Trump, Vance speak at Michigan rally, week after assassination attempt

Now that Trump has finalized his formal nomination at the Republican Party convention, he may be at his strongest political position of this campaign cycle. Some Democrats want to remove President Biden from their list at the last minute, and Republicans are full of optimism.

The Grand Rapids event is Trump and Vance’s first meeting as running mates and underscores the Trump team’s hope that Vance’s Ohio upbringing and populist message will help them win the neighboring swing states of Michigan and Pennsylvania. Vance spoke just over 10 minutes before Trump’s remarks Saturday afternoon, stressing his roots in a “working-class family” that struggled with addiction and saying he has long viewed both political parties as “broken.”

He laid out the “America First” and isolationist ideas he has championed in a changing GOP. He criticized leaders across the political spectrum who he said had outsourced American jobs and suggested the U.S. should choose its foreign entanglements more carefully.

“There is nothing radical about strong national security, about hitting hard when we go to war, but being careful and not trying to get America into every corner and conflict of the world,” Vance said. “Sometimes, my friends, it’s just not our business and we have to stay out of it.” The crowd cheered.

Despite last week’s violence, Trump supporters lined up early Saturday to hear what their official ticket was. Many rally attendees wore shirts with Trump’s words after the assassination attempt — “fight, fight, fight” — or pictures of Trump pumping his fist in the air, and a few wore earbands meant to mimic the ones Trump wore at the GOP convention.

Saturday’s rally is taking place with extra security measures. The event was moved indoors after the shooting at an outdoor event because an arena is easier to secure, The Washington Post previously reported, and Trump’s campaign does not expect to hold more outdoor rallies anytime soon. The Secret Service has also requested extra help from local law enforcement.

“They’re going to have extra security, obviously,” Kent County Commissioner Walter Bujak told The Post. “They’re going to dot the i’s and cross the t’s on this one.”

Supporters at the rally said they were convinced God saved Trump’s life last week and that they had little fear for their own safety.

“I feel safe and I’m not worried. The security is as good as it can be,” said Angelic Johnson, 54. “We just have to trust God to protect us, like he did the night Trump was shot.” ​​She said she wanted to know more about Vance after knowing only his basic biography.

Trump’s campaign signaled in an event advisory that the former president would focus on Biden’s economic and border policies, and attacked him for inflation and an influx of illegal immigrants during his term. Protesters booed and jeered as screens showed a mashup of Biden stumbling over his words and tripping on stage.

Biden’s campaign held a press conference on Saturday ahead of the Grand Rapids rally to attack Trump’s agenda, saying it would hurt workers while giving benefits to the wealthy. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) shared a video with her “welcome” message to Trump and Vance, saying “we’re here to protect reproductive freedom” and offering other criticism of Trump’s policies.

But the Democrats’ own unrest is a growing distraction. A dozen more Democratic lawmakers called on Biden to withdraw from the presidential race on Friday alone, signaling that the party is still deeply unsettled by Biden’s struggle to maintain his line of thought on June 27 and other stumbling blocks.

Biden has also stepped off the campaign trail due to COVID-19, while Trump and Vance are planning a slew of events after the Republican convention.

On Monday afternoon, Vance will hold a rally in his hometown of Middletown, Ohio. He will then head to a rally Monday night in Radford, Virginia — a sign of the Trump campaign’s continued efforts to expand the map of competitive states into places where Democrats typically hold the upper hand in presidential races. Biden won Virginia by 10 points in 2020.

Trump plans to deliver a speech at a rally in Charlotte on Wednesday evening.

Trump, who showed up at the convention with a bandage around his ear, used his speech to call for unity after the shooting at last week’s rally. “The discord and division in our society must be healed,” he said.

But after recounting the assassination attempt and attributing his survival to divine intervention, Trump largely returned to his usual material, lashing out at “crazy Nancy Pelosi” and alluding to his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him — “that horrible, horrible outcome that we will never allow to happen again.”

Knowles reported from Washington.