by Robert Romano
On Oct. 5, former President Donald Trump historically returned to Butler, Pa. at the site he was nearly assassinated at on July 13, paying tribute to the fallen Corey Comperatore in a touching moment of silence with the race for Pennsylvania hanging in the balance, with the latest average of polls compiled by RealClearPolling.com showing the Commonwealth all tied up between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, with each garnering 48.2 percent.
“Tonight, I returned to Butler in the aftermath of tragedy and heartache to deliver a simple message to the people of Pennsylvania and to the people of America — our movement — to make America great again stand stronger, prouder, more united, more determined and nearer to victory than ever before. We’re going to make America great again, going to win the election … and to all Americans whether you are Republican, Democrat, independent, conservative or liberal or you have no label whatsoever it makes no difference our movement it belongs to you it belongs to our country … and together in just one month we are going to usher in a new golden age of American security, prosperity sovereignty and freedom for our citizens of every race religion color and creed.
Trump added, “Exactly 12 weeks ago this evening on this very ground a coldblooded assassin aimed to silence me and to silence the greatest movement — MAGA — in the history of our country.”
In so doing, Trump completed the political comeback of a century after having won the election 2016, lost it in 2020, survived two impeachment attempts, swept 49 out of 50 states in the Republican primary, faces potential imprisonment by his political opponents in New York, Georgia and Washington, D.C. if he loses the election and nearly lost his life to an assassin’s bullet in Butler in 2024.
In more ways than one, Trump should not be where he is right now, for any other man might have folded under the weight of the investigations and trials, or might have been struck down on July 13. Surviving not once but twice, Trump still appeared no worse for wear, delivering what was otherwise a standard Trump rally speech, but the moments of silence and honor certainly resonated beyond the fairgrounds, with millions of Americans watching the event live across the country.
Joining Trump at the rally for the first time was Tesla and SpaceX CEO and X owner Elon Musk, who urged citizens in Pennsylvania to register to vote and to make sure they do vote, warning that if Trump loses, it might be the last true election as illegal immigrants are unlawfully added to voter rolls, declaring, “get everyone you know and everyone you don’t know drag them to register to vote… [T]hen make sure they actually do vote. If they don’t, this will be the last election, that’s my prediction. Nothing’s more important, nothing’s more important.”
Trump’s momentous rally came as steady stream of polls of Pennsylvania show the race to be a dead-heat, with six of the last 13 polls taken showing a statistical tie between the two candidates.
That’s significant, as Trump historically has underpolled versus his performance in elections nationally and at the state level. In 2016, polls showed Hillary Clinton with a 1.9 percentage point margin of victory in Pennsylvania, but Trump prevailed by 0.7 percent, a 2.6 percent swing in Trump’s favor. In 2020, multi-candidate polls grossly overstated Biden’s margin of victory as 5 percent when it was only 1.2 percent, a 3.8 percent swing.
If the same thing happens in 2024, and the race is tied in the polls, then it could actually mean Trump is ahead — and he’s on his way to being reelected — which beyond the political comeback of the century already, truly would complete perhaps the greatest political comeback in American history. Will Pennsylvania be Trump’s keystone in 2024? Stay tuned.
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Robert Romano is the Vice President of Public Policy at Americans for Limited Government Foundation.
Photos by TeamTrump.
