BUTLER, Pennsylvania — Thousands of supporters of former President Donald Trump descended on Butler, Pennsylvania, for his return to the place where he almost lost his life three months ago.
The demonstration of enthusiasm on Saturday, particularly from first-time rally-goers, may become an important advantage for Trump during the next 31 days, in which voters have to cast their ballots in an election that is predicted to be decided at the margins in battlegrounds such as the Keystone State.
The Trump campaign is commemorating those who were not as fortunate as the former president when Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, opened fire at Butler Farm Show on July 13, namely former volunteer fire chief Corey Comperatore, 50, who died during the shooting. Chants of “Corey, Corey, Corey!” and “Fight, fight, fight!” rang out repeatedly during the rally, even before Trump arrived.
The grounds and surrounding neighborhood adopted an almost carnival-like atmosphere, from food trucks and picnic rugs to an aerial parasailing display and roaring applause for the arrival of Trump Force One, with supporters projecting the same confidence they and the campaign had this summer when it appeared almost certain Trump would prevail over then-opponent President Joe Biden and return to the White House next year.
Cliff Pickerd, 58, a maintenance worker from Butler who walked to Saturday’s rally, told the Washington Examiner he was motivated to come to his first Trump event because of the assassination attempt and because of the former president’s new opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.
“The president of the United States, that was the former, wants to fight for our rights,” he said regarding why he had to make the effort to come to the event.
Rick and Renee Matassa, 49 and 47, respectively, had to drive from further afield, roughly an hour from Apollo, Pennsylvania. But the couple were also first-time Trump rally-goers before November’s election.
“This is history in the making,” Renee, a retail manager, told the Washington Examiner. “It’s really just the exposure that he gives people that shouldn’t be in power. That’s why they’re trying to take him out.”
Her husband, an equipment mechanic, noted that Republican voter registration has increased in Pennsylvania, a more data-driven indication of enthusiasm for Trump compared to crowd size estimations and counting yard signs.
Republican strategist Christopher Nicholas agreed, arguing the late surge in registration could result in inaccurate polls of Pennsylvania because pollsters do not have the new registrants’s contact information.
Trump and Harris are currently tied in Pennsylvania, 48% support apiece, according to RealClearPolitics‘s averages of head-to-head polling.
“Voter registration statistics in Pennsylvania in the last year especially have really accelerated gains for the GOP,” Nicholas told the Washington Examiner. “It’s not unusual to get a lot more voters here. They’re just trending noticeably more Republican than Democrat.”
According to the Pennsylvania state government, Democrats do maintain their voter registration edge, 3,941,347 to Republicans’ 3,608,032, but the GOP is closing the gap.
“In a state that has a narrow trading range between what happened in 2016 and what happened in 2020, something like that could make a difference,” Nicholas said. “You’re going to have 7 million voters vote, six and a half million or whatever. Trump won by 44,000 in 2016 and then Biden came back winning by 80,000 in 2020. Very small things could tilt the race one way or the other.”
While Pickerd and the Matassas are Pennsylvanian, Joyce Stizza, 71, traveled to Butler from over the border in Ohio because she hoped to support Trump to “turn this country around.” Similar to other rallygoers the Washington Examiner interviewed, Stizza’s most important issues are the economy and immigration.
“Immigration and the economy, the economy is in bad shape,” the Youngstown, Ohio, nurse said. “You can’t keep giving money away.”
But regardless of the enthusiastic atmosphere, Butler, the Western Pennsylvania town of 13,502 near Pittsburgh, has changed during the three months since Trump’s first assassination attempt
Dan Gray, 64, who was at the first rally, contrasted that event’s security to that that was apparent on Saturday, noting there was “more security.” Counter-snipers were in plain sight on many of the nearby roofs, and security personnel in camouflage gear patrolled the parameter in buggies.
“After the shooting started and everybody yelled ‘down,’ everybody went down,” the Punxsutawney coal miner told the Washington Examiner. “Then, after the shooting stopped, they said ‘everybody out,’ and there was no mad rush.”
Jeff James, 61, an HVAC installation company owner from Cabot, knew Comperatore and said recalling him as a man still causes him to “break down and cry,” declining to comment further.
James’s friend Dino DiGiacobbe, 60, praised Trump for coming back to Butler because “this is a great community.”
“It says a lot just for him to come back here after he almost lost his life,” the Sarver retired police officer told the Washington Examiner.
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On July 13, Trump emerged from the immediate confusion with a bloodied face after Crooks grazed the former president’s ear with his bullet. Before Secret Service agents rushed Trump from the stage to safety, the former president had the presence of mind to raise his fist and shout, “Fight, fight, fight!” He was next seen in public during the Republican National Convention, with supporters copying his ear bandage. He told attendees he was saved by turning his head toward a chart detailing illegal immigration figures when Crooks pulled his trigger.
Then-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle was pressured into resigning in July over the Butler assassination attempt. Congress passed legislation last week to fund the federal government until Dec. 20, which included $231 million in additional money for the Secret Service, as an independent investigation is ongoing into that incident and a second assassination attempt against Trump last month in Florida.
