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BUTLER , Pennsylvania – Donald Trump supporters gathered Saturday for a major rally at the same site where he narrowly avoided an assassin’s bullet in July — a profoundly shocking moment in a White House race still clouded by the threat of political violence.
Trump’s defiant and much-hyped return to Butler, Pennsylvania, comes exactly one month before the November 5 presidential election, and a day after President Joe Biden voiced concerns about whether the outcome would be peaceful.
The assassination attempt three months ago that left Trump bloodied and the entire country stunned was seen — at the time — as a pivotal moment that could tip the race in the former president’s favor.
He was riding a clear poll lead after crushing Biden in a TV debate and entered the Republican convention in Milwaukee as a political martyr — backed by the image of himself with a blood-streaked face and pumped fist, shouting “fight, fight, fight” as he was bundled off the stage by Secret Service agents.
Saturday’s rally is clearly aimed at recovering some of that momentum as a bitter and bruising campaign enters its final stretch.
And much has changed since his last visit.
Barely a week after the failed assassination bid, the presidential race was turned on its head by another stunning development when Biden dropped out and was replaced as the Democratic nominee by Vice President Kamala Harris.
