Some people and images that helped boost the 2024 campaign of President-elect Donald Trump will feature prominently in the events celebrating his upcoming inauguration.
Among those who will lead the inauguration parade on January 20 will be some of the first responders to the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, that nearly cost Trump his life. Following a contingent of the U.S. Army, members of the Pennsylvania state and local police, an emergency services unit and SWAT team, fire and rescue, and EMS as well as county sheriffs, 911 radio dispatchers, and hospital personnel — all of whom assisted during the July shooting — will march in the parade, ABC News reported.
Many of them will be marching in honor of former fire Chief Corey Comperatore, who was murdered in the Butler shooting. He died protecting his family.
“We hope all Americans will pause today to remember the bravery and sacrifice of their own first responders and police, the expertise of their 911 dispatchers, and the skill of their local hospital emergency and medical staff and emergency management agencies,” Butler County first responders said in a statement.
Two others who were critically wounded in the shooting — 74-year-old Jim Copenhaver and 57-year-old David Dutch — will also attend the inauguration. Copenhaver suffered “life-altering” injuries, while Dutch had two surgeries and was induced into a coma after being struck by a bullet in the chest and liver, Trending Politics reported.
‘We just got a few feet, and the Secret Service just glaring at me, waving their hands, telling us to knock it off.’
Another iconic campaign item will also reportedly participate in the inaugural parade: the garbage truck in which Trump rode around in late October after President Joe Biden referred to Trump supporters as “garbage.” In response to a joke at a Trump rally about garbage in Puerto Rico, Biden quipped: “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.”
Trump took advantage of Biden’s insult of his supporters by donning a reflective vest, hopping into a garbage truck with his MAGA logo emblazoned on the side, and riding around on the tarmac at the airport in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
The truck was manufactured by Loadmaster, a Michigan company headquartered not in the Motor City but in the Upper Peninsula, according to the Midwesterner.
Andrew Brisson, vice president of Loadmaster, drove the truck with Trump as passenger. “[I] started up the truck, blew the air horn, and then Trump looked over at me and said, ‘Can you take me for a ride in this thing?'” Brisson recalled.
“I released the parking brake, put it in drive and started driving forward. … We just got a few feet, and the Secret Service just glaring at me, waving their hands, telling us to knock it off.”
A clip of Trump in the garbage truck can be seen here.
Whether the actual truck used on the tarmac back in October will appear in the augural parade or one similarly outfitted is unclear. The Midwesterner reported only that “a truck from Loadmaster … will be Michigan’s contribution to President Donald J. Trump’s inaugural parade next week.”
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Donald trump, Inauguration day, Garbage truck, Maga, Butler, Butler shooting, Corey comperatore, Politics
