Trump explains how the murder of Charlie Kirk changed his life
In the final weeks of the 2024 presidential election, then-candidate Donald Trump was doing nonstop rallies, many of them outdoors despite an assassination attempt on his life in Butler, Pa., that left him bloodied after a bullet struck his ear.
The rallies felt more like festivals than political events, with crowds gathering hours early amid music and pageantry.
Local heroes, union leaders, elected officials and retired military officers cycled through as warmup speakers, firing up the audience between tracks like Oliver Anthony’s “Rich Men North of Richmond,” Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.,” and Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.,” Trump’s walkout anthem.
Despite the press often missing their aspirational quality, Trump deliberately held many rallies in places most politicians never visit—including Butler, where only he and John F. Kennedy have ever campaigned.
Years ago, when I asked him why he began doing these events, he shrugged and said, “Sometimes, things just work.”
While he was sitting behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, I asked Trump if he missed the rallies he had staged nearly 900 times over the past 10 years.
He smiled, then fell quiet for a moment, a look of resignation settling in, before giving a blunt reply.
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