BUTLER: Less than a month before the long-awaited US presidential election, Republican candidate Donald Trump returned to the site of his assassination attempt while addressing a large crowd in Pennsylvania during a rally also featuring the tech billionaire. Elon Musk.
“As I was saying,” Trump said as he appeared on stage, pretending to resume the speech that was interrupted when a bullet grazed his ear on July 13.
The former president of the United States was attacked by Thomas Matthew Crooks and the latter was shot dead by Secret Service personnel.
During the rally in Pennsylvania, Trump greeted firefighter Corey Comperatore, who was shot and killed by the shooter, and two other people who were wounded in the shooting.
At 6:11 p.m., the exact time the shots broke out on July 13, the former president asked for a minute of silence. A bell then rang four times, once for each of the four victims, including Trump.
In his speech, the Republican presidential candidate darkly and without evidence suggested that he would face “an internal enemy” more dangerous than a foreign adversary. Of the gunman, he said that “a cold-blooded killer tried to silence me” but “he didn't stop our movement.”
The crowd appeared to number in the tens of thousands, many of them wearing Trump badges. Some chanted the “fight, fight, fight” slogan that Trump used to rally his supporters moments after he was shot.
“We're here to say you can't intimidate us, you can't stop us,” Ohio Republican Sen. JD Vance, Trump's vice presidential running mate, told the crowd.
Vance rejected the argument from Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democrats that Trump represents a threat to democracy.
“Donald Trump took a bullet for democracy. What the hell have you done?” Vance said.
People cheered as Trump's plane flew over the rally before landing as speakers played the theme song from the movie “Top Gun.”
Trailers were lined up around the scene as a protective measure to block the surrounding view, including the building where the shooter had opened fire.
Republican officials hope Trump's return to Butler will boost turnout among his most die-hard supporters in Pennsylvania, a state he and his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris, see as crucial to winning on Nov. 5.
“I'm going back to Butler because I feel like I have an obligation to go back to Butler,” Trump told the NewsNation cable news network earlier this week.
“We never finished what we were supposed to do,” he said.
Additionally, the presidential candidate, during his speech, called on stage a powerful ally, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and owner of the social media platform X. It was his first time at a Trump campaign event since he endorsed to the former president after July. 13.
“The true test of someone's character is how they behave under fire,” Musk said, calling the election a “Trump must-win situation” and urging the crowd to register to vote.
