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3 months ago
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Donald Trump brought on stage the staff member he credits with saving his life and said he decided he didn't need to be more 'nice' to Democrats after he came close to death.
The former president returned to Pennsylvania just 17 days later after the historic assassination attempt as he looked to woo voters in the battleground state.
If Trump had not turned his head to look at an immigration chart on the screen at his Butler rally, it's likely the bullet would have gone into his head rather than graze his ear.
And now Trump says the woman who made the graphic is the reason he is alive.
While many speculated Trump was 'changed' after the shooting, he continued the attacks and unveiled even more nicknames for his new 2024 rival Kamala Harris at his latest rally – just his third since being shot.
Donald Trump brought on stage at a Harrisburg, Pennsylvania rally the staff member who created the graphic that caused him to turn his head and likely avoid death at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania earlier this month
'Thrilled to be back in this beautiful state,' Trump said. 'As you know this is my first return to the state since my rally in Butler.'
He vowed: 'We're going back to Butler, by the way.'
Just 225 miles from the scene where he walked away from his rally with a bloody ear, Trump was back to his usual programming hurling a barrage of insults against Vice President Harris.
Speaking at the Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg, Trump railed against the 'personality makeup' he claims has attempted to turn Harris into beloved late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
He also flaunted the immigration chart that 'saved my life' and brought on stage for the first time the staffer who created the graphic and who he credits to preventing disaster.
'I love that chart. I'm going to sleep with that chart for the rest of my life,' Trump said.
The campaign staffer who made the graph came on stage and quickly said 'hi' into the microphone.
'She's a computer genius. She saved my life,' the former president lauded.
Trump called Kamala 'crazy' before stopping himself and explaining why he didn't
'When I got hit, everyone thought I was going to be a nice guy and they thought I changed. Remember? Right before the Republican Convention,' Trump said.
President Donald Trump returned to Pennsylvania for the first time since he was shot at a rally in the Keystone State just 17 days prior. He explained why he is not more 'nice' after the assassination attempt and claimed he only felt that he might be changed for a few hours after he was shot
Trump says that media are attempting to change the view of the vice president. 'Kamala is now being given a personality makeover. Don't forget, four weeks ago, she was like the worst. And all of a sudden she's the new Margaret Thatcher' he said, referencing the beloved late conservative British Prime Minister
The former president claimed everyone thought he was 'going to be a nice man now' because 'he came close to death.'
'And I really agreed with that for about eight hours or so,' he said to laughter. 'And then I realized they were trying to put me in prison for doing absolutely nothing wrong.'
'I was nice for about three, four, five hours. And then I said, these are bad people.'
At his rally in Butler on June 13, shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, shot Trump in the ear – just centimeters from a potentially fatal shot. The only thing that saved his life was the last-second turn of his head to look at the chart on a screen at his rally.
Crooks was neutralized by Secret Service, but not before he was able to kill a rally goer, critically injure two others and graze Trump's right ear with his father's AR-style rifle.
Pennsylvanian MAGA fanatics went absolutely wild for the former president's return to the Keystone State and were happy to boo his new lines about Harris.
'The radical and Democrat party bosses have installed a puppet candidate to fight only for themselves, she's totally strictly owned and controlled by the donors,' Trump claimed.
'After lying to the country for years about Joe Biden's mental and physical condition, Kamala is now being given a personality makeover. Don't forget, four weeks ago, she was like the worst,' he said of the vice president. 'And all of a sudden she's the new Margaret Thatcher.'
'Everything about the Kamala rollout is phony and it's fake,' he said.
Thousands lined-up outside the Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg to hear from the former president upon his return to Pennsylvania on Wednesday
Trump was shot in his right ear at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13
The FBI, Secret Service and multiple congressional committees are investigating the incident, and specifically looking at security failures that allowed Crooks to get on a roof just 130 yards from where the former president was speaking that day.
Kimberly Cheatle, who was Secret Service Director, resigned after a brutal House hearing where she faced blistering questions and bipartisan calls to step down.
New Holland Arena boasts 7,318 wooden seats with chipped blue, red and orange paint – but the floor can hold another several hundred chairs. With every seat filled in the stadium, along with floor seating and some standing, it seems there were approximately 8,000 attendees at the Wednesday evening rally.
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