Trump supporters hold ‘emergency call to arms’ in Clearwater after assassination attempt

Dozens of Donald Trump supporters flocked to downtown Clearwater on Sunday for an “emergency call to arms” flag-waving event after a failed assassination attempt on the former president and presumptive GOP presidential nominee.

“It galvanized people,” Samuel Hutkin said Sunday afternoon as fellow Trump fans clad in red, white and blue crowded Court Street outside the courthouse.

“It’s like he shot at them,” Hutkin, 56, said of Trump’s supporters. “It’s like he tried to extinguish us all.”

At a Pennsylvania rally on Saturday, Trump left bloodied but “safe” after a bullet pierced his right ear. A former fire chief attending the rally was killed and two others were critically injured.

The gunman fired multiple shots into the crowd from a nearby building before he was killed by the Secret Service, authorities said.

Trump on Sunday morning wrote in a social media post, “We will FEAR NOT, but instead remain resilient in our Faith and Defiant in the face of Wickedness.”

At the Clearwater rally, supporters wore hats and shirts decorated with Trump’s name and face. They waved large American flags toward oncoming traffic. They clutched signs that read “FIGHT DEMOCRAT TYRANNY” and “Drain the Swamp.”

A cacophony of car horns and “USA” chants rang through the surrounding streets.

Penny Atwell Jones of Clearwater organized the event, which she described on social media early Sunday as a “call to arms emergency flag wave.” Jones, 81, who has held pro-Trump flag-waving events in the past, could not be reached for comment after the event.

“It brought a lot of fear,” Hutkin said of the violence against Trump. “God forbid if he was killed, you’re talking about a civil war possibility, and maybe that’s what people wanted.”

Hutkin, president of the Clearwater Beach Association, said he has attended past flag-waving rallies and attends a “Run for Their Lives” event in support of Israeli hostages in Gaza every Sunday. He clutched an American flag in one hand and an Israeli flag in the other.

Hutkin said past presidents who have been assassinated or whose lives have been threatened “were actually the best ones.”

Steve Simon, of Clearwater, brandished a Trump banner at the event.

“I want to make America great again and I don’t like assassination attempts on my candidate,” said Simon, who declined to give a reporter his age.

In the parking lot beside the event, bumper stickers denounced Biden and endorsed Trump. One read “Biden has dementia.” Another said, “TRUMP PENCE 2020″ with the former vice president’s name scratched out. A man walked around the crowded lot taking pictures of license plates.

Many at the rally declined to speak with the Tampa Bay Times. A woman walked from corner to corner shouting into a microphone, “The liberal media are here! Don’t speak to them!”

Jude Zentmeyer, 77, of Dunedin sported tennis shoes that read “Defund the media.”

Local and national leaders from across the political spectrum condemned Saturday’s violence.

President Joe Biden said on X, “There’s no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it.”

Biden’s campaign is grappling with how to manage the fallout as the president continues his reelection bid. Moments after the shooting, the campaign said it was pausing all outbound communications and pulling television advertisements.

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, a Democrat, said on X Saturday, “I am sickened by today’s violence at a political rally in PA. I am praying for Donald Trump and his family, as well as any innocent victims. America is better than than this.”