An unexpected tragedy in New York has rerouted the campaign of the Republican presidential nominee.
Former President Donald Trump and his campaign had originally planned on stopping at a famed deli in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, but abruptly canceled that stop after the owner of the deli unexpectedly passed away.
Trump and his team were originally slated to appear at the popular local deli, Gottlieb’s, on Thursday, according to WPIX-TV.
The stop was planned as part of the Trump campaign’s swoop through New York, which included a particularly buzzworthy stop in Nassau County on Wednesday.
(The Nassau rally featured conflicting reports about a “suspicious occurrence” that took place before the event.)
The deli owner, identified by Williamsburg 365 as R’ Shulem Yosef Gottlieb, reportedly died of a heart attack Thursday.
The local outlet described Gottlieb as “a respected figure in the community,” and that his passing had left not just his family, but the “Williamsburg community in mourning.”
He was 75 years old, according to WINS-AM.
WINS also reports that Trump was at a “cryptocurrency-themed bar” in New York prior to the Nassau rally.
Is Trump running a better campaign than Kamala Harris?
This swing through the Empire State comes on the heels of Trump’s second assassination attempt in nearly as many months.
On Sunday, the former president was golfing at his own course in Florida, when the Secret Service — scouting a few holes ahead of the president — noticed a rifle sticking out of some shrubbery.
After security spooked off the would-be assassin, local authorities eventually apprehended Ryan Wesley Routh.
A scant 64 days before that harrowing event, Trump was at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
That July 13 rally saw an assailant identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks fire several rounds at Trump while he was speaking.
Crooks was apparently able to secure a sloped roof with a clear line of sight to the presidential candidate at the fairgrounds.
Trump was hit in his ear, but ultimately survived. Other rallygoers were struck as well. One of them, firefighter Corey Comperatore, died from wounds sustained at the event.
The former president is currently locked in a neck-and-neck race against the Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, in terms of pre-election polling.
Real Clear Politics averages give Harris a slim 1.9 point lead over Trump — which doesn’t mean much when it comes to electoral college votes.
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