Former US President Trump made his first joint campaign appearance with his vice presidential candidate Vance. He used the stage to launch a sharp attack on the Democratic Party.
Exactly one week after the assassination attempt on him, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump appeared at a classic campaign rally for the first time. Trump spoke to supporters in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and said again in reference to the attack: “I stand before you only by the grace of Almighty God.”
There, Trump presented himself for the first time at a campaign rally with his new vice presidential candidate JD Vance. At a Republican nominating convention in Milwaukee a few days ago, delegates officially chose Trump and Vance as the candidate duo for the presidential election in November. “I made the right choice,” Trump said of his new partner. “He's so good.” Trump raved about his party's meeting in Milwaukee. “It was like a big, beautiful, four-day celebration of love.” There was no argument, no shouting, no yelling.
Although he had previously called for national unity, Trump sharply attacked the Democrats.
Mockery and hatred for the Democrats
The Republican, however, mocked the upcoming Democratic Party nominating convention in August. “They have a few problems. First of all, they have no idea who their candidate is.” Trump was referring to the Democrats' internal party rebellion against his opponent, US President Joe Biden, who is seeking a second term in office in November. However, the 81-year-old is under massive pressure due to his age and doubts about his mental fitness.
The members of the Democratic Party are in fact the enemies of democracy, Trump continued. He, on the other hand, said Trump, took a bullet for democracy. Trump repeatedly referred to incumbent President Joe Biden as “weak” in his speech and compared the influential Democrat Nancy Pelosi to a dog and a bedbug. He did not mention the national unity he invoked in his nomination speech.
Doctor gives details of injury
A week earlier, a gunman opened fire at a campaign rally in the town of Butler in the state of Pennsylvania and shot Trump. The perpetrator was killed by security forces. One visitor to the rally died and two others were wounded. Trump was injured in the right ear. The incident was an escalation in the already heated US election campaign.
Trump's former doctor has now revealed details of his injury. The bullet missed Trump's head by less than six millimeters “and hit the top of his right ear,” wrote former White House doctor Ronny Jackson in a report published on the online service Truth Social. The bullet caused a “two-centimeter-wide wound” that reached “down to the cartilage surface,” it continued.
Jackson explained that he flew to Trump on the evening of the assassination and has been treating the ear since then. It bled “significantly” and was swollen at the beginning, the doctor explained. The swelling has since gone down and the wound is beginning to “heal properly.”
