‘Will never quit, never bend’: Donald Trump returns to July assassination site

Former US President Donald Trump returned on Saturday to the site of a campaign rally where an assassin’s bullet bruised his ear in July. It was Butler, Pennsylvania, where he vowed on Saturday that he would “never quit… never bend… never break”. As the Republican leader spoke from behind a bulletproof glass, the crowd cheered: “Fight, fight, fight”.
“Fight, fight, fight” echoed Trump’s rallying cry just after the July 13 shooting that grazed his ear and briefly upended the campaign for November’s election. Speaking from the same spot on Saturday, here’s what he said:
1. “As I was saying…,”Donald Trump kicked off his speech with the immigration chart he was looking at when gunshots rang out in July. He pretended he was resuming the speech that was interrupted when he was grazed in the ear by a bullet on July 13.
2. “I will never quit. I will never bend, I will never break. I will never yield. Not even in the face of death itself,” Trump said at the rally.
3. “We fought together. We have endured together. We have pushed onward together,” Trump said. “And right here in Pennsylvania, we have bled together. We’ve bled,” he added.
4. Donald Trump urged a large crowd to deliver an Election Day victory that he tied to his survival of the shooting. “And if we win Pennsylvania, we will win the whole thing,” Trump said Saturday.
5. Trump on Saturday suggested his opponents had “maybe even tried to kill me”. He said ominously, “I wasn’t supposed to make it.” In his speech, Trump hinted without evidence about facing “an enemy from within” more dangerous than a foreign adversary.
6. At exactly 6:11, the moment Trump was shot 12 weeks ago, the former president asked for a moment of silence as classical singer Christopher Macchio sang “Ave Maria” for roughly four minutes. A bell then tolled four times, once for each of the four victims, including Trump.
7. Standing behind protective glass that now encases the stage at his outdoor rallies, Trump called the would-be assassin “a vicious monster” and said he did not succeed “by the hand of providence and the grace of God.” There was a very visible heightened security presence, with armed law enforcers in camouflage uniforms on roofs.
8. In mid-speech, Donald Trump called up on stage Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and owner of social media platform X. It was his first time at a Trump campaign event since he endorsed the former president after July 13.
9. Musk jumped up on stage, pumping his fists in the air. “The true test of someone’s character is how they behave under fire,” Musk said, calling the election a “must-win situation” for Trump and urging the crowd to register to vote. “Be a pest to everyone you know,” Musk said.
10. Ohio Republican Senator JD Vance, Trump’s vice presidential running mate, rejected the argument from Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democrats that Trump represents a threat to democracy. “Donald Trump took a bullet for democracy. What the hell have you done?” Vance said.