Former US President Donald Trump returned to the campaign trail on Saturday, days after an attempt was made to assassinate him at a public rally in Pennsylvania on July 13, and said that he “took a bullet for democracy”, The Hill reported. He was addressing his first rally in Michigan's Grand Rapids, a week after the fateful day in which he sustained injury in the right ear and a person was killed in the shooting and other two were injured. This was also his first public address since his speech after accepting nomination for the US presidential election in the Republican National Convention.
"I don't want to know anything about it. But what they do is misinformation and disinformation, and they keep saying he's a threat to democracy," Trump said, referring to Democrats. 'I'm saying, 'What the hell did I do for democracy? Last week, I took a bullet for democracy," Trump added.
Appearing before the people with a smaller beige coloured bandage on his right ear, replacing the larger white one he put on at the RNC, Trump remembered the almighty for his survival. “I stand before you only by the grace of Almighty God,” he said.
Several of his supporters who came to attend the rally wore shirts featuring Trump’s image holding his first in the air and telling his voters to “fight” as the US Secret Service agents were taking him off the stage after the shooting, CNN reported.
JD Vance addresses rally
At the same rally, Trump’s running mate JD Vance questioned Vice President Kamala Harris’s achievements while also hitting back at her over her “loyalty” remark.
Vance said, "There's some bad news actually, Vice President Kamala Harris, she doesn't like me." "Kamala Harris said something to the effect that ... I have no loyalty to this country. Well, I don't know, Kamala, I did serve in the United States Marine Corps and build a business. What the hell have you done other than collect a check?," Vance said.
It was Vance's first rally with former US President Donald Trump after being selected as his running mate. Vance's remarks came after Kamala Harris earlier this week criticised him for saying he would not have certified the election results of 2020.
What had Kamala Harris said?
Harris even compared Vance to former US Vice President Mike Pence, saying that Vance "would have carried out Trump's plan to overturn the 2020 election."
In a video released on Wednesday, Harris said, "Donald Trump has picked his new running mate: JD Vance. Trump looked for someone he knew would be a rubber stamp for his extreme agenda." She further said, "Make no mistake: JD Vance will be loyal only to Trump, not to our country," ABC News reported.
(With ANI inputs)
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