On a sweltering weekend evening, beneath a clear blue sky, Donald Trump supporters in red “Make America Great Again” hats packed the fairgrounds in Butler, Pennsylvania.
It was a friendly and festive venue for the once and maybe future president’s final rally before the Republican National Convention the following week. He won Butler County, just north of Pittsburgh in the crucial swing state, by roughly 2 to 1 in both 2016 and 2020.
“God Bless the U.S.A.” boomed over a speaker — “I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free” — as Trump arrived wearing his own red MAGA hat. He stood before a row of gold-trimmed American flags. He waved, clapped and pointed to his fans, their cell phones held aloft to record him. The peaks of white tents rose near the red, white and blue-striped grandstands. A green farm combine sat to one side of the rally.
To retired emergency room doctor James Sweetland, it felt like “an old-time rock concert.” As they awaited Trump’s appearance, Sweetland helped a fellow attendee who was suffering in the day’s heat, advising her to lie down and giving her water until emergency crews arrived. At the time, he said, it felt like the worst that could happen.
Joleen Monteleone, 57, of Butler, was in the bleachers behind Trump, wearing a “Trump 2024” denim vest that her husband made. Kristen Petrarca, 60, was there, too. “I’d never been to a rally,” she said, “and I really wanted to just experience it.”
The former president climbed three steps to the stage, basking in applause and chants of “USA!” before delivering a familiar litany of grievances against the news media, President Joe Biden and immigrants living in the country illegally. He reiterated his false claims that the 2020 election was rigged against him.
He pointed to a large video screen depicting statistics on border crossings. Sweetland was sitting near the foot of the screen and felt like Trump was looking right at him.
In the seconds that followed came chaos.
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