Former President Donald Trump is set to return today to the small Pennsylvania town where an assassin made an attempt on his life during a rally earlier this year. Trump, the Republican candidate for the November presidential election, will appear onstage alongside his running mate JD Vance, tech magnate Elon Musk, and the families of those affected by the July 13 shooting, which claimed one life and left two others wounded.
The event, held in Butler, a town that now holds symbolic weight for Trump supporters, has drawn national attention. It marks Trump’s first visit to the site since the attack and is expected to blend elements of political fervor with solemn remembrance of the victims.
The assassination attempt in July sent shockwaves through the nation, adding further intensity to an already charged political climate. Trump, who has built his campaign on themes of resilience, patriotism, and a call to “fight for America,” has portrayed the incident as a pivotal moment in his political journey. His campaign team has repeatedly emphasized that Trump “took a bullet for democracy” in Butler, underscoring the gravity of the attack and its role in galvanizing his support base.
“Butler has become quite a famous place — it’s like a monument now,” Trump remarked at a recent rally in Milwaukee, framing the site of the shooting as a symbol of endurance and defiance.
Trump’s return to Butler will be carefully managed, with tight security protocols in place, including protective glass surrounding the stage. The former president will deliver his speech on the same spot where eight shots rang out that fateful day, forever linking the small town to one of the most dramatic episodes in U.S. presidential campaign history.
The attack occurred during what had otherwise been a routine rally in the open fields of Butler, attended by thousands of Trump’s supporters. Trump had just started his speech and was six minutes in when shots were fired from a nearby building. The shooter, later identified as 33-year-old Thomas Crooks, was armed with an AR-15-style rifle. Crooks opened fire from a vantage point just a few hundred feet from the stage.
Eyewitnesses described chaos as the shots rang out. Trump, turning his head to look at a chart of immigration statistics, winced and instinctively grabbed his ear. His podium became a shield as Secret Service agents swarmed the stage, pushing Trump to safety.
“I remember hearing the shots and thinking it was firecrackers at first,” said Erin Autenreith, a rallygoer seated in the front row. “But then I saw him grab his head, and everything turned to panic.”
Blood trickled down Trump’s face from a superficial wound, later revealed to be caused by a bullet grazing his ear. Despite the initial shock, Trump quickly rose from his position of safety, fist raised in the air, and shouted, “fight, fight, fight!” The defiant gesture quickly became iconic, immortalized in photos and campaign memorabilia.
However, Trump’s first actual words, captured by the stage microphone, were more mundane. “Let me get my shoes,” he said, according to witnesses, as he prepared to flee the stage. While the comment provided a rare, unguarded moment in the midst of crisis, it was his rallying cry to the crowd that stuck in the minds of his supporters.
The shooting left the political landscape reeling. One man, 45-year-old fire chief Corey Comperatore, was killed while protecting family members from the gunfire. Two other attendees were wounded. Crooks, the gunman, was swiftly shot dead by law enforcement officers after a tense standoff. Authorities have since confirmed that Crooks acted alone, but the motive behind the attack remains unclear.
In the immediate aftermath, President Joe Biden, who at the time was still leading the Democratic ticket, reached out to Trump, expressing his condolences. “We may be on opposite sides of this race, but there is no place for violence in American politics,” Biden said in a statement that was echoed by leaders around the world.
Despite calls for calm, the incident only deepened the fissures in the already polarized U.S. political environment. Trump’s supporters, as well as some political commentators, began to frame the assassination attempt as the result of incendiary rhetoric from Democratic leaders, who had painted Trump as a threat to U.S. democracy. The former president himself hinted at this during several post-attack rallies, alleging that his political opponents’ heated language had “crossed the line.”
In the days following the shooting, scrutiny turned to the Secret Service, with many questioning how a gunman was able to position himself in such close proximity to Trump during a high-profile rally. The building from which Crooks fired was only a few hundred feet from the stage, raising concerns about how such a vulnerable location had gone unnoticed during security sweeps.
“They should have had eyes on every building, every rooftop,” said one retired Secret Service agent, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “This was a catastrophic oversight.”
Though the agency has remained largely silent on the specifics of the investigation, sources within the Secret Service have acknowledged that security procedures at open-air events may need to be reevaluated in the wake of the Butler incident.
The Butler shooting wasn’t the only assassination attempt Trump has faced in recent months. On September 15, a man was arrested at Trump’s Florida golf course, Mar-a-Lago, after being spotted with a rifle and a GoPro camera. The FBI has stated that this individual had been tracking Trump’s movements for several days. Fortunately, law enforcement was able to intervene before any violence occurred.
The two attempts on Trump’s life have only fueled conspiracy theories and accusations from Trump’s most ardent supporters. Many of them believe that the former president is being targeted as part of a larger plot to prevent him from reclaiming the White House. Trump himself has alluded to these theories in recent speeches, though he stops short of fully endorsing them.
“It’s very strange, isn’t it?” Trump said at a rally in Ohio. “You look at what’s happening — I’ve been under attack for years. But I’ll tell you what, they won’t stop me. They won’t stop us.
For Trump’s campaign, the Butler shooting has become a narrative of survival and triumph. His supporters have embraced the event as proof of Trump’s resilience, turning the near-assassination into a rallying cry. Merchandise sellers at Trump rallies quickly capitalized on the incident, creating T-shirts, hats, and even action figures commemorating what they describe as Trump’s “miraculous escape.”
“The man is bulletproof,” said one vendor in attendance at Trump’s Milwaukee rally. “You can’t take him down. That’s what this is about. He’s fighting for America, and we’re fighting with him.”
Sales of the “Fight, Fight, Fight” shirts, emblazoned with Trump’s raised fist and the date of the Butler shooting, have become popular among his supporters, further embedding the incident into the lore surrounding his 2024 campaign.
The assassination attempt is not the only major event to shake up the 2024 race. In a stunning announcement in late August, President Biden withdrew from the campaign, citing personal health concerns. His exit left a vacuum in the Democratic Party, which was quickly filled by Vice President Kamala Harris, now the party’s candidate for president.
The Biden-Harris administration has faced its own set of challenges, and Harris is now running on a platform that emphasizes unity and progress, while contending with the fervent support Trump continues to enjoy.
Trump’s rally in Butler today is expected to be a mix of commemoration for the victims of the July 13 shooting and a rallying cry for his supporters as the November election looms closer. Trump has already signaled that he intends to pay tribute to Corey Comperatore, the fire chief who lost his life protecting his loved ones during the attack. He has also promised to honor the two men who were injured.
“We’re going to be there on Saturday. It’s going to be a really big event, and it’s going to be something,” Trump said at a recent rally. “We’ll celebrate the life of Corey, I think. And I want to celebrate the two gentlemen that got hit really bad.”
As Trump prepares to step back onto the stage in Butler, surrounded by tight security and protective glass, the town has become a symbol of both tragedy and triumph. For Trump and his supporters, it represents a battle won — a testament to his ability to rise above adversity and continue the fight for the White House. But for the country, the Butler shooting remains a stark reminder of the volatility of American politics in an era where the stakes, and the risks, have never been higher.
