Donald Trump will make a defiant return Saturday to the small town in Pennsylvania where an assassin tried to shoot him dead during a rally attended by thousands of supporters.

The former president will appear alongside J.D. Vance, his running mate in the November election, as well as family members of those hurt in the July 13 attack, first responders and tech billionaire Elon Musk.

Trump has repeatedly insisted he wanted to return to the site of the shooting in which one man was killed and two attendees were wounded before the sniper was shot dead.

"Butler has become quite a famous place — it's like a monument now," the Republican candidate said at a recent rally in Milwaukee.

Trump's campaign said "he took a bullet for democracy" in Butler, and that he would speak behind protective glass on his return.

The former president was six minutes into a campaign speech in a scorching field and turning his head to look at a chart of immigration statistics, when eight shots rang out.

Trump winced and grabbed his ear, ducking down behind his podium as Secret Service agents flooded the open-air stage.

Surrounded by bodyguards and with blood trickling across his face, Trump raised his fist and shouted "fight, fight, fight" to the crowd — providing his campaign with a now iconic image.

"The first thing I said is, 'How many people are dead?' Because, you know, we had a massive crowd. As far as the eye could see," Trump said recently.

In fact, his first words, captured by the stage microphone, were "let me get my shoes," corroborated by witness Erin Autenreith, who was sitting in the first row.

Global shock

There was shock across the political spectrum and President Joe Biden joined a host of world leaders in reaching out to Trump to wish him well.

The shooting prompted calls from all sides to lower the temperature of an overheated campaign — but the pause was short, and tensions simmered.

Though his ear was apparently grazed by one of the bullets fired by Thomas Crooks from an AR-15 type rifle, Trump emerged otherwise unscathed.

The Secret Service — charged with protecting presidents, candidates and foreign dignitaries — came in for withering criticism for failing to secure the building from where the shots were fired, just a few hundred feet away from the stage.

The attempt on the business mogul's life was the first of a string of dramas that has shaken up the White House race, capped by Biden's shock withdrawal and replacement by Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic candidate.

Then on September 15 a man was apprehended after being seen at Trump's Florida golf course wielding a rifle and a GoPro camera in what the FBI said was a second assassination attempt.

Some Trump followers have alleged wild conspiracy theories and, along with Trump, have argued that Democratic rhetoric about the former president being a threat to US democracy were effectively an incitement to violence.  

Merchandise sellers at Trump rallies did not skip a beat, creating T-shirts and collectibles marking his apparently miraculous escape.

The gunfire at Butler killed rallygoer Corey Comperatore, a fire chief who authorities said died protecting family members. Two other bystanders were hit, suffering injuries.

"We're going to be there on Saturday. It's going to be a really big event, and it's going to be something. We'll celebrate the life of Corey, I think. And I want to celebrate the two gentlemen that got hit really bad," Trump said in Milwaukee.

by Gregory Walton, AFP