Trump to hold first campaign rally after attempted assassination by Reuters
Written by Tim Reid
GRAND RAPIDS (Reuters) – Donald Trump will hold his first campaign rally on Saturday since narrowly escaping an assassination attempt last week and fresh off a nominating convention that cemented his takeover of the Republican Party.
Trump will appear in Grand Rapids, a Michigan battleground, with his new vice president, Ohio US Senator JD Vance. It will be their first joint campaign event as the now official Republican presidential ticket.
Republican Party officials said during Trump's election rally in Milwaukee this week that his death last Saturday had changed him, and that when he gave his acceptance speech Thursday night, he would call for national unity.
While Trump began the speech with a call for unity and national healing, a large part of his speech was his well-known list of grievances and attacks on his opponents.
It is not clear what kind of speech Trump will deliver on Saturday, but his staunch supporters often flock to such events to hear Trump's inflammatory speech.
Trump and Vance will take the stage in Grand Rapids with the Republican Party rallying behind them after this week's nominating convention. In contrast, the Democrats are facing chaos and there is no certainty that President Joe Biden will be elected to the Democratic Alliance against Trump in the November 5 election.
Biden is facing growing calls from many elected officials in his own party to step down as a member of the White House and end his bid for re-election, after his disastrous debate against Trump last month.
Biden is trailing in opinion polls and behind in every state that opposes Trump. Many Democrats fear that they may have no way to win and that the party needs a new presidential candidate to replace Trump.
The rally in Grand Rapids will be held indoors, unlike the event in Butler, Pennsylvania last weekend, which was held outdoors. At that event, a gunman managed to climb the roof of an off-limits Secret Service building before opening fire on Trump, cutting off his ear, killing a rally attendee and wounding several others.
The US Secret Service, which is responsible for protecting Trump, declined to comment on security at the Grand Rapids event. An investigation into the security failure at the Butler rally is ongoing.
“The Secret Service does not discuss the means and methods used for our protection,” the statement said in a statement.
Trump gave more details about his death in his speech on Thursday, telling the audience that he was only speaking to them “by the grace of God Almighty.”
