Trump holds 1st rally after assassination attempt with Vance by his side

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — Donald Trump held his first campaign rally since he survived an assassination attempt Saturday, returning to the battleground state of Michigan alongside his newly named running mate.

“It was exactly one week ago, even to the hour, even to the minute,” Trump told the crowd, reflecting on the July 13 shooting in Pennsylvania that left him with a bloodied ear, killed one of his supporters and left two others injured.

“I stand before you only by the grace of almighty God,” he said, the white gauze on his ear now replaced by a skin-colored bandage. “I shouldn’t be here right now,” he went on.

Trump was joined by Ohio Sen. JD Vance at the pair’s first event together since they became the GOP’s nominees at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

“I find it hard to believe that a week ago, an assassin tried to take Donald Trump’s life, and now we have got a hell of a crowd in Michigan to welcome him back on the campaign trail,” Vance said before Trump’s arrival.

Michigan is one of the handful of crucial swing states expected to determine the outcome of November’s presidential election. Trump narrowly won the state by just over 10,000 votes in 2016, but Democrat Joe Biden flipped it back in 2020, winning by a margin of 154,000 votes on his way to the presidency.

After appearing uncharacteristically subdued and emotional during the Republican convention, Trump returned to his usual rally mode, insulting his Democratic rivals, repeating his lies about the 2020 election, and peppering his address with jokes that sparked laughter from an enthusiastic audience.

At one point, Trump glanced at a screen showing him from an unusual angle and joked about his combover.

“That’s a severe sucker. What’s with that one?” he said. “I apologize. Man! I looked up there, I said, ‘Whoa!’ That’s like a work of art!”

At another point, as he invited a supporter on stage, he quipped, “He does not carry guns!”

But Trump also talked about the shooting, acting out how he’d turned his head to look up at a chart of southern border crossings projected on a giant screen, narrowly dodging the bullet that hit his ear.

“I owe immigration my life,” he said.

Hours before he took the stage, Trump’s supporters crowded the streets of downtown Grand Rapids in anticipation of the former president’s remarks. Supporters began lining up Friday morning, and by Saturday afternoon, the line stretched close to a mile from the entrance of the 12,000-seat Van Andel Arena.

Many wore shirts featuring the image of Trump, on stage, after he was shot, pumping his fist in the air, along with the usual red “Make America Great Again” hats.

Mike Gaydos, who traveled from Indiana with his three sons to attend the rally, said he didn’t consider himself a “huge” Trump supporter in the past but wanted to show support for the former president following his attempted assassination.

“We can’t allow something like that to collar us,” he said. “Bravery is what I thought he showed that day, and I want to show my sons about bravery as well.”

Numerous streets, closed as an additional security precaution, were dotted with vendors selling food and apparel. Among them was a vendor from North Carolina who said he had spent the night making shirts featuring “Trump Vance ’24.”

Downtown Grand Rapids also saw a significant police presence, with officers stationed on nearly every block, while others patrolled on horseback and bicycles. The heightened security outside the venue created a tense environment, with some attendees mentioning that drones overhead had made them nervous. The event was held indoors, which makes it easier to secure.

Attendees were required to pass through a metal detector upon entering the arena, yet the presence of security inside appeared consistent with previous events.

“This is the tightest I’ve ever seen the security,” said Renee White, who said that she’s been to 33 of Trump’s rallies. “We usually can bring in some small bags, but today I had to just leave stuff out there.”

White had been seated behind the podium at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where the gunman opened fire from a nearby rooftop. She described the shooting as “surreal” but said that it wouldn’t stop her from going to his rallies.

“If I’m going to be taken out, at least I’m doing something I love to do, right?” she said. On Saturday, she was again seated behind Trump, almost in the same spot as she had been in Butler.

Trump’s choice of Vance was aimed, in part, at helping him win support from Rust Belt voters in places like Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Ohio who helped Trump notch his surprise 2016 victory. Vance specifically mentioned those places during his acceptance speech at the convention, stressing his roots growing up poor in small-town Ohio and pledging not to forget working-class people whose “jobs were sent overseas and children were sent to war.”

Democrats have dominated recent elections in Michigan, but Republicans now see an opening in the state, especially as Democrats remain divided about whether Biden should drop out of the race.

Biden has insisted he is not quitting, and has attempted to turn the focus back towards Trump, saying Friday that Trump’s acceptance speech at the Republican convention showcased a “dark vision for the future.”

Trump on Saturday polled the crowd on who they’d like to see as his opponent, with cheers for Biden and loud boos when Trump asked about Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump and his team have tried to cast Democrats’ efforts to replace Biden as a “coup” in what appears to be part of a larger effort to try to distract from Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election after he refused to accept the results, as well as the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by his supporters.

“At this very moment, Democrat Party bosses are frantically trying to overthrow the results of their own party’s primaries to dump Crooked Joe Biden from the ballot,” Trump charged.

Later, he pushed back against efforts to cast him as a threat to democracy and an extremist, even as he has vowed mass deportations and threatened retribution against his political enemies.

“They keep saying, ’He’s a threat to democracy…’ Last week I took a bullet for democracy,” he said to rousing cheers.

Trump also again tried to distance himself from the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, a policy and personnel plan for a second Trump term that was crafted by a host of former administration officials.

Trump blasted the project, which has become a centerpiece of Biden’s campaign, as “severe right” and “seriously extreme,” just like the ”radical left.”

“I don’t know anything about it,” he insisted.

Biden’s campaign responded with a statement that noted Trump’s speech accepting the GOP nomination, in which he urged unity and said he was “running to be president for all of America, not half of America.”

“We were promised a new Donald Trump who would unite the country — instead all we saw tonight was the same Donald Americans keep rejecting over and over,” said Biden-Harris spokesperson Ammar Moussa. “He’s peddling the same lies, running the same campaign of revenge and retribution, touting the same failed policies, and — as usual — focused only on himself.”

The 81-year-old Democratic incumbent, who appeared in Detroit this month, is currently isolating at his beach home in Delaware recovering from COVID-19.

U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten, a Democrat representing Grand Rapids, is among the growing number of lawmakers calling on Biden to exit the race after his disastrous performance at last month’s debate.