Butler 2.0: Trump Returns to Site of Assassination Attempt for Campaign Rally
Former President Donald Trump hosted his second campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. The last time he was in Butler, he was shot in the side of the head.
After Trump took the stage, he pointed to the same graph — depicting the drastic rise in illegal immigration under the Biden-Harris administration — he had had onscreen when he was shot on July 13 and began, “As I was saying…” Noting that Election Day was exactly one month away, the former president declared, “We stand on the verge of the four greatest years of the history of our country. We can make these the four greatest years. We’ll turn it around so fast that your head will spin.” He added, “With victory on November 5, we are going to redeem America’s promises and unlock the extraordinary future that is just within our reach.”
“I’ve been on a mission to rescue our country from a failing and very corrupt political establishment, very corrupt. We have to change it,” Trump continued. He stated, “I will never quit. I will never bend. I will never break. I will never yield, not even in the face of death itself.” Trump also said that what the political Left has “never understood” is that the Make America Great Again (MAGA) political movement is not “about me.” He explained, “It’s always been about you. It’s been about a lot of people, millions and millions of people. The biggest ever in the history of this country, maybe anywhere.”
He continued, “And every day, people who are the heart and soul of our country, they love our movement, they love our country, and they know they are doing right. Your hopes are my hopes. Your dreams are my dreams. And your future is what I am fighting for every single day.”
“America will, once again, be strong and confident and free,” Trump promised. Referring to the assassination attempts made against him since July, he went on, “That’s why I’m here today. You know, I could, right now, be having a beautiful life. I don’t have to be here. I could have said I could be on a gorgeous beach someplace. I have such nice property, I could be in Monte Carlo, as an example, but I’d rather be in Butler.”
Thomas Crooks opened fire on Trump and rallygoers at 6:11 p.m. EST on July 13. At 6:11 on Saturday, Trump announced, “Exactly 12 weeks ago, this evening, on this very ground, a cold blooded assassin aimed to silence me and to silence the greatest movement, MAGA, in the history of our country.” He continued, “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. He did not come close.” Trump went on, “He did not stop our movement. He did not break our spirit. He did not shake our unyielding resolve to save America from the evils of poverty, hatred, and destruction. Yet we are here this evening in record numbers.”
Two rallygoers were wounded during the July shooting, in addition to Trump, and one man was killed. Corey Comperatore was a firefighter who died shielding his wife and daughters from the sniper’s fire. Trump asked attendees on Saturday to pause for a moment of silence in Comperatore’s honor and invited world-renowned tenor Christopher Macchio to sing the “Ave Maria.” Trump placed Comperatore’s firefighter’s uniform in the seats and spent time with the late husband and father’s family, who attended the event. “Corey Comperatore was an incredible husband and father, a devout Christian, a veteran, and a proud former fire chief, very respected within the town. Everybody knew him. Few men volunteered to run into fires, but Corey was one of those who did. He ran into fires,” Trump said.
He continued, “And when the sound of gunshots pierced the air on that July evening, Corey leapt into the fire one more time. In his last seconds on this earth, he threw himself on the top of his wife and daughters. He didn’t want them hurt.” He added, “Every father and husband in America hopes that if the time came, we would have what Corey had: tremendous courage, tremendous guts, and he wanted to protect his family, and he did protect his family.”
Trump also invited James Sweetland, a doctor who tried to save Comperatore, to speak. “I had the opportunity to take care of Corey Comperatore during the last Butler rally,” Sweetland said. “The fact that all you are here,” he went on, addressing attendees, “makes you all heroes. You’re standing up for your candidate and the right to celebrate your candidate.” Sweetland gave the crowd a “disclaimer” and said that he “used to be a Democrat.” He joked, “Please forgive me for that.”
Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk, who purchased Twitter and renamed the social media site “X,” also spoke. “The true test of someone’s character is how they behave under fire. We had one president who couldn’t climb a flight of stairs and another who was fist-pumping after getting shot, ‘Fight, fight, fight,’ blood coming down the face,” Musk said. He asked, “Now, America is the home of the brave, and there’s no truer test than courage under fire, so who do you want representing America?” The crowd cheered, “Trump!” Musk continued, “I think this election, I think it’s the most important election of our lifetime. This is no ordinary election. The other side wants to take away your freedom of speech, they want to take away your right to bear arms, they want to take away your right to vote, effectively.”
“This is a must-win situation,” Musk observed. He said that he had “one ask” for all Americans watching the rally: “Register to vote. And get everyone you know — and everyone you don’t know — drag them to register to vote.” The billionaire tech entrepreneur said that if conservatives don’t register to vote and show up to vote, “This will be the last election. That’s my prediction.”
Trump’s running mate, Senator J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), also spoke at the rally, quoting Scripture. Referring to the July assassination attempt, Vance said, “Now I believe, as sure as I’m standing here today, that what happened was a true miracle. And on that day, America felt the truth of Scripture.” Citing Psalm 23:4, the senator continued, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.”
The Trump campaign has estimated that over 105,000 Americans attended the rally on Saturday. Over the course of the rally, attendees also sang “How Great Thou Art” and “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
S.A. McCarthy serves as a news writer at The Washington Stand.