(04 October – 2024) He mentioned the shooting at 31 events, according to an Index Treasure analysis. He referred to Crooks only vaguely, calling him a “lunatic,” a “very disturbed guy,” or an “evil assassin.”
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. Among the MAGA faithful, reminders of a near-assassination of Trump were everywhere.
A T-shirt with an image of Trump with two middle fingers in the air and the words “You missed.” Others showed a bloodied Trump, a fist raised in defiance, seconds after the bullet grazed his ear.
Trump sauntered onto the stage for the Aug. 17 event to the tune of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA.” The crowd erupted.
Later, at outdoor rallies, Trump spoke behind bulletproof glass. But not this night. It was just a month after the shooting. Yet, he filled an arena meant for 10,000.
His address would last 103 minutes. He would go after his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris 58 times by name. He would even denounce those prosecuting him in court.
One name went unspoken: Thomas Matthew Crooks. Trump seems to refuse to speak Crooks’ name in public. He plans to revisit the crime scene for the first time. A rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, is scheduled for Saturday.
“If he can use that shooter to his benefit, he will,” said Fred C. Trump III. He wrote a book critical of his uncle, “All in the family: The Trumps and how we got this way.”
He believes Trump “would have used it already” if it helped him politically.
In the 12 weeks since the July 13 shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, Trump has spoken publicly at least 51 times at various events. These include rallies, town halls, and press conferences. He has brought up the shooting at 31 events, a Index Treasure analysis found. In those mentions, he has only ever alluded to Crooks. He vaguely called him a “lunatic,” a “very disturbed guy,” and an “evil assassin.””
To be sure, in the three months since Crooks’ attack, both Trump and the campaign have been forced to adjust to an increasingly dangerous landscape. From hacked emails to poisoning threats to assassination plots including those by foreign adversaries like Iran – and a security ring closing in to keep them safe.
Against this backdrop, not much is known about the effect the assassination attempt has had on Trump.
Some close to the campaign have told reporters the shooting “weighs on him” heavily. During a rally in Long Island last month, Trump appeared to get nervous when he mistook someone approaching the stage. He brushed it off, acknowledging, “I got a little bit of a yip problem here.”
