Trump’s message moments earlier than assassination try spurred me to motion: Butler-area mayor

SHERMAN’S DALE, Pa. – SHERMAN’S DALE, Pennsylvania— Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania Mayor Jondavid Longo was with former President Donald Trump in his dwelling county of Butler in July simply minutes earlier than the GOP nominee was shot by an tried murderer.

Longo, about to start his eighth yr as mayor of the borough only a handful of miles northwest of the rally web site, spoke to Fox Information Digital as he traveled the commonwealth with the Staff Trump bus tour — a week-long journey he launched into due to what Trump has come to imply for a lot of Pennsylvanians since that tragic day, he stated.

“You realize, I’ve at all times been a supporter of the president,” Longo stated, including throughout his public speech that he had backed the mogul since “day one when he got here down the golden escalator” in Trump Tower in 2015.

Longo stated he, like many Republicans in Pennsylvania, was hesitant about transitioning to early voting from the centuries-old customized of ready till Election Day to go to the polls to forged a poll.

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“However… I assumed to myself lengthy and laborious after that day, after watching that man get shot within the face. And I assumed, ‘My goodness, every little thing that this man has been by way of — and he is asking us to go and vote early — the least that all of us might do is do what it’s that he is asking us to do as a way to ensure that he can get throughout the end line in order that we will take this nation again,'” he stated.

“As a result of let’s face it, individuals are struggling, and we can’t afford one other 4 years of the failed management of Kamala Harris.”

Longo was with Trump about 20 minutes earlier than he took the stage in Butler in July.

Reportedly his regular gregarious self, Trump interacted with a number of native officers, together with the mayor, backstage on the Butler Farm Present grounds.

“He requested me, ‘Mayor, how are we doing on the bottom — what’s it appear to be in Butler County?'”

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The “Hay Man” on PA State Rep. Barb Gleim’s “Hayman Farms” exterior Mechanicsburg, Pa., urges guests to vote for Donald Trump. (Fox Information/Charlie Creitz)

“And I had the pleasure of trying that man within the eye and speaking about the entire nice issues that each one of you’re doing in locations like Butler County and all throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to verify these 19 essential electoral votes belong to him in order that we will get them again to the White Home.”

“We’re going to ship Pennsylvania for you, Mr. President. We will do it for you,” Longo recalled telling Trump.

Moments later, pictures rang out, and Trump was dogpiled by Secret Service brokers, bleeding from his head. Shooter Thomas Crooks had hit Trump’s proper ear in what the president stated was a stroke of luck as a result of his gesturing at that very same second towards a graph of unlawful immigration statistics.

“I watched that man get shot within the face. What number of of you noticed that?” Longo later requested the group. “Let me ask you one thing: Do you like President Trump? Are you keen to do no matter it takes to verify he will get again in Washington to scrub up this mess that Kamala Harris and the Democrats have put us in?”

“Then I implore you, be part of me in early voting for President Trump. And that is my confession right here. Women and gents, I’ve received to let you know, I wasn’t a large fan of early voting till this second. After I checked out President Trump within the eyes, and he stated, ‘Do not let me down.’ And I heard him again and again.”

The “don’t let me down” chorus caught with Longo ever since, as he stepped off the bus for the penultimate time Friday at Republican state Rep. Barb Gleim’s farm close to the Perry County line.

As he took the stage, the solar was setting over the close by Appalachian Mountains to the west, and former California Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, a fellow Trump surrogate on the bus, remarked how a lot the scene reminded him of dwelling.

Standing beside Maldonado and a number of other others, and earlier than rows of supporters seated on haybales and a large American flag suspended by a crane, Longo stated the dangers Trump has endured for the U.S. ought to energize everybody subsequent month.

“I assumed to myself, this man, the sacrifices he is made for all of us, him and his household have been raked over the coals for years and have given up every little thing in order that they’ll combat for us.”

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Donald Trump is seen with blood on his face surrounded by Secret Service brokers as he’s taken off the stage at a marketing campaign occasion in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Rebecca Droke/AFP by way of Getty Photos)

Longo stated he and his spouse predict a daughter subsequent yr, and that Pennsylvanians ought to vote early, not only for Trump, however to not “let down” the following technology but to be born.

Again dwelling in Slippery Rock, not removed from industrial Youngstown, Ohio, and Erie, Pennsylvania, Longo stated his constituents are “feeling… the strain” of the Biden-Harris financial system and decline in public security.

“My household shouldn’t really feel unsafe going to a city subsequent door like Pittsburgh to go and revel in an evening out. And we simply do not feel secure in our personal cities anymore. Companies are fleeing cities like that as nicely. I imply, my gosh. Pennsylvania itself is hemorrhaging individuals,” he stated.

“We’re dropping inhabitants as a result of alternatives aren’t right here. We’re underneath heavy Democrat management right here in Pennsylvania, I’d add, too,” he stated.

“So these are the issues which are very a lot on the hearts and minds of Pennsylvania’s voters. And for these causes, we will get out and vote for Donald J. Trump.”