The Republican candidate in the presidential election Donald Trump has returned to Butler, Pennsylvania, where he survived an assassination attempt in July, as supporters on Saturday gathered for the rally, which came just a month before the November 5 election
Referring to the assassination, Trump told the crowd: “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.”
According to the former president, he returned said to Butler to show his supporters “stand stronger, prouder, united, more determined and nearer to victory than ever before”.
He then praised Corey Comperatore, a rally attendee who was fatally shot in the July 13 attack. Comperatore’s family were among those in attendance on Saturday, as were other victims injured in the shooting, Trump’s running mate, Senator JD Vance, and billionaire Elon Musk, who endorsed Trump moments after the assassination attempt.
During the July attack, Trump narrowly avoided a bullet fired by a man perched on a nearby roof. The former president briefly went to the floor as Secret Service agents rushed towards him. He then stood up, his ear bloodied, and pumped his fist in the air chanting “fight, fight, fight” as he was moved off stage.
The shooting transformed the election season, briefly giving Trump a bump in support as his campaign portrayed the incident as a showcase of Trump’s resiliency.
Still, the close call was largely overshadowed by US President Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the race in July and make way for Harris’s rise.
Speaking during the rally, Lara Trump, the co-chair of the Republican National Committee and Trump’s daughter-in-law, sought to again harness the post attack momentum. She framed Trump’s survival as divine intervention.
“If you had any question whether God exists and performs miracles we got our answer here July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania,” she said. “He spared Donald Trump’s life because he wasn’t finished with Donald Trump.”
The assassination attempt also raised the spectre of political violence in the US, with Trump briefly pledging to take a more unifying approach before returning to the charged rhetoric that has defined his political career.
In September, Trump had another brush with an attempted assassin as he golfed at his resort in Florida, further charging the political climate.
Trump has broadly blamed the violence on Democrats’ claims that he poses an existential threat to US democracy.
The former president had pushed a series of falsehoods surrounding the 2020 election. His supporters later stormed the US Capitol in an attempt to overturn Biden’s victory. Experts have warned Trump is laying the groundwork to repeat the effort if he loses this time around.
Speaking at the rally, vice presidential candidate Vance decried Democrats – and Harris – for arguing the former president could again undermine Democratic norms.
“I think you all will join me in saying to Kamala Harris, how dare you call [Trump] a threat to Democracy?” Vance said to cheers. “Donald Trump took a bullet for Democracy.”
Credit: Al Jazeera and news agencies
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