(The Daily Signal) — Former President Donald Trump honored Corey Comperatore, the father and firefighter who was shot at his July rally, in his return to Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday—one month before the 2024 presidential election.
“Corey, our beautiful Corey, Corey is not with us tonight, and he should be, and we all miss him,” Trump said at his rally in the key swing state of Pennsylvania.
Trump returned to Butler just three months after a gunman shot the former president at a rally there, wounding him in the ear.
“We are here not only to mark the triumph of American spirit,” Trump said, ” … but also to pay tribute to some of the best and bravest we have ever known. This field is now a monument to the valor of our first responders, to the resilience of our fellow citizens and to the sacrifice of a loving and devoted father, a really great man.”
1. Trump remembers victim of first Butler rally
Trump honored Comperatore’s wife, daughters, and sisters, who were at the second Butler rally Saturday evening.
“Corey Comperatore was an incredible husband and father, a devout Christian, a veteran and a proud former fire chief, very respected within the town,” Trump said. “Everybody knew him. Few men volunteered to run into fires, but Corey was one of those who did. He ran into fires. I spoke to people that were with him that said this guy would do anything. He was a brave, brave guy.”
Trump called Comperatore a “protector” who sacrificed his life for his family.
“When the sound of gunshots pierced the air on that July evening, Corey leapt into the fire one more time. In his last seconds on this earth, he threw himself on top of his wife and daughters,” Trump said. “He didn’t want them hurt. And he was hit hard.”
Every husband and father should hope they would behave like Comperatore if placed in the same situation, the former president said.
“Every father, husband, in America, hopes that if the time came, we would have what Corey had,” Trump said. “Tremendous courage, tremendous guts, and he wanted to protect his family, and he did protect his family.”
Comperatore did not die in vain, according to Trump.
“The love that he showed on that day and throughout his life is the love that sustains the entire movement, love that our families have, and love of our communities and love of our country,” Trump said. “It’s a force more powerful than any hatred and malice because even in the darkest hours, it shines forth as a guide, and it guides us like nothing could ever guide us.”
“And so it’s love like Corey’s that is going to save our country, that’s going to heal our country, and that is going to reunite our country as one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all,” Trump said.
2. ‘Everything has to be the best’: Trump’s vision for the future
Trump said he is on a mission to save our country from the corrupt political establishment.
“We have to change it,” he said. “We need also a very free and open press and to give it back to the country you believe in and I believe in.”
Trump said he will crack down on crime, the border crisis, and the state of the economy.
“Everything has to be the best,” he said. “We have to have the best schools. We have to have strong borders. We don’t want bad people coming in and hurting us.”
“You deserve a nation that builds things again, makes things better, that aims for the stars once more, and that once again, commands respect, and we want to get respect like we had it four years ago,” the Republican presidential candidate continued. “The entire world respected us. They respected us. They respected us more than they’ve ever respected us, and now they laugh at us. We can’t have them laugh at us.”
Trump’s opponents have slandered, impeached, and indicted him, and threatened to throw him off the ballot, he said.
“And who knows, maybe even tried to kill me, but I’ve never stopped fighting for you, and I never will,” he said.
Trump said if he becomes president, America will no longer have to worry about Russia, China, or North Korea.
“We stand on the verge of the four greatest years in the history of our country,” Trump said. “We can make these the four greatest years. We’ll turn it around so fast that your head will spin.”
The former president and Republican nominee promised the restoration of the American dream.
“No men playing in women’s sport, and we will defend the Second Amendment, protect religious liberty, restore free speech, and we will secure our elections,” he said. “Everyone will prosper. Every family will thrive, and every day will be filled with opportunity and hope.”
3. Trump urges Americans to vote to save the country
“If you want a president who will stop at nothing to protect you and your family,” Trump said, “I hope you’re going to vote for a gentleman named Donald J. Trump.”
Trump urged Pennsylvanians to vote in November to “save our country.”
“With victory on Nov. 5, we are going to redeem America’s promise and unlock the extraordinary future that is just within our reach,” Trump said.
He said “we all” took a bullet for America 12 weeks ago at his first Butler rally.
“All we are all asking is that everyone goes out and votes,” Trump said. “We have got to win. We can’t let this happen to our country. We can’t take another four years like this. We won’t have a country left.”
Trump promised to “restore the republic.”
“America’s future will be bigger, better, bolder, brighter, happier, stronger, freer, and greater and more united than ever before,” he said. “Our country will be united.”
4. Elon Musk says Trump will preserve constitutional rights
Trump welcomed billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk to the stage, saying he “saved free speech.”
“Free speech is the bedrock of democracy, and if people don’t know what’s going on, if they don’t know the truth, how can you make an informed vote?” Musk asked. “You must have free speech in order to have democracy. That’s why it’s the First Amendment, and the Second Amendment is there to ensure that we have the First Amendment.”
Musk has financially supported a pro-Trump political action committee during this race, although he has not always been a Trump supporter.
Musk has said he was an enthusiastic supporter of Barack Obama and noted that he reluctantly voted for Biden in 2020. During the Republican presidential primary, Musk supported Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who eventually bowed out.
Trump must win to preserve the Constitution, Musk said Saturday.
“He must win to preserve democracy in America,” the owner of X stated.
Musk said he believes this could be the “last election” if people don’t vote for Trump. He urged people to register to vote as soon as possible.
“Nothing is more important,” Musk said.
5. Trump warns against Kamala Harris presidency
Trump agreed with Musk that this is the most important election in American history.
“My opponent, Kamala Harris, is the most incompetent and far-left nominee ever to run for president,” Trump said. “You know, she’s much further left than crazy Bernie Sanders.”
He blamed Vice President Kamala Harris, who President Joe Biden placed in charge of the border in 2021, for the immigration crisis.
“She wants mass amnesty and citizenship for illegals,” Trump said. “And worst of all … she lost more than 325,000 migrant children that are now dead, in slavery or just plain missing, probably never to be seen again, never to see their parents again.”
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General released a report at the end of August saying that the Biden-Harris administration has lost track of approximately 300,000 migrant children.
Why does “border czar” @KamalaHarris support leaving 320,000 migrant children to the hands of traffickers, drug dealers, & criminals? https://t.co/tC2m3CtAAx
— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) August 20, 2024
Trump promised the largest deportation in American history.
“I dread having to do it, but we have no choice,” he said. “What they’ve done is not even believable, especially the criminals.”
Trump said Harris’ “radical left agenda” must be defeated once and for all.
“Kamala Harris is a radical left woman,” Trump said. “That’s not respected in Congress. She was laughed at in Congress. Nobody thought she could win.”
This article was originally published at The Daily Signal.
Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporting fellow for The Daily Signal.
