Trump reveals Democratic candidate he'd 'like to run against' as Joe Biden's exit looms
GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN: On Saturday, July 20, Donald Trump held his first campaign rally since the shooting incident. He thanked his supporters for their strong backing and criticized the Democrats as corrupt insiders bent on toppling their leader through a coup.
At a massive rally a week after the tragic shooting, Trump disclosed the Democratic candidate he aims to face in the upcoming election and shared his views on Project 2025.
The large, white gauze bandage he had worn all week to protect his injured ear was replaced with a smaller, flesh-toned dressing.
"Last week I took a bullet for democracy," he said, to roars of support.
Donald Trump offers political contrast for 2024 election
While Joe Biden, 81, is out of sight at home recovering from Covid-19, 78-year-old Trump stepped out to a thunderous welcome, offering an extraordinary political contrast for the 2024 election.
While one president battles for his political future, another has overcome a 2020 electoral loss, a criminal conviction, and an assassination attempt to reclaim a dominant position within his party, Daily Mail reported.
Returning to the stage in Grand Rapids, he was a changed man, his confidants claimed. However, he swiftly reverted to his typical rally antics, conducting a poll among his supporters to determine their preferred opponent in the upcoming election.
The crowd booed Vice President Kamala Harris and even more so for President Biden. "I don't think we have to go too much further," Trump remarked, shifting focus to Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, another potential contender. "You have a terrible governor who did a terrible job. I'd like to run against her."
Security appeared significantly heightened compared to previous rallies. The event took place indoors, and Secret Service agents conducted more thorough inspections of bags than usual near the magnetometers.
The streets surrounding the Van Andel Arena were barricaded with dump trucks, and snipers were positioned on adjacent buildings. Despite this, thousands of supporters queued up before the doors opened.
The Trump campaign asserted that 25,000 people filled the arena, which has a capacity of just over 12,000, with an additional 15,000 outside.
Donald Trump addresses RNC dissociating himself from Project 2025 plan
Following the formalities of the Republican National Convention and its delegates in Milwaukee last week, Trump basked in the adulation of his grassroots supporters.
As he made his entrance into the arena, they raised their fists and chanted "fight, fight, fight," echoing Trump's response as he rose from the ground, having been injured the previous weekend.
He took the opportunity to dissociate himself from the radical Project 2025 plan, which was devised by allies and former officials as a framework for a potential second Trump administration.
"Some on the right, severe right, came up with this Project 25," he said. "And I don't even know, they're sorta the opposite of the radical left. I don't know what the hell it is some of the things, they're seriously extreme."
Democrats have presented him with extreme plans. "I don't know what the hell it is," Trump asserted.
In his 107-minute address, he revisited the most celebrated moments of his rallies.
He vowed to restore car manufacturing in Michigan, committed to the largest deportation effort ever witnessed, and proposed constructing a national "iron dome" akin to Israel's while depicting a country in decay, governed by incompetents.
He expressed a preference for electrocution over death by sharks, poked fun at his combover upon seeing it on large video screens, and repeated his favored Hannibal Lecter joke ('The late, great Hannibal Lecter would like to have you for dinner').
He also stated that criminal indictments would not secure an election victory for Biden.
"He's a weak, pathetic man who can't run an election. So he indicts his opponent, thinking that's going to win," he said. "Third world countries do this a lot, banana republics do it a lot. We've never done it. And we're going to teach you why they can never do it again."
Michigan's significant influence on election results for Trump
Michigan stands as a pivotal swing state that can influence the election's result. Trump secured it with a margin of just over 10,000 votes in 2016, yet Biden managed to win the subsequent election. Grand Rapids has a notably special significance for Trump.
He conducted his last election rally of the 2016 campaign at this location, which preceded a surprising victory. He came back for his final 2020 rally, yet did not achieve a win.
Over the past week, family members, advisers, and officials have all noted that the shooting incident has transformed Trump. His party convention speech on Thursday, July 18, was promoted as an opportunity to advocate for unity and understanding.
The event lasted approximately 15 minutes before the former president transitioned into a rally speech, criticizing Biden, "crazy Nancy Pelosi," and his typical adversaries.
On Saturday, July 20, he dove right back into his typical barnstorming rally routine, to the great pleasure of a legion of supporters who were not about to be discouraged by something as trivial as an assassin's bullet.
"One of the messages that President Trump put out after what happened in Butler was a message that could best be characterized by two words: Fear not," Blake Marnell, who has attended over 40 rallies, stated.
Wearing his iconic "brick suit," he was in Butler, within 10 yards of Trump, when the latter was shot in the ear, and Secret Service agents quickly subdued him to the ground.
Beside him stood other "Front Row Joes," individuals who traverse the nation attending rally after rally.
"We saw the hand of God protecting the president last week and I feel safe being here because that hand protects all of us here," Rick Lane, 55, from Pennsylvania, was seen wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with "I bleed red, white, and Trump," produced by his own apparel company.
