Places To Be

Donald Trump has places to be. I can think of three, in particular, all of which have the potential to decide this year’s election

I wrote this one over the weekend, before the second assassination attempt against Donald Trump. Obviously that changes some things, but not the need for Trump to continue campaigning and to visit key places that could determine the course of the election. Indeed, the determination of his opponents is to prevent him from visiting those places, by fair means or foul.

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Donald Trump has places to be. I can think of three, in particular, all of which have the potential to decide this year’s election.

The first, obviously, is Butler, Pennsylvania. That’s where, on 13 July, Trump came within millimetres of having his head removed by a would-be assassin. As Trump turned to consult a set of immigration statistics on the big screen to his right, the assassin’s bullets missed his skull and instead grazed his ear. Even for a man who has shown a near-preternatural ability to attract luck, this seemed almost too much to believe—too much to chalk up to anything but the graceful touch of a divine hand.

What came next was just as important. As the former president rose from the floor of the stage, bloodied and surrounded by a dense huddle of Secret Service agents, he stopped, steadied himself, and then produced an electrifying show of defiance that only a true leader—a genuine man of power—could produce.

I’m not telling you anything new here, I know.

But Trump’s defiance of death, and of the forces that have tried to destroy him ever since he came down that escalator eight years ago, will not be complete until he returns to Butler and finishes the speech that was cut short by the coward Thomas Matthew Crooks. Trump is scheduled to return in October, less than a month before Americans go to the polls. The wife of Corey Comperatore, a firefighter and veteran who died a hero in the crossfire, shielding his family, has said she may join Trump on stage. What a powerful thing that would be.

I’ve said before that I believe Trump should speak without the barrier of bulletproof glass. He speaks best when he speaks directly to the people—his people—whether that’s on Twitter or at his rallies. To do so back in Butler of all places would be the ultimate gesture of defiance, but at this stage, I don’t think it matters that much. What really matters is simply that he shows up and shows the world that he is a true avatar of the American people, who refuse to be crushed, terrorised or cowed.

Big, bold, brash—unafraid.

So what about the other two places? They’re places you’ll have heard a lot about in recent weeks if you’ve been following the news. Aurora, Colorado and Springfield, Ohio.

Trump’s presence in Aurora and Springfield is necessary not to cement his reputation as an American badass, but because these places represent, perhaps best of all, the dismal failures of the Biden-Harris administration, particularly on immigration, and of the American elite that for decades has been asset-stripping the nation for its own enrichment. That’s the elite the MAGA movement, under Donald Trump, has made its sworn enemy.

Aurora has seen a massive influx of Venezuelans, including the vicious Tren de Aragua gang, which has taken over housing blocks and openly moves through areas of the city with heavy weaponry. You’ve probably seen the videos.

One US official has described Tren de Aragua as “MS-13 on steroids.” The group operates across the US, but in Colorado, things are particularly bad. Gang members have reportedly been given authorization to shoot at police, and they do.

The gang specializes in drug and human trafficking. Taking over housing blocks and hotels is their MO, allowing them to set up bases of operation from which to distribute drugs and coordinate the movement of people, as well as to recruit migrants to serve as footsoldiers.

The problem with Tren de Aragua is made worse by so-called “sanctuary cities,” which refuse to share information about the gang to immigration authorities including ICE. Aurora is not a sanctuary city.

As with Aurora, the problems of Springfield, Ohio are the fault of the Biden-Harris administration and its utterly chaotic immigration policy, but the effects are more calculated. This small city was once home to around 60,000 people, but since 2021, 20,000 Haitians have been deliberately imported to the city, as a means of “revitalizing” it with cheap labour as a spur for industry. That’s a full one-third of the population, basically overnight.