Butler mayor reflects on aftermath of the Trump assassination attempt
Butler Mayor Bob Dandoy was at dinner with family on July 13, 2024 when he got a call from The New York Times for a statement about the attempted assassination of then presidential candidate Donald Trump.
None of Dandoy’s public speaking and political experience could have prepared him for what came next: a storm of phone calls, emails and text messages from reporters, the community and elected officials that did not taper off for two weeks.
The first few calls from the media overwhelmed Dandoy, who said he could not at the time understand why reporters were reaching out to him — the shooting occurred on the Butler Farm Show grounds in Connoquenessing Township, which is out of the city’s jurisdiction.
“Here I was in the middle of everything, and I realized very quickly that for the rest of the country, this shooting happened in Butler,” Dandoy said.
It was a lesson for Dandoy. He saw his responsibility as a spokesman for all of Butler County, not just Butler.
“When you leave this area, you don’t really say you are from so-and-so township. You say you are from Butler,” Dandoy said. “That’s something we take pride in, that we are a great community and that extends beyond geographical boundaries.”
Not all of the callers were reaching out with questions or show of support. An onslaught of angry accusations and hostile threats hit the city staff. Dandoy, a Democrat, said that what he found interesting was the attacks came from both sides of the political aisle.
“You failed,” some of the voicemails said. “You didn’t protect President Trump. We’re going to come and get you. You’re going to pay for this.”
On the other hand, there were those that called that said, “Don’t let them get away with this. This is staged. This is a way to get sympathies for President Trump. You have got to get to the bottom of this.”
“You have to be deft while handling that,” Dandoy said. “You are dealing with two different arguments.”
Part of why these comments made their way to City of Butler’s employees, Dandoy said, was that people did not fully understand what was going on. Just as important to consider with these aggressive messages, Dandoy said, is the increased political polarization in the U.S.
“People get personal, and that creates more negativity and more violence,” Dandoy said. “We really have to be careful about that.”
To deal with the angry callers while being sensitive of what led up to them, Dandoy leaned on his experience as an educator. As Dandoy said, the key is not necessarily agreeing on political matters, but being able to have conversations.
“Discussion is part of a democratic society. That skill of — as the saying goes — how we can disagree without being disagreeable. Find the commonality, so we can take that and move forward,” Dandoy said. “There is more that unites us than divides us.”
Among the various calls Dandoy took in the aftermath of the assassination attempt, one was from then President Joe Biden. Biden’s first words on the call were about Trump doing okay, which Dandoy said he found to be considerate.
“You are two men who, putting it very mildly, don’t get along,” Dandoy said. “If these two guys can do it, we should all be able to do that.”
Dandoy said that while he is optimistic that people can reach across the aisle and talk to one another, it is realistically going to take a lot of work, patience and self-control.
“In all my years, I’ve never seen a Democrat or Republican pothole,” Dandoy said. “We are all trying to work towards the same thing — trying to get a little bit better at life for our families, for our neighbors.
“That’s what the community of Butler is all about.”
