Butler residents still furious about Trump assassination attempt, say more than incompetence to blame
The Butler Farm Show was being held this week on the same grounds where an assassination attempt was made on former President Trump last month, and the deadly incident still weighs heavily on residents here.
The festival, which highlights Pennsylvania’s rich agricultural heritage by showcasing a variety of farm animals and the latest technology in farming equipment, is being viewed by the community as a way of moving on from the terrible events of July 13 and bringing back some normalcy to the close-knit neighborhood that has been at the center of international attention for the last few weeks.
A poster for the show says the festival is running all week — "rain or shine." Even a powerful thunderstorm on Tuesday that struck down several trees in the surrounding area failed to shut down the beloved family event that has been held here since 1948.
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Hours after the eye of the storm had passed on Tuesday, a middle-aged woman at the venue was outside a red barn where a market lamb competition was taking place. She was sipping a cup of coffee, dragging on a cigarette and staring over at the infamous AGR building where Thomas Matthew Crooks fired off his deadly shots.
Storm clouds still lingered overhead, almost as an indicator of the dark shadow that had been cast over the deep red town in the weeks following the assassination attempt. Further downpours that evening challenged even the bravest festivalgoer, but as in life, the show here must go on.
"I’m surprised the show even went ahead because, until last week, it was still a crime scene," the unnamed woman said. "I’m really mad because my family has been coming to this place since before I was born, but then they just tainted our farm show. I can't believe they pulled that off at our Butler Farm Show."
The woman, who was sitting a few rows in front of former President Trump at the rally and recorded the moment he was whisked away by the Secret Service, says the town has now become infamous as the location where a former president was almost killed, eclipsing its longstanding image of being known for its agricultural might.
The shooter struck Trump and killed highly regarded local firefighter Corey Comperatore, who was trying to shield his daughters from the gunfire. Two other victims suffered life-threatening injuries but are expected to make a full recovery after the shooting, which easily could have plunged the U.S. into a political crisis.
There is a deep suspicion among residents in Butler County, which Trump won with around 66% of the vote in both 2016 and 2020, about the truth of what really happened coming out. Many say that plain incompetence just doesn’t pass the smell test, and the Secret Service's lack of transparency is only adding fuel to their claims that there is more than meets the eye.
They say they feel let down.
"Somebody is hiding something. Somebody is not telling the truth yet," the woman, a former Democrat, says. "There's no way a 20-year-old kid could do that alone. I'm not buying it anyway."
She asked to remain anonymous for this story, saying her family has been through tremendous politically related trauma with her sister jailed for nearly two years for her actions during the Jan. 6 riot.
The woman says she started lining up to get into the Butler rally at 9 a.m., with Trump appearing nine hours later and that "something just felt off that day" with security in her view feeling lax.
Nearby at a vendor’s stall, three men could be overheard still discussing the events of July 13. Their frustration and anger was palpable.
"There's too many inconsistencies or failures for this to happen," vendor Bob O’Sterling said. "It has to be an inside job."
"The Secret Service, the local police, the snipers that were there that were supposed to be covering that roof. Too many inconsistencies for that to be just a happenstance. It can't be a happenstance," says O’Sterling, who was at the rally and estimated there were close to 50,000 people in attendance.
The Secret Service says it was responsible for coordinating security with local law enforcement, whose officers say they observed Crooks and identified him as suspicious more than an hour before the shooting but ultimately lost track of him.
O’Sterling says the community’s reputation has taken a battering over the incident.
"It’s pretty embarrassing for our community that it would happen here. You know, we're pro-gun, pro-Trump and then that happens here. We're all about ‘Back the Blue’ and then the blue let us down. I’m kind of p---ed off."
O’Sterling says the incident has only emboldened people’s support for Trump here, and he hopes the former president will make a return trip to Butler again, where O'Sterling expects an even bigger crowd gathering to welcome him back.
"I hope he comes back right here. Everybody is still pro-Trump, no doubt about it. He's got to win the election."
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A quick drive through Butler will leave you with no doubt that this is very much Trump country. Old Glory and Trump flags hang prominently outside many homes, while Trump 2024 signs and other Trump-themed signs are planted on front lawns.
Two adjacent homes not far from the Butler Farm Show added new signs to their lawns the day after the shooting.
The signs depict the now infamous photograph of a bloodied Trump raising his fist defiantly seconds after the attempted assassination with the word "fight" emblazoned across them.
"I got them made up the following day," says homeowner Winifred Quinn, an army veteran who says she voted for Ron DeSantis in the Republican primary but is fully behind Trump now.
She gave one sign to neighbor Paul Critchcow who was at the rally and said that Trump rising to his feet stopped a stampede from happening.
"There could have been a lot of people trampled, and it didn't happen, so it says a lot," Critchcow says.
They say Trump’s actions embodied the defiant spirit of their community and noted that when potential rioters arrived in the city in 2020 during the height of the summer’s riots, open-carry residents lined streets in Butler City to deter them.
"We said, 'You're not going to burn anything here, and the police supported it. They were standing there with us. Nobody pointed any weapons … and we drove them off," Critchcow says.
The neighbors say the town prides itself on law and order, and so they have a hard time understanding how the security at the Trump rally was so inadequate and disorganized.
"I still have trouble explaining how the Secret Service, who were the best trained in the world, let that happen," Quinn says.
"It's almost like it was complacency on purpose," Critchcow says of the Secret Service’s security strategy. "You know I'm not a conspiracy guy, per se. It’s just if you let it happen, sooner or later it's going to happen."
They say that the responsibility for protecting Trump rests with the Secret Service. They both spoke before the Butler Township Police Department released its bodycam footage.
"The guy's crawling over there on the building with a rifle," Critchcow said. "He was known to them since he was photographed outside crawling next to the building by one of the cops, and they still didn't detain him. They had every right to detain him after those couple of encounters.
"He's the guy that had the rangefinder that they saw him using. I mean, what more do you need?"