Donald Trump recalled the ‘harrowing 16 seconds’ when a gunman unleashed a hail of bullets at him as he made a defiant return to the scene.
Addressing a crown in Butler, Pennsylvania the former president told a huge crowd: A very big thank you to Pennsylvania, we love Pennsylvania. And, as I was saying…’
Amid deafening cheers he then gestured to a large screen showing an immigration chart, the same one he had been showing when he was shot.
Trump said: ‘On this very ground, a cold blooded assassin aimed to silence me and to silence the greatest movement – MAGA – in the history of our country. MAGA, we love MAGA.
‘For 16 harrowing seconds during the gunfire time stopped as this vicious monster unleashed pure evil from his sniper’s perch not so far away.
‘But by the hand of Providence and the grace of God that villain did not succeed in his goal, did not come close to stopping our movement. He did not shake our unyielding resolve to save America.’
Looking out at tens of thousands of supporter Trump said: ‘This is a big crowd. First of all I want to thank the men and women of the Secret Service who threw their bodies on top of me.’
He added: ‘I return to Butler in the aftermath of tragedy and heartache to deliver a simple message to the people of Pennsylvania and America.
‘Our movement to make America great again stands stronger, prouder, more united and determined and nearer to victory than ever.’
He added: ‘I will never quit, I will never bend, I will never break, I will never yield, not even in the face of death itself.
‘We have fought together, we have endured together, we have pushed forward together, and right here in Pennsylvania we have bled together.’
Behind him in the bleachers was the firefighter uniform of Corey Comperatore, a supporter who was killed in the July 13 attack.
After calling for a moment of silence, bells tolled, and Trump called up opera singer Christopher Macchio to sing ‘Ave Maria’.
The former president paused the rally after a woman fainted and the crowd shouted ‘We love Trump!’ and sang the National Anthem for about four minutes as she was attended to.
Trump then ridiculed Vice President Kamala Harris after her teleprompter had technical issues during a recent rally.
‘The teleprompter went off she she did too,’ he said as the crowd laughed. ‘I don’t use teleprompters too much,’ Trump said.
He also criticized Harris for ignoring storm victims while she ‘wined and dined in San Francisco,’ at campaign fundraisers.
‘If I thought they were doing an even modestly decent job, I wouldn’t have run,’ Trump said.
He ran through a list of attacks on Harris, in particular her and Biden’s failure to secure the border.
‘She lost more than 325,000 migrant children that either dead, or missing or in slavery, never to see their parents again,’ he said.
‘Kamala Harris is a radical left Marxist, she was laughed at in congress, nobody thought she could win,’ he said.
On July 13 Trump’s ear was hit as gunman Thomas Crooks unleashed a hail of bullets from a nearby rooftop following a series of catastrophic failures by the Secret Service.
This time the Secret Service erected a ring off steel around the Butler Farm Show grounds, including snipers on the roof of the glass company warehouse Crooks shot from.
There were also cargo containers to block lines of sight, police on horseback, and drones buzzing overhead.
Many of the tens of thousands of supporters, including families, had been there on July 13 and returned.
J.D. Vance, his running mate, told the crowd: ‘An assassin tried to fill our hearts with terror. We’re here to say we can’t be intimidated, we can’t be stopped, we wo’t be denied.
‘Many of you were here and it is a testament your courage and your patriotism that you’re here again today.
‘Now, you heard the shots, you saw the blood. We all feared the worst. But you knew everything would be OK when President Trump raised his fist and high in the air and shouted “Fight! Fight! Fight!”;
The crowd chanted
‘How dare you talk about Donald Trump being a threat to democracy? Donald Trump took a bullet for democracy. What the hell have you done?