Crowds excited to be part of second Trump Butler rally
CONNOQUENESSING TWP — Emily Craik and her husband, Mackenzie, loaded their five boys into the family SUV and hit the road.
Shortly after catching a glimpse of him during his appearance near Augusta, Ga., in the wake of Hurricane Helene, the family had searched for the whereabouts of former President Donald Trump’s next campaign rally on Friday night.
Seeing that it happened to be his Saturday, Oct. 5, return to the Butler Farm Show grounds, the site of an assassination attempt on July 13, the Craik family saw it as a can’t-miss occasion.
“We jumped in the car and drove all night,” said Emily Craik, 41, while waiting to enter the grounds. “We just got here.”
For many hanging around in a line that stretched further than the nearby airport runway, it was a chance to showcase their passion. Andrew Ebel, of Apollo, Armstrong County, lifted a black Trump 2024 flag as the convoy crawled along.
“I haven’t had a chance to wave it lately, said Ebel, 61. “Just wave it high, man.”
Rowdy Cain, a merchandise vendor from Omaha, Neb., sat alongside the line, selling Trump-themed beer brand shirts and white cowboy hats that read, “Trump Bullet Proof.” He wore one himself.
“It’s the most historic rally Trump’s ever done,” said Cain, 54.
Ebel was in attendance for Trump’s previous Butler Farm Show rally.
“It was very surreal,” Ebel said. “I was about the fifth row from the front. We heard the crackling going on and everybody kind of just like stood there. … I saw Trump’s feet laying there and I was like, ‘My God.’ I thought they got him.”
Carol Heinicke, the chairwoman of District 2 Westmoreland County Republican Committee, was also there that day. She chose to sit in just about the same spot on Saturday as she had at Trump’s previous rally, despite having to see a counselor to discuss the traumas of the incident.
“It felt like living history,” said Heinicke, a 64-year-old Monroeville-area resident. “It was a shock to try to get past that. I didn’t think that I could come back. … It’s hard to understand unless you were here, unless you experienced it. It’s like, ‘Oh, you weren’t shot. No big deal.’
“But it was a big deal to be here, to have guns waved in your face and have bullets flying over your head. You realize that choice of a seat that we made, who would’ve ever thought at that time that that was maybe a choice between life and death.”
Steve McGuire, of Bettendorf, Iowa, heard the news of the assassination attempt in July while on vacation.
“Five days later, we came and stopped down,” said McGuire, 67, of an approximately 600-mile drive.
He and his wife, Jodie, were turned away at the entrance as law enforcement was still investigating.
Trump’s decision to return was exciting for them and most — if not all — others attending.
“It doesn’t surprise me because he’s afraid of nothing — and that’s pretty awesome,” Emily Craik said.
Jay Moon, of Morristown, Tenn., came Saturday with a traveling ministry.
“It fills the normal man with tremendous courage to see a leader that is so brave like that, that is willing to fight for the people,” said Moon, 20.
“This is why people are standing for Trump,” Ebel said. “Here’s a guy that’s literally taken bullets for us. It’s not scared him away.
“That’s a fighter. That’s a fighter for our country.”
Some hope the event helps those from the other side of the political aisle change their minds.
“I’m hoping a lot more Democrats see what’s going on,” Ebel said. “These lines are crazy. Even in July it was big, but this is wild.”
“I love my country and I want it to be better,” Cain said.
For others, the rally was a chance to paint over negative memories.
“Is there some fear? There is … but we feel like maybe there will be some closure here today,” Heinicke said. “I honestly was really impressed that President Trump cared about us. … To come back and finish this rally that he started.”
