Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Saturday returned to the venue of a campaign rally where he was nearly assassinated in July, calling his would-be assassin a “vicious monster”. He also invited billionaire Elon Musk on stage in Pennsylvania’s Butler, saying that he is an “incredible guy”.
“As I was saying,” Trump said as he started speaking behind bulletproof glass, pretending he was resuming the speech that was interrupted when he was grazed in the ear by a bullet on July 13.
“Exactly 12 weeks ago this evening, on this very ground, a cold-blooded assassin aimed to silence me,” he told thousands of his supporters.
PRESIDENT TRUMP RETURNS TO BUTLER:
“As I was saying…” ? pic.twitter.com/0w7MaJZvSt
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 5, 2024
The gunman, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, had climbed a nearby rooftop with a direct line of sight to where Trump was speaking. He was subsequently shot and killed by a Secret Service agent.
As blood dripped down his face, Trump raised a fist and shouted “fight, fight, fight” to his supporters, an image that had gone viral on social media.
In his nearly 7-minute address, Musk praised Trump and took a dig at US President Joe Biden.
“We had one president who couldn’t climb a flight of stairs and another who is fist pumping after getting shot,” he said.
It was the first time Musk, the owner of social media platform X, attended a Trump poll rally since he endorsed him on July 13.
.@elonmusk delivers remarks in Butler, PA: pic.twitter.com/adh9xac0Ua
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 5, 2024
Trump “must win to preserve democracy in America,” Musk said, as he called the 2024 US presidential poll the “most important election of their lifetime”.
“The true test of someone’s character is how they behave under fire,” Musk said.
“Fight, fight, fight, vote, vote, vote,” he added.
JD Vance, Trump’s vice presidential running mate, also addressed the rally, which came exactly one month before the November 5 presidential election.
“Donald Trump took a bullet for democracy. What have you done?” Vance said in an apparent attack on Democrat nominee Kamala Harris.