DAVID MARCUS: Trump's defiant supporters flock to Butler rally with renewed confidence
Columnist David Marcus attends Donald Trump's rally in Butler, Pa., where just three months ago, Trump was nearly assassinated. Marcus found a surging sense of optimism among the attendees.
In the couple of weeks after Kamala Harris replaced Joe Biden atop the Democratic ticket, there was a decided doldrum I detected across the country from Trump supporters.
But Saturday, as Trump returned to the site of his July 13 near assassination and the tragic murder of Corey Comperatore, a new confidence was clear among his faithful.
Rob is a teacher who lives in Pennsylvania and was carrying a clipboard, registering voters who stood in the vast line to get in.
"I coach wrestling," Rob told me, "and when they switched in Harris it was like a wrestler had his opponent pinned, and suddenly they swap in a new, fresh opponent. Even if that new opponent is weak, it's still deflating."
TRUMP SUPPORTERS WEIGH IN ON SAFETY AT HISTORIC PENNSYLVANIA RALLY
But now, Rob, who had registered about a dozen new voters when I spoke to him early in the day, thinks Trump has turned a corner, and is poised to defeat Harris.
He wasn’t alone.
On a park bench in the shade, I found Karen and George, both in their 60s, along with Johnny and Rocky, in their late 20s or so. The two pairs, all decked out in Trump gear, had only just met. But when I was talking to them, I honestly thought they were family members who had known each other forever.
"It’s like a Grateful Dead vibe," Johnny told me, "it's all about love."
Karen agreed, at least about the love part, not sure about the Dead, and she is confident that Trump can unite our deeply divided country. "He’s already showed he can get people what they need. He was in North Carolina right away after the hurricane. Where were Harris and Biden?"
Karen, like many I spoke to, believes that Trump won the 2020 election, and expects similar shenanigans this time around. However, she is confident not just that Trump will win, but that Republican Dave McCormack will beat incumbent Bob Casey Jr., in the Keystone State's critical Senate battle.
Rocky agreed, "Casey is just a career politician," he mused. "One thing I wish Trump would talk more about is term limits, because these are the people destroying the country."
I’ve been to a lot of Trump rallies, but the pure scale of this one was off the charts. It took an hour to park in a nearby field. My little Mitsubishi Lancer had never driven on grass before, but she did okay, and the atmosphere was incredibly festive notwithstanding the long, long waits.
Joe, a retired NYPD officer, had driven six hours from Staten Island with his 18-year-old nephew, Uriel.
I’ll note I saw no evidence of anyone being bused in. This crowd was truly as organic as a vegan’s lunch.
When I asked Joe how long he had supported Trump, he told me, "All my life." It was his way of saying The Donald was the politician he had been waiting for.
"In Staten Island, people are excited about Trump," he told me, and his nephew, set to vote for the first time, agreed.
I asked Uriel, what would make an 18-year-old vote for Trump?
"He’ll make it a better country," he said quietly, in his Yankees t-shirt. "More opportunity?" I pressed, "Yes," he replied. It mirrored what young voters have been telling me across the Rust Belt, and beyond.
I spoke to several attendees who had been in the same place on that fateful July 13, but the one who stood out was another Joe.
"Everybody was so calm and orderly, that's what I remember," he said. "But I felt so bad for the kids, I mean, they were really scared."
Joe did admit to feeling some emotions coming back to the Butler Farm Show grounds, but he’s a dude and declined to elaborate on them too much.
As for the election? Like everyone I spoke to, the confidence is growing. "Look at this crowd," he said," how can he lose?"
I’ll admit, it sounded a bit like hubris, especially given the events of the last eight years, but it absolutely reflects the attitude of Trump voters over the past month, who have moved from a sense of nervousness, to increasing belief that this election is now squarely moving in Trump’s direction.
On Saturday in Butler, it felt like a reset. After all, the tragic shooting took place just two days before the Republican National Convention. Just a week later, Biden was out, Harris was in, and confusion was everywhere.
There is now a month to go until Election Day, and if the sprawling crowd at the second Butler rally is to be believed, Donald Trump, decidedly has his groove back.
