Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, addresses a campaign rally from behind bullet resistant glass at the Butler Farm Show grounds on October 5, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Saturday marks exactly one month to Election Day 2024, and former President Donald Trump returned to Butler, the scene of a July attempt on his life that left a rally-goer dead.
In an election year that has had a nonstop carousel of unprecedented moments, surely the image of Trump with blood streaming down his face, fist raised in the air, will be one of the most indelible.
Pennsylvanians knew the state was going to be a battleground going into 2024, with a former president and unpopular incumbent — the two oldest candidates ever to seek the Oval Office — ready to slug it out until November. But to say that things have shifted in the presidential race since July 13 would be an understatement.
The former presumptive Democratic nominee, President Joe Biden, left the race July 21 and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, who Democrats nominated at their convention in August. Trump now faces a younger opponent who has cut into his poll numbers and popularity, rather than the elderly Biden who appeared to have lost his fastball.
Trump opened his remarks “As I was saying…” and showed the chart on immigration he was displaying at the July 13 rally when the shooting began.
He praised Corey Comperatore, who was killed, as a “great man” and asked for a moment of silence at 6:11 p.m., the time the first shots were fired July 13. “Corey’s not with us tonight and he should be,” Trump said, and to Comperatore’s wife, he said “Helen and the entire family, I can only imagine the depths of your grief.”
He thanked the Secret Service and local and state police for protecting him, and the medical professionals who treated him after the shooting.
After a quiet start, Trump returned to familiar topics, including immigration. He once again promised mass deportations and repeated a claim about “13,099 murderers” entering the country. A fact-check from the Washington Post found that most of the people in question are in detention, not out on the streets.
“I could be in Monte Carlo but I’d rather be in Butler,” Trump said, repeating his frequent observation that he’s so wealthy that he doesn’t need to run for president.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk (at podium) endorses Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show fairgrounds on October 5, 2024 in Butler. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Tesla CEO Elon Musk took the stage at Trump’s invitation, wearing a black “Make America Great Again” hat and spoke about the importance of free speech. “Free speech is the bedrock of democracy,” he said, after railing against a new California law that bars local governments from requiring voters to present identification. “You must have free speech in order to have democracy.” Musk considers himself a “free speech absolutist” and has relaxed rules on his social media platfom X, formerly Twitter, against hate speech and misinformation.
Trump said he had spoken with officials in North Carolina, which was particularly hard hit by Hurricane Helene, about Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service, and he “called up Elon” to ask him for assistance.
He made a similar claim during a visit to Valdosta, Georgia on Sept. 30, but White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said on X that “this is already happening,” and pointed to a fact sheet about the initiative from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Politico reported Sept. 29 that FEMA had announced the Starlink base stations were being deployed.
Trump also railed against the new California law, and turned the conversation to Harris, calling her ascension to the top of the ticket a “coup,” and complaining he had spent “$150 million beating Biden, and as soon as he was down and out for the count they said ‘let’s take him out,’” referencing the June debate where Biden performed poorly.
Trump made familiar promises to bring back manufacturing and automobile production to the U.S., and his promises to eliminate taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security. He reiterated his opposition to Nippon Steel’s acquisition of U.S. Steel. And, Trump said, the U.S. will lead the world in space exploration.
“We will reach Mars before the end of our term, Elon promised me,” Trump said.
Trump repeated his false claim that an Olympic boxer was transgender and allowed to fight in a women’s boxing match.
U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), the GOP nominee for vice president, told the audience it was “a testament to your courage and patriotism that you’re here again today.”
He led the crowd in chants of “fight, fight” and “Corey, Corey,” in honor of Comperatore.
“An assassin tried to fill our hearts with terror but we’re here to say we won’t be intimidated,” Vance said. He lashed out at Democrats, who he said “continued to use dangerous inflammatory rhetoric” when speaking about Trump.
Vance said he spoke to Trump after the second assassination attempt. “He said, ‘I’m OK, I’m a little pissed off because I was about to make a birdie on the sixth hole and they wouldn’t let me finish,’” Vance said.
He referenced his Oct. 1 debate with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president, and said he felt “a little bad” for Walz “because he has to defend the indefensible.”
Tim Walz and J.D. Vance tangle in wonky, largely cordial vice presidential debate
Vance repeated the false claims that Trump has made about a lack of response from government agencies to communities affected by Hurricane Helene, referencing “reports” that the military and National Guard were being delayed.
The White House addressed the issue in a statement on Saturday.
“Unfortunately, as our response and recovery efforts continue, we have seen a large increase in false information circulating online related to the federal response to Hurricane Helene,” the statement from White House Communications Director Ben LaBolt and director of digital strategy Christian Tom reads. “A number of scam artists, bad-faith actors, and others who want to sow chaos because they think it helps their political interests are promoting disinformation about the recovery effort, including ways to access critical and life-saving resources. This is wrong, dangerous, and it must stop immediately.”
The former president’s son Eric Trump called his father an inspiration. Eric Trump’s wife Lara, co-chair of the Republican National Committee said she knew Donald Trump would want to come back to Butler after the assassination attempt.
Lara Trump mentioned the RNC’s goal of recruiting 100,000 people to volunteer as poll watchers and said they had exceeded their goal.
“Our message is very clear; if you are a person considering cheating in our elections we will find you, we will track you down and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law,” Lara Trump said.
Returning to Butler
Crowds in Butler began arriving early Saturday morning, with traffic near the entrance along Evans City Road slowed to a crawl by 10 a.m. Security was tight, with snipers visible on rooftops surrounding the fairgrounds and on site.
Trump fans wearing “Make America Great Again” hats and other Trump gear with his slogans like “Drain the Swamp” waited in a long line to get through metal detectors. Three monster trucks were on display with images of Trump: one red, one blue and one white. There were vendors grilling hamburgers and hotdogs with the smoke wafting into the line.
People made small talk with each other in line, exchanging details about where they were from, their veteran status, their thoughts on politics, media and Democrats.
Jurnee Kalgren, 29, of Rossiter, Pa. arrived early in the morning to attend former President Donald Trump’s rally in Butler Oct,. 5, 2024. (Photo by Abigail Hakas for the Capital-Star)
Jurnee Kalgren, 29, of Rossiter, said she attended a Trump rally in Indiana, Pa. and came Saturday to show her support for the former president.
“I love that he is back here and he is not scared, and we wanted to show that we’re not either,” she told the Capital-Star. “So I’m glad that he’s back and we’re showing that we don’t care.”
Seth Leibowitz, 46, from Tarentum, brought some of his paintings to Saturday’s rally, depicting Musk and Trump.
“I figured this was a monumental occasion,” Leibowitz told the Capital-Star. “It’s his return to the place where somebody tried to take his life. And this is history in the making here. We’re at a crucial point, I believe, the tipping point in the geopolitical stage, and I’m here to show my support for somebody that’s willing to talk across the table to foreign leaders that we deem as enemies.”
Jennifer Osburg, 54, of Tarentum, was attending her first Trump rally on Saturday, and working with Early Vote Action, an organization run by conservative activist Scott Presler, that works to register conservative voters.
” We’re trying to get as many people registered to vote as possible,” Osburg said. “A lot of people think ‘my vote doesn’t count. My vote doesn’t make a difference. I’m just one person.’ But that kind of apathy leads to election failure. You know, when you when you have that pervasive feeling amongst registered voters, for people that could register to vote, then you end up losing the election. We’re trying to work against that.”
Seth Leibowitz, 46, from Tarentum, brought some of his paintings depicting Elon Musk and former President Donald Trump to Trump’s rally in Butler Oct. 5, 2024 (Photo by Abigail Hakas for the Capital-Star).
State of the race
While he’s expected to honor Comperatore and the first responders who were at the scene on July 13 at Saturday’s rally, it’s also likely Trump will express his unhappiness with special counsel Jack Smith, whose 165-page motion outlining Trump’s alleged actions to try to overturn the results of the 2020 election was unsealed on Wednesday.
Much of the motion concerns Trump’s interactions with individuals in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Judge Tonya Chutkan is tasked with determining which of Smith’s allegations can stand in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s July 1 ruling that former presidents enjoy immunity for some official acts and duties, but no immunity for personal acts. Smith argues that Trump acted in a private capacity in the aftermath of the 2020 election, in the lead-up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by an angry mob.
The presidential race in Pennsylvania remains extremely close, with most polls showing Harris and Trump neck-and-neck. The battle for the state’s 19 electoral votes has brought the candidates and surrogates to Pennsylvania’s urban, suburban and rural areas, in an attempt to reach the undecided voters that may ultimately tip the scales one way or the other.
While Trump beat Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania in 2016, Biden edged out a win over Trump in 2020, by around 80,000 votes.
Trump’s campaign announced Saturday evening that he will make two appearances in Pennsylvania on Wednesday, visiting Scranton in the afternoon and holding a rally in Reading that evening.
This story was originally published by Pennsylvania Capital-Star. Like Maine Morning Star, Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kim Lyons for questions: info@penncapital-star.com. Follow Pennsylvania Capital-Star on Facebook and X.
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