The former President, amid a rally's fervor in Butler, Pennsylvania, was the target of a chilling assassination attempt on a fateful Saturday. The aftermath reverberated through the country, with Jason Aldean paying a poignant tribute to Donald Trump the very next day. Standing on stage in Nashville, Aldean dedicated his controversial hit, "Try That In A Small Town," to the former President, who had narrowly escaped a bullet's deadly embrace.
With Trump's rally in Butler still fresh in the nation's mind, Aldean's voice echoed with solidarity, addressing the audience with heartfelt words. "President Trump is more than just a friend; he's family. So, this song is for him. November's outcome is a foregone conclusion, and everything's gonna be alright," he declared, his message captured in fans' videos of the concert.
The song, crafted by the talents of Kelley Lovelace, Neil Thrasher, Tully Kennedy, and Kurt Allison, served as the anthemic lead single from Aldean's 2023 album, 'Highway Desperado.' However, it has faced its share of criticism, accused of glorifying gun violence and taking aim at the Black Lives Matter movement. Adding to the controversy, the music video's backdrop—the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee—holds a dark history, where Henry Choate, an 18-year-old Black man, was lynched in 1927 following false accusations of attacking a white woman. While Aldean maintained that the choice of location was not deliberate, he conceded to a lack of prior research.
Since the video's release last July, Aldean has been steadfast in defending "Try That In A Small Town," even as it was briefly pulled from CMT amidst the backlash. Taking to Twitter (now known as X), he penned, "Within 24 hours, I've been falsely accused of promoting lynching and deemed unhappy with BLM protests. These accusations are baseless and harmful. The song contains no racial references, and every frame of the video is genuine news footage. While I respect differing interpretations, this is crossing a line."
Trump, a steadfast supporter of the song, had previously praised it on Truth Social, lauding Aldean as "a fantastic guy with a great new tune. Support Jason all the way. MAGA!!!"
After miraculously surviving the attack, Trump shared a harrowing account of his ordeal on Truth Social, detailing the moment he realized he was under fire. "The sound of the bullet's whiz, the shots ringing out, and then the searing pain as it tore through my skin—it all happened in a flash. Blood flowed freely, but I emerged unscathed."
On Sunday, the FBI identified the assailant as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, while confirming that the investigation was ongoing. Tragically, one attendee lost their life, and two others were critically injured, all of them men. The Secret Service swiftly neutralized the threat, taking down the shooter who had launched his attack from an elevated position.
