1 of 3 | Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump holds his fist up after speaking at his first joint rally with Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Mich. on Saturday. Photo by Allison Dinner/EPA-EFE
July 20 (UPI) —Donald Trump returned to the presidential campaign trail for the first time since the attempted assassination and with his newly minted vice presidential pick J.D. Vance on Saturday in Michigan, a battleground state.
The rally in Grand Rapids was one week after an assassin’s bullet almost took his life during an event in Butler, Pa. The former president notably appeared on stage without the large white ear bandage he had been sporting at the Republican National Convention this week in Milwaukee. Instead, he wore a small beige-colored one.
“I shouldn’t be here,” Trump told the packed crowd of supporters at Van Andel Arena. “Maybe J.D. or somebody else would be here right now, but I shouldn’t be here. Something special happened.”
Trump also poked fun at the Democratic party’s division over whether President Joe Biden ought to stay in the race or bow out and allow for another nominee.
“They have a couple of problems,” Trump said. “No. 1, they have no idea who their candidate is. That’s a problem. But we’ll see, hopefully they get it worked out.”
He asked: “Who’s your favorite candidate? Who would you most like to run against us if we want to win?”
They loudly approved of Biden.
Trump spoke for 108 minutes, compared with his convention speech of 92 minutes, which was the longest in recent history. Besides recounting his ordeal in Butler, Pa., he boasted about his presidency, what he would do as the leader again and blasted the current administration. He amped up his rhetoric again, saying “Crooked Joe” and “really low IQ people” in in the White House.
“And the president in particular, he has about a 70 IQ,” Trump said. “And he’s going against 210, and it never works out.”
Local media reported supporters began lining up outside the arena in downtown Grand Rapids as early as Friday afternoon. The rally in Pennsylvania took place outdoors.
Doors opened at 1 p.m. EDT, and the rally began before 5 p.m., including comments by Vance where he said during his 11-minute speech: “Who could possibly reject the idea that four years of President Trump has been a hell of a lot better than four years of Joe Biden?”
Several streets near the venue were shut down, and there was increased security inside the arena, Grand Rapids police said.
The Secret Service also closed the streets near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach through the election following last week’s assassination attempt.
Trump’s physician, Dr. Ronny Jackson posted on X that he visited the former president on the night of the attempted shooting to check on him personally and has been with him since then.
“Former President Trump is doing well, and he is recovering as expected from the gunshot wound sustained last Saturday afternoon. I am extremely thankful his life was spared. It is an absolute miracle he wasn’t killed.”
He said the bullet passed “less than a quarter inch from entering the head” and the wound was 2 centimeters “that extended down to the cartilaginous surface of the ear.”
Jackson noted the wound is healing though there is “intermittent” bleeding. Sutures were not required.
Michigan is a critical swing state for Trump, which he won from Hillary Clinton in 2016 but lost to Biden in 2020. In Kent County, which includes Grand Rapids, Trump won in 2016 and lost in 2020.
Saturday also was Vance’s first campaign appearance alongside Trump. The former president announced Vance, a U.S. senator, would be his running mate during the RNC.
Vance earlier in the day threw barbs at Democrats calling for Biden to resign as president, arguing if he’s not fit to run for another term then he’s not fit to serve as president now.
“Everyone calling on Joe Biden to *stop running* without also calling on him to resign the presidency is engaged in an absurd level of cynicism,” Vance posted on X. “If you can’t run, you can’t serve. He should resign now.”
Biden’s Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg criticized Vance in an appearance on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, pointing to the senator’s previous opposition to Trump.
Vance just a few years ago called Trump “just another opioid” for Middle America and said he might be “America’s Hitler” when he ran in 2016.
“I mean, for somebody whose identity is that they’re connected to Appalachia, which has an opioid crisis, that really is the darkest thing you could possibly say about Donald Trump, at least in public, but behind the scenes currently, he’s actually calling him Hitler, right? Seriously,” Buttigieg said.
Biden is off the campaign trail this weekend, isolating at his Delaware home after announcing Wednesday he had tested positive for COVID-19.
“His pulse, blood pressure, respiratory rate and temperature remain absolutely normal,” O’Connor said. “His oxygen saturation continues to be excellent on room air. His lungs remain clear.”
Vice President Kamala Harris, meanwhile, is picking up the campaign in his stead with a campaign fundraiser in Provincetown, Mass., on Saturday that raised $2 million, according to event organizers.
Democrats are looking to Harris as the presumed heir of Biden’s campaign should he drop out of the race.
Biden, however, continues to shrug off increasing calls from members of his own party to bow out due to his age and health.
The 81-year-old president, despite recent stutters and gaffs including when he called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “President Putin,” has maintained he is fit to serve for four more years.
At least 35 congressional Democrats have broken rank with Biden since his upsetting performance at the first presidential debate in June where he frequently struggled to articulate his policies.
Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., on Saturday morning joined the list of concerned Democrats calling on Biden to let Harris take over.
“President Biden’s greatest accomplishment remains saving democracy in 2020. He can and must do so again in 2024 — by passing the torch to Vice President Harris as the Democratic Party Presidential nominee,” he said. “It has become clear to me that the demands of a modern campaign are now best met by the Vice President, who can seamlessly transition into the role of our party’s standard bearer.”
Many of Biden’s fellow Democrats are still standing by him. Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow in a campaign press call said, “we’ve not seen a president who’s been able to deliver more from Michigan than President Biden and the Biden-Harris team.”
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren‘s support was less enthusiastic. In an interview with MSNBC’s The Weekend, she said “Joe Biden is our nominee,” but added, “he has a really big decision to make.”
“If President Biden decides to step back, we have Vice President Kamala Harris, who is ready to step up, to unite the party, to take on Donald Trump and to win in November,” she said.
