About 15 minutes before former President Trump took the stage for his Saturday rally in Butler, he shook hands with Jondavid Longo, the mayor of nearby Slippery Rock.
“You did a great job,” Trump said. He had watched Longo’s pre-rally speech on a livestream while aboard Trump Force One, his Boeing 757. “I heard every word. Keep up the good work. How are you doing out there?”
“Mr. President, Butler County will be handing Pennsylvania over to you,” Longo replied. “We are working hard.”
Later, Longo was sitting about 15 feet from Trump’s lectern when he recognized the sound of gunfire from his time in the Marines. He immediately threw his wife to the ground and covered her as best he could. He saw Secret Service agents pounce on Trump and then the former president stand up, pumping a fist in the air in what Longo could only describe as an act of “triumphant defiance.”
Republican presidential candidate and former President Trump is helped off the stage at a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania, after being shot on Saturday.
(Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press)
“It will go down in history as one of the most iconic images of the last century and perhaps of all American history,” he said.
Butler County residents know the events of that day could have been much worse, with a would-be assassin poised to kill Trump and upend the nation.
The predominantly Republican community is now grappling with that notoriety and mourning the losses.
The assassination attempt also affects residents of this key state, which could determine who wins the presidential election in November, reflecting the country's political divisions.
“I don't think any community wants to be known for a murder,” said Donald Shearer, a Republican member of the Butler City Council who has not decided whether he will support President Biden or Trump.
Although Pittsburgh and surrounding counties have traditionally voted Democratic, Butler County has been a Republican stronghold. The last time a Democratic candidate won a majority of the vote in Butler was when President Lyndon B. Johnson defeated Republican candidate Barry Goldwater in 1964.
“What happens to Pennsylvania happens to the White House,” Longo said.
Most of his constituents in Slippery Rock, a Butler County district, grew up in rural, small-town and religious communities, he said. Many are veterans. There is also a culture of volunteerism, specifically in fire departments.
Longo’s voters care most about Second Amendment rights, “medical freedom” in the face of COVID-19 mandates and restrictions, and “financial independence,” he said.
Jondavid Longo, mayor of Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, takes a photo with former President Trump.
(Jondavid Longo)
“They want to be able to go to work, earn a living and put food on the table without the government reaching into their pockets,” he added. “Those are the things Butler County residents believe Trump embodies.”
The attempted murder has left area residents on edge. In the days that followed, television news trucks lined the street outside the Butler Farm Show, where the rally was held.
“I blame the media,” said Cheryl Gunther, vice president of the Butler County Republicans United political action committee, who was volunteering at the rally when Trump was shot. She believes the media has unfairly associated Trump with white supremacists and the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Chuck Pascal, the Democratic chairman of Armstrong County, which sits next to Butler, attributes the shift from “traditional Republican red” to “MAGA red” to the region’s deindustrialization in the early 1980s. As much of the world’s steel production gradually shifted to China, American plants became less profitable and struggled to compete with foreign companies, some of which received government subsidies.
“People who were union workers and lost their jobs because of policies just got mad at everyone and now they vote against anything that resembles the establishment,” he said. “Back then, Democrats supported ordinary people, and over time, through trade policies, they put everyone out of work. As a result, they don’t trust anyone anymore.”
Many people in Butler County, Pascal said, want their communities to go back to the way they were, meaning they don't want to commute an hour and a half to work a better-paying job, and they want their children to stay in the area even after they earn an advanced degree.
“We just need to get back to talking to each other as humans,” he said.
Some Trump supporters here expressed their problems with some of his policies and said they would be willing to vote for Democratic candidates if they agreed with his platforms.
Shari Bennetti outside her garage.
(Noah Goldberg/Los Angeles Times)
Shari Bennetti lives about a quarter mile from the rally and was hosting a Trump party at her home when she saw the shooting on television. She is a registered Republican but has voted for Bill Clinton in the past.
“I always voted for whoever I felt was the best candidate, whether it was Republican or Democrat, because I voted both ways,” he said.
Bennetti said she supports Trump because she believes he does not have “his hands in his pockets” and is not as influenced by lobbyists and large corporations.
“Trump was a businessman and he was all about business, and people hated him,” she said. “I thought he was going to do well, without knowing it, I just had a feeling in my heart that he was going to do well.”
Amy Bocci, the daughter of a steel mill worker, grew up in a staunchly Democratic home in Monroeville, a Pittsburgh suburb. As a child, she said, she didn't know much about or care much about politics. She identifies as a Christian and attended church every Sunday.
It wasn't until about 30 years ago, when she moved to Butler County, that things started to change politically for her.
Bocci, 50, disliked some of the policies of former Presidents Clinton and Obama. In particular, she disagreed with their stances on abortion.
“I just like traditional family values,” she said. “I felt like they were moving away from all that.”
Bocci has since voted Republican and plans to vote for Trump for a third time this fall. During Saturday's rally, Bocci and her husband, Dave, decided to watch the event from their friend's house, about a quarter mile from the Butler Farm Show fairgrounds.
Bocci burst into tears after watching Trump get shot and his motorcade drive down her street as first responders transported the former president to a hospital.
“This is a very hard-working, family-oriented community,” Bocci said. “We love God. We love our military. We’re generally good country people, and there’s a great love for Trump here.”
Lori Sarver stands at a roadside Trump merchandise store, where she bought numerous T-shirts.
(Noah Goldberg/Los Angeles Times)
Lori Sarver, 54, has lived in Cranberry Township in southwestern Butler County for 40 years, but previously lived in Allegheny County. She voted for Obama twice, but said she regrets her decision and declined to specify why.
On Monday, Sarver stopped by a roadside Trump merchandise store and bought a half-dozen T-shirts.
She said she voted for Trump in 2016 because of his tougher policies on immigration and the U.S.-Mexico border. Sarver also believes Trump would be better for jobs and inflation rates, as well as gas prices.
But she said she was disappointed by the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Trump has taken credit for choosing the Supreme Court justices who overturned the landmark decision that gave women the right to abortion.
“I’m a woman,” Sarver said. “And, as you know, horrible things happen to women and I don’t think anyone should tell me what to do with my body. That hurt me.”
Chuck and Jody Pflugh of Eau Claire, Butler County, also said they support abortion rights and the former president. Other issues, such as the economy, are more important to them.
“There will never be a president whose every word comes out of his mouth that I agree with,” Chuck Pflugh said.
But local Democrats have not given up hope that the abortion issue could sway voters.
“Nobody wants to see women subject to some of the laws that come out of the states,” said Kate Lennen, who is running for a state Senate seat that covers parts of southern Butler County.
A roadside trailer sells Trump 2024 merchandise in Butler, Pennsylvania.
(Summer Lin/Los Angeles Times)
A big question for residents here is whether any election can change the region's long-term economic fortunes.
The working-class county has struggled to reinvent itself after the loss of the steel industry.
“We're not a wealthy area. We're struggling economically. We have a crumbling infrastructure. We used to be a steel town. We've lost a lot of our city residents to the suburbs,” said Butler City Council member Troy Douthett.
Colby King, a 40-year-old urban sociologist, grew up in Butler and moved to South Carolina after college. He returns to Butler almost every year to visit his parents.
“It’s a complex and diverse place,” he said of Butler, noting the economic decline that has occurred over the years as some well-paying jobs disappeared and more young professionals left for urban areas. “There’s more than one story and there’s no one incident that represents the entire community.”
King's father, William, 71, who was born and raised in Butler, worked as a steelworker for nearly three decades before retiring in 2010 from the Cleveland-Cliffs plant.
When he started in the 1970s, there were almost 5,000 steelworkers at the factory where he worked. By the time he retired, there were about 1,500.
William King said he is a lifelong Democrat and plans to vote for Biden in the election. Although there are many Trump supporters in his neighborhood, he said he would never vote for the former president.
“I don’t think either of them are completely honest, but I think Biden is more honest,” he said. “Trump has been impeached, he’s been impeached, and he’s corrupt. That’s it. Corrupt people are voting for corrupt people.”
