Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump returned Saturday to the campaign rally where he was nearly assassinated in July, calling his would-be assassin a “vicious monster.” He also invited billionaire Elon Musk to join him on stage in Butler, Pennsylvania, calling him an “incredible guy.”
“That’s what I said,” Trump said as he began his speech behind bulletproof glass, pretending to resume the speech he left off on July 13 when a bullet grazed his ear.
“Exactly 12 weeks ago tonight, in this very place, a cold-blooded assassin sought to silence me,” he told thousands of supporters.
President Trump returns to Butler:
“As I said…” 🔥 pic.twitter.com/0w7MaJZvSt
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 5, 2024
The gunman, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, had climbed onto a nearby rooftop, staring directly into the area where President Trump was speaking. He was then shot and killed by a Secret Service agent.
Trump, blood pouring from his face, raised his fist and told his supporters to “fight, fight, fight” in a video that went viral on social media.
During Saturday’s rally, Musk praised Trump and harshly criticized U.S. President Joe Biden.
“We had a president who couldn’t walk up the stairs, and we had a president who was fist-pumping after getting shot,” he said.
This is the first time Musk, the owner of social media platform X, has attended a poll rally for Trump since endorsing him on July 13.
.@elonmusk speaks in Butler, Pennsylvania: pic.twitter.com/adh9xac0Ua
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 5, 2024
Musk called the 2024 US presidential election “the most important election of our lifetime,” and said, “To protect American democracy, Trump must win.”
“There is no truer test than courage under gunfire,” he said.
“Drag everyone you know and everyone you don’t know to register to vote,” he told Republicans. “If we don’t, this will be the last election. That’s my prediction.”
“Fight, fight, fight, vote, vote, vote,” he said, ending his seven-minute speech.
After the rally, he said on his official X account that if Trump doesn’t win, “Democrats will legalize so many illegal things that there will be no battleground states.”
“America will become a one-party socialist state, similar to what happened in California when they made voter ID requirements illegal,” he said.
If @realDonaldTrump doesn’t win, the “Democratic” party will legalize so many illegal things that the battleground states will cease to exist.
America will become a one-party socialist state, just as California made voter ID requirements illegal. https://t.co/I9FhicDbfP
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 5, 2024
President Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance, also spoke at the rally, which came just a month before the Nov. 5 presidential election.
“Donald Trump took a bullet for democracy. What did you do?” Vance said in an apparent attack on Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
