Appearing in a bulletproof glass pen, Donald Trump took the stage in Asheboro, North Carolina, for his first outdoor event since he was injured in a shooting at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last month.
In the wake of the shooting, which left Trump with a bloodied ear, injured two rallygoers and killed one man, the Secret Service issued a temporary recommendation that the former president hold indoor rallies only. Then, last week, the Secret Service said it would use bulletproof glass to protect him at outdoor rallies.
Trump’s event in North Carolina formed part of the campaign’s counter-programming to the week of the star-studded Democratic national convention in Chicago, which has so far featured a lineup of Democratic politicians and celebrity cameos.
The rally opened with brief remarks from JD Vance, the embattled Republican vice-presidential candidate, who was granted less than a minute on stage. Trump went on to invite to the stage a parade of sheriffs, plus the North Carolina Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson, who, Trump remarked in an aside, had “lost a lot of weight over the last couple of months”.
The group shuffled in and out of the bulletproof pen quickly before Trump launched into his speech focused on national security, featuring a series of well-established Maga talking points on Nato, Afghanistan and Russia, and attacks on his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris.
Trump repeatedly called her “Comrade Kamala”, doubling down on his claim that Harris is a far-left candidate, and claiming in his opening remarks that under a second Trump presidency, the country would experience economic prosperity.
Trump brought back his false assertion, a mainstay of his foreign policy rhetoric over the years, that Nato countries have failed to pay “their dues” as members of the alliance. In fact, Nato members are not legally obligated to pay the 2% of gross domestic product on defense that the alliance outlines as a target contribution.
Trump’s claim that Nato allies have somehow defaulted on their monetary obligation has generated outrage. “Oh, the fake news gave me a hard time for that,” said Trump, perhaps anticipating the response his inflammatory comments would elicit. “The press went crazy.”
He repeatedly claimed, without clear evidence, that Russia’s war in Ukraine would not have happened had he been in office rather than Biden in 2022. At least one other world leader would back him up, Trump said: “If you look at Hungary, very strong country, very strong leader, Viktor Orbán – he said the only thing that’s going to save the whole world is Trump has to be president again.”
Apparently unable to abandon his election lies, he offhandedly commented, speaking about the Democratic party, “they’re great at cheating in elections”, in the middle of his remarks on Russia’s war with Ukraine, which he said he will get “settled” if he is elected.
On the topic of the chaotic withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan in 2022, Trump vowed to “fire” the military personnel responsible and invoked gruesome descriptions of wounds suffered by American soldiers during the operation.
Trump’s campaign has reportedly pushed the former president to stick to policy issues and stay on message during his rallies. That has proved difficult for Trump. Apparently needled by Barack Obama’s jabs at him at the convention on Tuesday, Trump revisited Obama’s remarks repeatedly.
“Now, he was very nasty last night,” said Trump. “I try and be nice to people, you know, but it’s a little tough when they get personal.”
Instead of responding directly to Obama, he launched into a rambling discussion of whether or not his 2016 opponent, Hillary Clinton, should be imprisoned.