Trump says he ‘took a bullet for democracy’ in first rally since assassination attempt
Donald Trump addresses supporters at Michigan, his first campaign rally appearance since surviving an assassination attempt, while Joe Biden is at home with Covid, resisting unprecedented Democratic pressure to step aside.
Donald Trump, joined by his newly minted running mate JD Vance, whipped up a crowd of thousands in the first rally since last week’s assassination attempt and expressed thanks for the “extraordinary outpouring of love and support.”
“It was exactly one week ago today, almost to the hour,” Trump said as the crowd shouted, “fight, fight, fight” – the words he said after being wounded.
“I stand before you only by the grace of the all-mighty God,” Trump said. “Something very special happened.” The white bandage he had been wearing in recent days was replaced by a smaller, beige-coloured one.
“Last week I took a bullet for democracy,” Trump said, responding to Democrats who have said a second Trump term would smash democratic norms. He polled the crowd who they would rather face, naming Vice President Kamala Harris, who elicited boos, and then “Crooked Joe Biden, ” which triggered a roar.
Trump’s campaign has said not much will change in their approach if Harris takes over, as it will seek to attach her to President Biden’s policies. The campaign also has collected research on other potential rivals, according to a person familiar with the effort.
Trump’s appearance in Michigan, his first stop on the campaign trail after he formally became the nominee in Milwaukee, underscores how critical the Midwestern ‘Blue Wall’ states are in the election. Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania are a handful of battlegrounds that will decide the outcome, and they are generally considered to be the swing states where Trump’s leads over Biden are the slimmest.
Trump is leading in Michigan, a state Biden narrowly won in 2020, by 2.2 percentage points in the fivethirtyeight.com average of public polls. Trump holds wider leads nationally and in battlegrounds such as Georgia, Arizona and Nevada.
Vance, a senator from Ohio picked for his perceived appeal to working-class voters, made a surprise appearance at the rally roughly two hours before Trump took the stage and launched into an attack on Harris, who recently said Vance “will be loyal only to Trump, not to our country”.
“I don’t know, Kamala, I did serve in the United States Marine Corps and built a business,” Vance said. “What the hell have you done?” The crowd started chanting “USA”.
Many in the audience wore T-shirts bearing the photograph of Trump, bloodied face and fist raised, in the aftermath of the July 13 shooting in Butler, Pa. “Missed Me,” read one shirt. Chats of “Fight, fight, fight” rang out in the halls of the arena.
Biden continues to face Democratic pressure to drop his re-election bid. One deflection came from Rep. Hillary Scholten, a Democrat from Grand Rapids who is considered vulnerable in November. “We must have a standard-bearer who will fight morning, noon and night for our civil and voting rights and unite the free world against the rising tide of authoritarianism,” she said on July 11, a day before Biden held an event in Detroit as he attempted to show the party he could soldier on.
On Saturday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, a leading voice in Democratic Party’s liberal wing, made a case for Harris to become the presidential nominee should Biden step aside, the latest indication that top party leaders are plotting out a future with a different ticket.
Attendees at the Grand Rapids rally waved off any concern that another Democrat would provide a stronger challenge to Trump.
“I just wanted to show my support. It’s the least we can do after the attempted assassination,” said Debbie Wingler, a 60-year-old postal worker from Belleville, Mich.
“He’s a billionaire, he doesn’t need to be here. He didn’t need to be in Pennsylvania. He just keeps standing up for us. The economy, the border, inflation, you name it, he is going after everything.” Arlo Clemens, of Grand Rapids, said Saturday was his first Trump rally.
“This is awesome and electrifying,” Clemens, 63, said. If Trump were killed a week ago, he added, “We would have been in a world of hurt.”
The Biden campaign released a video from Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, highlighting Project 2025, an expansive conservative effort to prepare for a second Trump term. Among the policy proposals: firing and limiting the influence of career civil servants; eliminating or significantly shrinking the Education Department; ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs and imposing additional restrictions on abortion.
Trump has taken steps to distance himself from Project 2025 as Biden and his allies have shown traction in raising public awareness about the agenda.
During the rally here Trump said the project was drafted by “some on the right – severe right,” and that he knew some of the people involved but not all of them.
In particular, Trump has sought to neutralise abortion as an issue, saying states should decide. At the same time, Trump has taken credit for installing three conservatives to the Supreme Court, which in 2022 eliminated the constitutional right to the procedure.
Trump, after spending the first part of his acceptance speech in Milwaukee calling for unity in a divided nation, struck partisan notes throughout the Michigan rally. He said the US was a nation run by stupid people. And he hit familiar themes about getting tougher on immigration, confronting China and promising retaliatory trade actions. “You screw us and we’ll screw you,” he said.
Trump also made a number of false claims, including that Democrats are seeking to get illegal immigrants signed up to vote and said his opposition had “rigged” the 2020 election.
While he bragged about his lead in polls he warned the audience not to get complacent, saying the next four months is “like an eternity.”
During the rally, Trump also showered Elon Musk with praise and alluded to a recent Wall Street Journal report that Musk has said he plans to commit around $45 million a month to a new pro-Trump super political-action committee.
“We have to make life good for our smart people and he’s as smart as you get,” Trump said of Musk. “He gives me $US45 million ($67m) a month, a month … He’s a great guy, he really is.”
Earlier Saturday, Rep. Ronny Jackson (R., Tex), who served as a White House physician while Donald Trump was president, provided an update on Trump’s condition following the assassination attempt.
In a letter to Congress, posted on Trump’s social-media account, Jackson said he has been treating Trump since he received emergency care by the medical staff at Butler Memorial Hospital in Pennsylvania.
“Former president Trump is doing well and he is recovering as expected from the gunshot wound,” Jackson wrote.
He said that the bullet produced a 2cm-wide wound that extended down to the cartilaginous surface of Trump’s ear. He said there remains some intermittent bleeding, so he will need to continue to dress the wound, but the swelling has since gone down.
Jackson added that given the broad and blunt nature of the wound itself no sutures were required.
“It was divine intervention,” said Royce Biddle, 72, of Kalamazoo, Mich., who blamed the Secret Service for not stopping the shooter earlier.
He said Harris might prove a better candidate than Biden – “She smiles better and is more telegenic” – but thought voters would reject the Democratic agenda.
“Trump’s going to win,” Biddle said. “I hope it’s a landslide.”
– Vivian Salama contributed to this article.
Dow Jones Newswires
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