Trump Goes Back to Butler Assassination Site to Bolster Campaign

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will return to the site of the July assassination attempt, grappling publicly with the aftermath of the attack that bloodied his ear and upended the campaign.

(Bloomberg) — Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will return to the site of the July assassination attempt, grappling publicly with the aftermath of the attack that bloodied his ear and upended the campaign.

Campaign officials say the rally Saturday at the Butler Farm Show — which comes exactly one month before Election Day — will be a tribute to first responders and the three other victims of the shooting, which left two rally-goers with significant injuries and another supporter dead. 

It’s also a moment to revisit the now-iconic image of Trump emerging from a scrum of Secret Service agents — his fist defiantly raised, blood streaming down his face as he implored his supporters to “Fight! Fight! Fight!” — that instantly entered the annals of campaign lore.

The attack offered a rush of momentum into the start of his party’s national convention, prompting a flood of endorsements from influential lawmakers and business leaders, including billionaires Elon Musk and Bill Ackman, and rallying support from Republicans previously wary of a third consecutive election with Trump atop their ticket. But aides and allies say that as much as the moment changed the election, it also affected the man.

Trump has been consumed by the threat to his life, they say, an obsession that has only deepened in recent weeks after another would-be assassin stalked him on his West Palm Beach golf course. Warnings from intelligence officials that Tehran is plotting payback for his administration’s killing of an Iranian general has intensified his preoccupation.

The US Secret Service heightened security around the former president as a result of the threats. Congress last month approved more funding for Trump’s safety, codifying the additional protection.

As an already wild campaign year has further vacillated  — most significantly with the late replacement of President Joe Biden with Kamala Harris atop the Democratic ticket — Trump has increasingly made the assassination attempts a central focus of his campaign.

In the immediate aftermath of Butler, Trump said he would pursue a posture of unity and hope — and planned only to discuss the shooting once, at his convention speech, “because it’s actually too painful to tell.”

Instead, references to the attempt now pepper nearly every conversation Trump has, serving as a prism through which his messaging is filtered. 

He speaks frequently of a chart depicting a rise in encounters with undocumented migrants — a “beautiful chart,” he calls it — that he turned to look at during the first Butler rally, a quick movement which likely saved his life. He’s mused divine intervention could have been at play, while embracing the opportunity to connect the shooting with a key policy theme of his campaign.

Similarly, Trump frequently references intelligence about Iran’s desire for a revenge killing to criticize Biden for allowing Tehran to access previously frozen assets as part of prisoner swap and energy deals. He’s blamed the White House for new Secret Service restrictions on outdoor events — which he prefers because he can draw larger crowds — suggesting his opponents are capitalizing on the threats he faces. More broadly, the threats of political violence are cast as symptoms of a nation spiraling into decline.

Ever the raconteur, Trump frequently deploys gallows humor — joking that he might begin Saturday’s rally in Butler by quipping, “As I was saying…” – and proudly suggests the site has taken on historical significance.

“Butler has become quite a famous place.” Trump recently said at a campaign event in Wisconsin. “Now people ride through the streets of Butler looking at as though it were a monument.”

And he’s used law enforcement struggles to access information on the phones of his would-be assassins as a cudgel against Apple Inc., part of a broader populist campaign against Silicon Valley.

Yips and faith

Other instances are much more personal. Trump has recounted his nervousness when a stranger seemed to approach the stage at a September rally on Long Island. He’s mused that he might be battling the ‘yips,’ like a professional ballplayer who suddenly loses key abilities. In an interview with NewsNation earlier this week, he said he was “always worried” about personal safety.

He’s told associates he thinks God saved him so he could serve again in the White House. In recent days, Trump posted an image of St. Michael on Truth Social, a Catholic saint who leads the battle against good and evil. It’s a nod to both Trump’s growing faith, one ally said, and his campaign’s efforts to ensure support with religious voters.

In private, allies say the former president sometimes touches the ear the bullet grazed. At a recent meeting at Trump Tower with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, he spoke about how close the bullet whizzed by his head.

Trump advisers say all of this is part of Trump reckoning with the threat of political violence that looms large over his last campaign. 

Inflection point

Staffers, who were also in the line of fire at the Butler assassination attempt, are also processing the events. They have navigated a charged campaign where Iran hacked their internal emails and armed security was deployed outside offices after repeated threats. 

The second Butler rally offers Trump and his staff an opportunity to move past the shooting, allies say, as well as the chance to appear sympathetic and strong as they seize on any advantage in a close election.

A raft of supporters and Republican allies — including Musk, running mate JD Vance, Pennsylvania Senate candidate David McCormick, Trump’s son Eric Trump and singer Lee Greenwood — are set to appear in Butler, much the way many lawmakers supported him in-person during his New York hush money trial. 

Trump is expected to pay homage to a local firefighter and father, who died after being shot by a stray bullet, as well as the two other individuals seriously injured at the rally.

“It’s going to get a lot more media attention than a typical rally would,” said Alex Conant, the former communications director for Marco Rubio’s 2016 presidential campaign and Tim Pawlenty’s 2012 presidential bid. “Look, Trump always wants the campaign to be about him.”

With lots of changes in the race over the past three months, Conant said, “Trump is eager to reclaim the spotlight.”

The Trump campaign declined to answer questions about the security at the upcoming rally, which allies and advisers expect to be quite robust.

“The willingness of Pennsylvanians to join President Trump in his return to Butler represents the strength and resiliency of the American people,” Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

—With assistance from Hadriana Lowenkron.