Trump returns to the site of the failed assassination attempt

Trump's defiant and much-hyped return to Butler, Pennsylvania, comes exactly a month before the Nov. 5 presidential election, the result of which President Joe Biden said Friday may not have been peaceful.

This time security was significantly tighter, with sniper squads stationed on several surrounding buildings and a surveillance drone stationed overhead.

“There's a lot going on that's concerning,” said Heather Hughes, 43, who traveled from New Castle in necessarily-winnable Pennsylvania.

“Do I think he’s safe? No, I think there will be another try. But I think he’ll make it.”

Trump was comfortably ahead in the polls after defeating Biden in a televised debate in late June and entered the Republican convention in Milwaukee as a political martyr.

Images of Trump, his face covered in blood, clenching his fist and shouting “Fight, fight, fight” as he was taken away by Secret Service agents became defining images of the campaign.

On Saturday, many Trump supporters wore T-shirts with iconography of the assassination, and some wore ear coverings reminiscent of the bandage the former president wore after the shooting.

The rally appears aimed at regaining that momentum as a bloody campaign enters its final stages. Trump is bringing his Vice President JD Vance with him, and iconoclastic billionaire Elon Musk said on his X platform that he, too, would address the crowd.

A lot has changed since Trump's last visit.

Barely a week after the failed assassination attempt, the presidential race was turned upside down when Biden dropped out and was replaced as the Democratic nominee by Vice President Kamala Harris.

The Harris campaign has made up the polling deficit – even reversing it in some states – and the seismic events in Butler have been largely overcome.

Trump has tried to resurrect the incident by announcing his return to the place where he “took a bullet for democracy.”

Harris, meanwhile, traveled to North Carolina to meet Saturday with first responders and people hit by Hurricane Helene, which killed at least 220 people as it moved through the Southeast.

Trump criticized the federal response and claimed without evidence that the Biden-Harris administration misdirected aid money to migrants.

Trump will speak from behind protective glass on Saturday – a stark reminder of the ongoing security fears that were heightened when another attempt to kill Trump was foiled last month.

The spotlight is on the Secret Service, which is being pilloried for failing to secure the building a few hundred feet from where the Butler gunman fired eight shots at Trump before he was shot .

Ten days later, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned.

In addition to Trump, two supporters were injured and one – firefighter Corey Comperatore – was killed.

“Fight, fight, fight,” rally participants chanted Saturday, echoing Trump’s call after the shooting as they waited for their political idol.

“He said he would come back to finish his speech, and to me that takes courage,” said Robert Dupain, 53, a local construction worker who attended the July rally.

Trump and his campaign have upended Democrats' warnings that the former president posed a threat to democracy.

“The Republicans are not violent… I think they (the Democrats) are inciting. They keep talking about Hitler and the end of democracy,” said retiree Glen Scheirer, who wore identical “By the Grace of God” with five relatives. T-shirts with Trump after the shooting.

Immediately after the Butler incident, all sides called for a lowering of the political temperature.

But Trump, in particular, quickly resorted to the inflammatory rhetoric and personal attacks that are his trademark, and he refused to commit to accepting the eventual outcome in November.

He was also charged over efforts to undermine the 2020 election that culminated in his supporters storming the Capitol.

Asked Friday about the possibility of more election-related violence, Biden said he didn't know whether the vote would be peaceful.

Rally participant Heather Hughes said she feared more attacks could occur.

“I think (Trump’s opponents) want to get rid of him,” she said, “because they know he will create a better America.”