Donald Trump returns Saturday to the place where he survived an assassination attempt 12 weeks ago, in what his campaign says will be a launching pad for the White House.
The former president will triumphantly take the stage before a huge crowd on the grounds of the Butler Farm Show in Pennsylvania for what is expected to be a wild rally.
Trump joked that he will start by telling the crowd, “Like I said….”
Just minutes after he began speaking at the venue on July 13, gunman Thomas Crooks unleashed a hail of bullets, one of which grazed Trump on his right ear.
Donald Trump is seen with blood on his face surrounded by Secret Service agents as he is taken off stage during a campaign event at Butler Farm Show Inc. in Butler, Pennsylvania, July 13, 2024
Elon Musk will attend the meeting when Donald Trump returns to Butler, Pennsylvania
Former Buffalo Township Fire Company chief Corey Comperatore was killed, while rallygoers David Dutch and James Copenhaver were hospitalized with injuries.
The US Secret Service killed the 20-year-old gunman who managed to climb a nearby roof amid a series of major security lapses.
After the shooting, Trump clenched his fist and implored his supporters to “fight” as blood streamed down his face.
Announcing his return to Butler, the Republican nominee said he planned to “celebrate a unifying vision for America’s future at an event the likes of which the world has never seen before.”
A statue of former Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is placed on a truck ahead of a campaign event at the Butler Farm Show, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania
The assassination attempt has resonated deeply in the mountainous community north of Pittsburgh.
Butler County, named for American Revolution hero General Richard Butler, has not voted Democrat since 1964.
Trump won the county by 38 points in 2016, but that dropped to 32 points in 2020.
It’s exactly the kind of conservative stronghold where he needs to boost turnout to win the state of Pennsylvania, which could ultimately decide the election against Kamala Harris.
Trump’s campaign sees his return as an opportunity to seize the spotlight from Harris and boost enthusiasm among Republican ranks with a rally that will attract tens of thousands of people.
Grandstands are set up prior to a campaign event for Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump, at the Butler Farm Show, Friday, October 4, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania
A detail of the ear on a sculpture of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania
Earlier this week, Trump said he felt an “obligation” to go back.
He said: ‘We never finished what we had to do. And I said that day when I got shot, we’re coming back, we’re coming back.”
Many of the supporters who were there on July 13 are also returning.
Jen Golbeck, a professor at the University of Maryland who monitors pro-Trump internet forums, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “All gatherings have a pilgrim feel, but this is going to be THE ONE.
“There are certainly people who feel and say to me, the hand of God touched Trump.”
Trump has invited dozens of special guests, including family members of Corey Comperatore, to whom he will pay tribute.
There will also be Elon Musk, who will make his first public appearance at a campaign event for the former president since endorsing him shortly after the assassination attempt.
Helen and Corey Comperatore in photos from Helen’s Facebook page. Corey was shot and killed by Thomas Crooks on July 13, 2024, at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Elon Musk gives a slight bow of the head as US President Donald Trump congratulates him in the Firing Room Four after the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft on NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA May 30, 2020
Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law, who will also be there, said: “What you’re going to see in Butler is the kind of strength and leadership that we desperately want in that White House. I think it’s going to be an emotional rally.”
Most people in Butler were at the rally or know someone who was, and graffiti reading “Fight” has appeared all over the area.
Kim Geyer, a Republican Butler County commissioner who was behind Trump when he was shot, will go back.
She said, “The people who want to feel the inspiration and energy of the Trump movement will be there to support President Trump and see him finish what he started.”
The entrance to the Butler Farm Show grounds in Butler, Pennsylvania
Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign, said: “The willingness of Pennsylvanians to join President Trump in his return to Butler represents the strength and resilience of the American people.”
Trump has made dozens of public appearances since the shooting.
His allies insist he is not fundamentally changed by the narrow escape, or when another would-be gunman shoved a gun barrel through the fence of his Florida golf course last month.
“When you almost lose your life, it stays with you, it stays with him,” said Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, a close ally of Trump. ‘But that doesn’t change his decision. His determination is as strong as it has ever been.”