Trump Returns To Venue Of July Assassination Attempt, Elon Musk Joins Him— Key Highlights

US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Saturday (5 October) retuned the site of a July campaign rally where he narrowly escaped an assassination attempt.

Referring to the would-be assassin as a "vicious monster," Trump also introduced billionaire Elon Musk during the event in Butler, Pennsylvania, praising him as an "incredible guy."

Trump began his speech behind bulletproof glass, humorously pretending to continue where he left off after being grazed by a bullet on 13 July, saying, "As I was saying."

"Exactly 12 weeks ago this evening, on this very ground, a cold-blooded assassin aimed to silence me," he told thousands of his supporters.

The assailant, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, had positioned himself on a rooftop, aiming directly at Trump. He was swiftly neutralised by a Secret Service agent.

As blood streamed down his face after the gunmen fired shot in July, Trump raised his fist and chanted "fight, fight, fight" to his supporters—an image that quickly went viral.

At the rally on Saturday, Musk praised Trump and took a swipe at 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.

This marked Musk's first appearance at a Trump rally since endorsing him on 13 July.

"There is no truer test than courage under fire," he said.

“Get everyone you know, and everyone you don't know, drag them to register to vote,” he told the Republican supporters.

“If they don't, this will be the last election. That's my prediction," Musk said.

Musk closed his nearly seven-minute speech with the rallying cry, "Fight, fight, fight, vote, vote, vote."

After the rally, Musk took to his official X account, warning that if Trump loses, the "Democratic Party will legalize so many illegals that there will be no swing states."

"America will become a single-party socialist state, just like what happened to California, where they just made requiring voter ID illegal," he said.

J D Vance, Trump’s vice-presidential running mate, also took the stage during the rally, held exactly one month before the 5 November election.

Aiming his remarks at Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, Vance said, "Donald Trump took a bullet for democracy. What have you done?"

Also Read: Chief Ministerial Ambitions Galore In Haryana As Congress Projected To Secure Majority In Exit Polls