At a rally on Long Island last month, Donald Trump was discussing taxes when he suddenly appeared startled by something behind him.
"I thought this was a wise guy coming up,” he quipped, lightheartedly preparing to defend himself.
"You know I have a bit of a yip problem here, right?” he added with a chuckle, referencing a term used in golf to describe the sudden inability to make easy shots due to performance anxiety. "I was all set to start duking it out."
What seemed like a brief, humorous moment carries a heavier significance as he heads back to Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday for a rally at the site of a gunman’s attack in July that grazed his ear with a bullet. This incident highlights the ongoing impact of violence on his campaign, even as national attention shifts to other crises.
Beyond the two attempts on his life in as many months, the former president and GOP nominee faces ongoing death threats from Iran, which has also been blamed for hacking top campaign officials and allies, exacerbating anxieties already heightened by a stepped-up security apparatus and new restrictions on how he can campaign.
Trump's allies insist he was not fundamentally changed by the gunman who fired from an unsecured roof at the rally in July or the would-be assailant in September who shoved a rifle barrel through the fence at his West Palm Beach golf course.
The picture of Trump standing with blood streaked across his face as he raised his fist and shouted "Fight!” has become the indelible image of the campaign.
"When you almost lose your life, it stays with you. It stays with him,” said Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, a close Trump ally. "But that doesn’t change his resolve. His resolve is just as strong as it ever has been.”
Trump staffers are on edge. There have been death threats directed at his aides, and his team isn't able to quickly organize the mass rallies that have always been the signature of his campaigns.
Armed security officers now stand guard at the campaign’s Florida headquarters, and staff have been told to remain vigilant and alert.
Events have been canceled and moved around because the U.S. Secret Service lacked the resources to safely secure them. Even with the use of glass barricades to protect Trump onstage, there are concerns about holding additional rallies outdoors due to fears about drones.
Trump has accused President Joe Biden's administration of intentionally denying security resources to help Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent, by preventing him from addressing large crowds.
"They couldn't give me any help. And I'm so angry about it because what they're doing is interfering in the election,” he said in a recent Fox News interview.
U.S. Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement that Trump "is receiving heightened levels of U.S. Secret Service protection” and that "our top priority is mitigating risks to ensure his continued safety at all times.” Biden expressed concern for Trump after both assassination attempts, saying in September, "Thank God the president is OK.”
Trump also now travels with a larger security footprint, with new traffic restrictions outside his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida and a line of dump trucks and large weapons on display outside Trump Tower in New York when he’s staying there.
As reporters filed into his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, for a press conference this summer, guests – including a little girl wearing a red, white, and blue bathing suit – were forced to exit their cars and go through airport-style metal detectors as their vehicles were searched for bombs.
Trump’s campaign last week was briefed on continued threats from Iran in presumed retaliation for his administration's killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, an act that prompted Iran’s leaders to vow revenge. In August, a Pakistani man alleged to have links to Iran was charged in a plot to carry out political assassinations on U.S. soil. Law enforcement did not name the targets of the alleged plot, but legal filings suggest Trump was a potential target.
Iranian hackers have also been charged with stealing information from Trump’s campaign and trying to pass it along to news organizations. In May, prosecutors say the men charged began trying to penetrate the Trump campaign, successfully breaking into the email accounts of campaign officials and other Trump allies. They then sought to "weaponize” the stolen campaign material by sending unsolicited emails to people associated with Biden’s campaign. None of the recipients who worked for Biden responded.
The cyberattacks have forced some staff to change their email addresses and others to be wary of communicating online.
Trump already faced unprecedented legal jeopardy for a presidential candidate, with four criminal indictments – one resulting in a felony conviction with sentencing delayed until after the election, one case dismissed, and two pending – along with civil lawsuits that carry hundreds of millions of dollars in potential penalties.
"I think that from our perspective, just from the campaign standpoint, operationally, if there’s one group of people that can handle something like this thrown in their lap, it’s the team that Donald Trump assembled to run this campaign, just based on everything we’ve had to deal with, whether it’s lawsuits to keep him off the ballot, indictments, or assassination attempts,” Trump campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita said.
As for Trump, he speaks more often publicly of divine intervention, musing that God saved him in order to save the country. He also often says that assailants only go after consequential presidents.
"Obviously, when you come within a half an inch of a very different outcome, that’s going to impact you," said New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, another ally who said she spoke to Trump the morning after the Butler shooting.
"Of course, those moments really make you consider a higher power, why you are so committed to helping save this country,” she said. "I think it has further empowered and energized President Trump.”
Trump was recently asked by NewsNation if he's concerned about his safety ahead of his return to Butler. "Well, I'm always worried,” he responded.
"I'm going back to Butler because I feel I have an obligation to go back to Butler. We never finished what we were supposed to do," he said. "And I said that when I was shot, I said we’re coming back. We’re going to come back. And I’m fulfilling a promise; I’m fulfilling really an obligation.”
His most loyal supporters at his rallies, including the one on Long Island where he joked about the "yips,” haven't been dissuaded from seeing him in person.
"I know some people are scared to come, but I’m not,” said Eileen Deighan, 63, a nurse from nearby Yonkers, New York, who said she was inspired by Trump’s decision to keep campaigning given the threats.
"The fact that he didn’t give up, he’s willing to fight for our country, how could you not support that?” she asked. "That will that he has – doesn’t give up. It’s very contagious.”
Trump told his supporters at a rally in Wisconsin on Saturday that he would continue fighting "no matter what obstacles and dangers are thrown in our path.” But he had another point to make.
"I tell you what, I had a good life before I did this,” he said. "Nobody was shooting at me. I had a hell of a life.”
