By Michael Austin October 5, 2024 at 5:29pm
Former President Donald Trump picked up right where he left off in his return trip to Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday for a campaign rally.
The return to Butler was much anticipated and marked the first time Trump had visited since the July 13 assassination attempt.
Saturday reports indicated as many as 60,000 supporters of the president had flooded the town — which has a population of roughly 13,500 people — to join the rally.
Trump began the rally in the usual Trump fashion with a witty one-liner referencing a well-known graph.
For those unfamiliar, at the time of the July 13 shooting, Trump had just slightly moved his head to look at a graph showing illegal immigration statistics when one of the would-be assassin’s bullets whizzed by his head, striking Trump through the ear.
One visualization that went viral on X showed that had Trump not moved his head to look at the graph, the bullet may have hit the center of his head, likely killing the Republican nominee.
WARNING: The following video contains images that some readers may find disturbing.
NEW: New visualization shows just how close Donald Trump was from losing his life during the Pennsylvania rally.
Trump says he turned his head at the last moment to look at the illegal immigration statistics that were on the big screen.
“That chart that I was going over saved… pic.twitter.com/yqkS6UcPpy
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) July 16, 2024
On Saturday, Trump chose to pick up exactly where he had left off on July 13, bringing the graph back to do so, before delivering a clever line.
Breaking — President Trump returns to Butler, PA. Begins rally where he left off before he was shot, “So, as I was saying!” pic.twitter.com/T6fdSBW3Di
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) October 5, 2024
“As I was saying,” Trump said before pointing at the graph on Saturday.
In response, the present crowd erupted with applause.
The rally is set to be an eventful one, and not just for the usual reasons.
Billionaire Elon Musk, an ardent supporter of Trump, appeared onstage alongside the former president.
Musk had kind words for Trump at the rally.
ELON MUSK: “The true test of someone’s character is how they behave under fire. We had one president who couldn’t climb a flight of stairs and another who was fist-pumping after getting shot! FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT!” pic.twitter.com/Tl6iBqsIkF
— MAGA War Room (@MAGAIncWarRoom) October 5, 2024
“The true test of someone’s character is how they behave under fire,” Musk said.
“And we have one president who couldn’t climb a flight of stairs and another who was fist-pumping after getting shot.”
Manager of Publishing Operations
Michael wrote for a number of entertainment news outlets before joining The Western Journal in 2020 as an intern. Michael was then hired on as a staff writer/reporter. He now serves as Manager of Publishing Operations. His current role involves managing the editorial team and operations; helping guide the editorial direction of The Western Journal; and writing, editing, curating and assigning stories as needed.
Birthplace
Ames, Iowa
Nationality
American
Education
Iowa State University
Topics of Expertise
Cultural Politics, Entertainment, Biblical Worldview
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