, including his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, and billionaire Elon Musk, who is reportedly bankrolling Trump’s third presidential campaign, and plans to effectively run the federal government (and fire tens of thousands of federal workers) as the head of “government efficiency” if Trump is elected.
“As you can see, I’m not just MAGA. I’m Dark MAGA,” said Musk, the SpaceX mogul and conspiracy theorist who bought Twitter for $44 billion and renamed it X. He called for the protection of free speech and the Second Amendment, and encouraged people to vote because it is a ”must-win” situation.
“Register to vote and get everyone you know, and everyone you don’t know, drag them to vote,” Musk said. “Test people now. If they don’t, this will be the last election. That’s my prediction.”
Several of Trump’s loyalists in Congress also joined the event, including Republican Rep. Mike Kelly, chairman of the House task force investigating the security failures that led to the attempt on Trump’s life. The former and possibly future president also invited a slew of county sheriffs from across Pennsylvania, the biggest of the key battleground states where the election will be decided.
Trump campaign senior adviser Corey Lewandowski said on Fox News just minutes ahead of the rally that Pennsylvania, with its 19 electoral votes, is “the white whale for Republicans.” Trump prevailed in the Keystone State over Hillary Clinton in 2016, but Joe Biden, the native son of Scranton, carried the state in 2020.
After demolishing Biden by default in the debate that ended the president’s reelection bid, Trump appeared headed for an election victory after literally dodging a would-be assassin’s bullet. Just two days later, ahead in the polls, he arrived a martyr at his party’s nominating convention in Milwaukee.
But now he’s locked in a dead heat with Kamala Harris 31 days before Election Day. Saturday’s rally was designed to put the president ahead. The Trump campaign heavily promoted the event in spite of serious staffing and logistical constraints on the Secret Service.
Democrats are also battling to win Pennsylvania. At another rally in a rural county on Saturday, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) told supporters, “Pennsylvania picks the president and that’s why we are counting on counties just like Beaver to jam it up and deliver Harris-Walz in 2024.”
