Trump returns to place where he survived assassination attempt

United States

Donald Trump returned to where a man tried to shoot him in July.

“Tonight, I return to Butler after a tragedy and with a heavy heart to deliver a simple message to the people of Pennsylvania and the American people,” Trump said. “Our movement to make America great again is stronger, prouder, more united, more determined and closer to victory than ever before.”

On July 13, a gunman shot Mr. Trump to kill him, but hit only his ear. The former president then raised his fist and shouted “Fight!” before being carried away with blood on his face.

The Republican presidential candidate’s campaign was still eager to maximize the event’s media potential with just 30 days left in his race against his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.

Mr. Trump claimed the assassin tried to silence him, calling him a “vicious monster” and saying he failed “by the hand of providence and the grace of God.”

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One of the most anticipated guests of the evening was Elon Musk, who took the stage jumping and pumping his fists in the air after Mr. Trump called him a “great gentleman” and said he had “saved free speech.”

“President Trump has to win to preserve the Constitution. He has to win to preserve democracy in America,” said Musk, who supported Mr. Trump after the assassination attempt. “This is a must-win situation.”

Mr. Musk, who bought Twitter and renamed it X and who has embraced conservative politics, met with Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance backstage, wearing a black “Make America Great Again” hat. A billboard on the way to the rally read “IN MUSK WE TRUST” and showed his photo.

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Earlier, Mr Trump’s running mate, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, took the stage at the Butler Farm Show to address the former president and reflected on the events of that day while harshly criticizing Democrats for calling Mr Trump a “threat to democracy,” saying such language is “inflammatory.”

“You heard the gunshots. You saw the blood. We all feared the worst. But you knew everything was going to be okay when President Trump pumped his fist in the air and shouted, ‘Fight, fight!’” “, said Mr. Vance, who was chosen as vice presidential candidate less than two days later.

“Now, I believe as firmly as I stand here today that what happened was a real miracle.”

Field Filled

A massive crowd lined the stage to the press box several hundred yards away at the event billed as a “tribute to the American spirit.” Area hotels, motels and inns were full, and some rallygoers arrived Friday.

The crowd was lined up as early as sunrise Saturday. A memorial for volunteer firefighter Corey Comperatore, who died while protecting his family from gunfire, was set up in the stands. His firefighter jacket was displayed and surrounded by flowers. His sisters wept as speakers paid tribute. There was a heavy security presence, with armed law enforcement in camouflage uniforms on rooftops.

Mr. Trump’s plane flew overhead before he arrived, prompting cheers from those gathered on the grounds below.

Former President Trump had planned to use the event to honor Mr. Comperatore and the two other injured July 13 participants, David Dutch and James Copenhaver. They were hit, like Mr. Trump, when the 20-year-old gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, opened fire from an unsecured rooftop nearby before being fatally shot by snipers.

The building from which Crooks fired was completely obscured by tractor-trailers, a large grassy perimeter and a fence. Most of the bleachers were now on the sides, rather than behind Mr. Trump.

How Crooks managed to outwit law enforcement that day and climb to the top of a building within gunshot range of the former president is one of many unanswered questions about the Secret Service’s worst security failure in decades.

Butler County District Attorney Rich Goldinger told WPXI this week that “everybody is doubling down on their efforts to make sure this is done safely and properly.”

Mike Slupe, the county sheriff, told the station that he estimated the Secret Service was deploying “four times the number of assets” it had in July. The agency has suffered a painful reckoning over its handling of two assassination attempts against Mr. Trump.

Butler County, on the western edge of a highly contested presidential state, is a stronghold for Donald Trump. He carried the county with about 66 percent of the vote in both 2016 and 2020. About 57 percent of the county’s 139,000 registered voters are Republican, compared with about 29 percent who are Democrats and 14 percent who are other.