Donald Trump supporters gathered Saturday for another rally where an assassin’s bullet narrowly missed killing him in July, upending a White House race still clouded by the threat of political violence.
Trump’s defiant and much-hyped return to Butler, Pennsylvania, comes exactly one month before the November 5 presidential election, the outcome of which President Joe Biden suggested on Friday might not be peaceful.
Security was noticeably tighter this time, with sniper squads positioned on several surrounding buildings, and a surveillance drone deployed overhead.
“There’s a lot going on that’s unnerving,” said Heather Hughes, 43, who had traveled from New Castle in must-win Pennsylvania.
“Do I think he’s safe? No, I think there’s going to be another attempt. But I think he’s going to make it through.”
Trump was riding a clear poll lead after crushing Biden in a TV debate in late June, and entered the Republican convention in Milwaukee as a political martyr.
Pictures of Trump with a blood-streaked face, pumping his fist and shouting “fight, fight, fight” as he was bundled away by Secret Service agents, became defining images of the campaign.
On Saturday, many Trump supporters wore shirts emblazoned with assassination iconography, with some sporting ear coverings recalling the bandage the former president wore after the shooting.
The rally appears aimed at recovering that momentum as a bruising campaign enters its final stretch. Trump is bringing along running mate J.D. Vance, and iconoclastic billionaire Elon Musk said on his X platform that he too would be addressing the crowd.
Much has changed since Trump’s last visit.
Race upended
Barely a week after the failed assassination bid, the presidential race was turned on its head when Biden dropped out and was replaced as the Democratic nominee by Vice President Kamala Harris.
The Harris campaign has clawed back the poll deficit — reversing it in some states — and the seismic events in Butler were largely overtaken.
Trump has sought to revive the incident, billing his return to the place where he “took a bullet for democracy.”
Harris meantime traveled to North Carolina to meet Saturday with first responders and people hit by Hurricane Helene, which killed at least 220 people as it ripped through the southeast.
Trump has criticized the federal response, alleging without evidence that the Biden-Harris administration wrongly redirected relief funds to migrants.
Election violence?
Trump will speak behind protective glass on Saturday — a stark reminder of persistent security fears, underscored when another attempt on Trump’s life was foiled last month.
The spotlight will be on the Secret Service, pilloried for failing to secure the building a few hundred feet from where the Butler shooter managed to fire eight shots at Trump before being shot dead.
Ten days later the director of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, resigned.
Along with Trump, two supporters were wounded and one — firefighter Corey Comperatore — was killed.
“Fight, fight, fight,” rally-goers chanted Saturday, echoing Trump’s post-shooting call, as they waited for their political idol.
“He said he’d come back to finish his speech, and to me (that takes) guts,” said Robert Dupain, 53, a local construction worker who was at the July rally.
Trump and his campaign have turned on their head the Democrats’ warnings about the former president representing a threat to democracy.
“The Republicans aren’t violent… I think they (the Democrats) incite. They keep talking about Hitler and the end of democracy,” said retiree Glen Scheirer, who was with five relatives wearing identical “By the grace of God” T-shirts showing Trump after the shooting.
In the immediate aftermath of the Butler incident, all sides urged a lowering of the political temperature.
But Trump in particular quickly reverted to the inflammatory rhetoric and personal attacks that are his signature, and he has refused to commit to accepting the eventual result in November.
He has also been indicted over the effort to subvert the 2020 election that culminated in his supporters storming the Capitol.
Asked on Friday about the possibility of further election-related violence, Biden said he did not know if the vote would be peaceful.
Rally-goer Heather Hughes said she fears there could be more assassination attempts.
“I think (Trump’s opponents) want rid of him,” she said, “because they know he’s gonna make a better America.”
