Trump is going back to the first place to try to kill Musk, Vance

Former President Donald Trump’s return to Butler, Pennsylvania, the site of his July 13 assassination attempt, quickly changed from a memorial to the fatal shooting to his usual format for the rally.

Within 20 minutes of his nearly 90 minutes In his speech, Trump turned to attacking Vice President Kamala Harris and asked allies like Tesla CEO Elon Musk to help him make his case for reelection.

“Twelve weeks ago, we all shot up America,” the Republican presidential nominee said at the same location as the July shooting. “We will not take another four years like this. We will not have a country left.”

The Trump campaign billed the event as a way to honor Corey Comperatore, a former firefighter who was killed at the July rally, and the city of Butler, which has drawn national attention since the shooting.

Comperatore’s family were present as featured guests, along with David Dutch, one of the attendees at the rally who was shot and wounded. Before Trump’s keynote remarks, several local Butler officials took the stage to recount what happened on July 13.

But Butler’s meeting was not just a commemorative event.

After nearly 20 minutes of honoring Butler and the victims of the rally, Trump turned to his usual stump speech.

“Who is Harris? We will never know who he is, because if we do, our country will be in big trouble,” Trump said.

With the Nov. 5 election nearly four weeks away, Butler’s event marks one of Trump’s last campaign opportunities to make his re-election case — in a swing of at least 19 votes.

Trump also used the meeting to highlight several new members of his team.

In the middle of Trump’s speech, Elon Musk went up to the stage to praise the former president.

“The true test of a man is how he behaves under fire,” said Musk, wearing a black MAGA baseball cap, a black blazer and an “Occupy Mars” T-shirt.

“As you can see, I’m not just MAGA, I’m Dark MAGA,” the tech billionaire said.

“This is not a normal election,” he continued. “President Trump must win to preserve the Constitution. He must win to preserve democracy in America.”

Trump is facing charges related to allegations of trying to reverse his loss to President Joe Biden in the 2020 election.

Musk publicly endorsed Trump in the hours after Butler’s assassination attempt, but he has influenced Republican candidates and causes for years. Since then, their alliance has grown stronger as Musk has helped raise money for Trump’s campaign. Trump also said he would create a government efficiency commission to investigate and eliminate waste across the federal government, which Musk proposed.

Ohio Sen. JD Vance, who was chosen as Trump’s running mate days after Butler’s shooting, also spoke at the rally.

“What’s happening here at Butler is a metaphor for the United States of America,” said Vance. “There’s no…no defeat we can’t turn into victory.”

Other close Trump allies gave brief introductory remarks including real estate executive Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son Eric Trump and co-chairman of the Republican National Committee and Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump.

Trump returned to Butler in a very different presidential race compared to his last visit.

On July 13, Trump was still happy about Biden’s poor performance in their June 27 debate, which led to growing doubts among Democrats about the candidate’s ability to win a second term.

Since then, Biden has dropped out of the race, Harris has taken over the Democratic ticket and has begun to erode Trump’s edge.

Trump first announced his plan to return to Butler in July, 13 days after the rally shooting.

Going into Saturday’s rally, the Secret Service said it had beefed up its security plan after being under intense scrutiny following a shooting in July and another attempt to kill Trump in September.

On Friday, the Secret Service pledged to make “extensive changes and improvements” to its communications capabilities.

“The former President receives a high level of security and we take the responsibility of ensuring his safety and security very seriously,” spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement.