Nearly 16,000 supporters turned out Wednesday night for a packed rally on Long Island where former President Donald Trump vowed to “save New York” in the face of recent assassination plots and defiantly declared that he now had only become stronger. 

“These encounters with death have not broken my will,” the Republican presidential nominee, 78, told roughly 16,000 fans at the Nassau Coliseum three days after a gunman was found hiding in the bushes of Trump’s namesake Florida golf course as he played a round.

“They have really given me a much bigger and stronger mission. They’ve only hardened my resolve to use my time on Earth to make America great again for all Americans, to put America first,” added Trump, whose ear was grazed by a would-be assassin’s bullet at a July 13 rally in western Pennsylvania.

“The reason I’m here,” Trump told the roaring crowd, was because “we are going to win New York.”

The atmosphere at the rally got rowdy during moments, with a pair of women getting escorted out for flashing Trump while jumping around wildly. All unbothered, Trump went on to hype the crowd with, “We are going to have a giant victory when we win this race. It will be legendary.” 

Even though Trump lost New York by 23+ points in 2020 to Joe Biden, he might have a chance to win this time. 

“We are going to rescue our Democrat-run states. We are going to start by saving the great state of New York,” Trump said.

Trump also attempted to downplay his many legal battles in New York, including a conviction on May 31 for falsifying business records. 

The former president recognized local Republican lawmakers in attendance, and he said he backed lifting the state and local tax cap that was imposed by his own 2017 tax reform law. Cheering Trump on was rally goer Marlene Lowe, 48, of Harrison, NY. “He’s fighting for us. The least we can do for him. The man gets hit once, almost shot again and doesn’t blink.”

 

Patrick Hill, 28, of Cherry Hill N.J., who was also attending the event, said Trump should be taken more seriously as an opponent because “the man cannot be killed.” 

The rally finished with Trump discussing having hijacked by almost death two times, insisting surviving was him focusing on divine providence.