Trump mixes somber memories with heated rhetoric as he returns to Butler, Pennsylvania.

Former President Donald Trump set the stage for a painful final month of the presidential campaign by revisiting the Pennsylvania venue where a gunman tried to assassinate him this summer.

The trip was Trump's final trip to the Keystone State, which is shaping up to be the most important of this election cycle. While the rally was still ongoing, Trump's campaign announced two more events in Pennsylvania where the former president would appear in the coming days.

Speaking at one of his larger rallies of the cycle, Trump attacked Democratic leaders over the federal response to Hurricane Helene, baselessly suggested the party was working to steal the upcoming election from him and repeatedly lashed out at Vice President Kamala Harris in a… In the 2019 ACLU questionnaire, she supported taxpayer funding of gender transition care for immigrants in federal detention centers.

“Who wants sex reassignment surgery for illegal immigrants in dumpsters? I don’t believe that,” Trump said during his 90-minute speech. Returning to the topic later, he engaged billionaire Elon Musk, who was at Trump's rally, saying, “I don't think Elon likes that idea. “These are not ideas that Elon Musk particularly likes.”

Trump featured a parade of wealthy benefactors who spoke at the event, including Musk, hedge fund billionaire John Paulson and real estate investor Steve Witkoff.

During his remarks, Musk described himself as “not just MAGA, I'm a dark MAGA” and issued apocalyptic warnings to rally participants and spectators.

“One request is very important: register to vote,” Musk said. “OK? And get everyone you know and everyone you don't know registered to vote. … Text people now (and) make sure they actually vote. If not , this will be the last election. That is my prediction. Nothing is more important.”

The stop comes nearly three months after Trump was shot in the ear by a suspected assassin at the same location on July 13. The shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, was shot dead by police at the scene. Two participants in the rally were injured, while another, Corey Comperatore, was killed.

“Now you've heard the shots, you've seen the blood, we all feared the worst,” Ohio Sen. JD Vance, Trump's vice president, said in a speech to the former president, adding that he believed that God intervened to save Trump's life. “But you knew everything was going to be OK when President Trump raised his fist high in the air and said 'Fight!' shouted. Battle! Battle!'”

Much of Trump's opening statement was devoted to Comperatore and the two other people injured at the July rally. Trump also praised law enforcement who were present during the assassination, saying the snipers were responsible for saving “many lives.”

“We have an evil world,” Trump said. “We have a very sick world.”

Trump also held a moment of silence for Comperatore, who he said “has become something of a folk hero.” Before his speech on Saturday, he met with the family of the fallen participant.

“He was hit hard,” Trump said. “And he gave his life to protect the lives (of his loved ones).”

Trump was a little more reserved than in other recent events, such as when he called Harris mentally disabled and suggested police be “very tough for a tough hour” on suspected criminals. But other speakers filled the gap.

Trump's daughter-in-law Lara Trump, co-chair of the Republican National Committee, described the election as a battle between “good versus evil.”

“And good will win this battle,” she said.

In his speech, Vance condemned Democrats for calling Trump a threat to democracy and directly linked those warnings to the second assassination attempt on Trump last month.

Vance pointed at Harris and said, “How dare you talk about threats to democracy?”

“Donald Trump took a bullet for democracy,” he added. “What the hell did you do?”

Trump, meanwhile, said RNC Chairman Michael Whatley was working “primarily on Stop the Steal” rather than on election efforts that have caused some consternation among Republicans. (One outside group tasked with driving a significant portion of Republican turnout is a super PAC tied to Musk.)

“Because we have a lot of votes,” Trump said, adding, “We're going to win this thing, and the more we win it, you know, it's too big to be rigged.”

Trump also spent time discussing the federal response to Hurricane Helene, which struck western North Carolina as well as parts of Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Trump said the government was offering only $750 to flood victims, “and yet they are sending tens of billions of dollars to foreign countries that most people have never heard of.”

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has said that $750 is just one type of assistance it offers and that there are other programs that victims can qualify for after applying for disaster assistance.

Trump touched briefly on local issues, endorsing fracking and saying he would not approve Nippon Steel's agreement to buy US Steel – a hot-button issue in western Pennsylvania. Both Harris and President Joe Biden have also spoken out against the foreign takeover.

“I don’t like that,” Trump said of the possibility of a Japanese company owning US Steel.

Looking ahead to the coming month, the former president predicted that both he and Vance would be the subject of a number of negative reports.

“We have to do it in a month,” he said. “They will still drop all sorts of bombs. They'll beat you, JD, they'll beat me. These people will hit and hit, but I think we've become almost immune to it, right? We have become immune to it.”

Trump praised the wealthy benefactors in attendance at the rally and called Witkoff “one of the greatest businessmen in the country” while saying Paulson was “really one of the greats, one of the great pickers, pickers, stocks that is.” He knows what he’s doing.”

He later described his vision for the American dream based on Musk.

“We will achieve the American dream,” Trump said of the case he wins next month. “So every kid in your family grows up and says, 'I want to be like Elon Musk.' I want, I want to have $200 billion in cash. “I’m going to be like Elon Musk.” That’s the American dream.”