Donald Trump spoke from behind bulletproof glass at his first outdoor rally since he escaped an assassination attempt last month, as third-party candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr looked set to drop out and endorse the former president.
Trump’s appearance in North Carolina came after the Republican nominee was attacked by Barack Obama at the Democrats’ convention for “whining”. He was characteristically peevish in his response.
“He was taking shots at your president. And so was Michell [Obama],” Trump complained, accusing his White House predecessor of being “very nasty”.
He added, referring to his advisers: “You know, they always say, ‘Sir, please stick to policy. Don’t get personal’. And yet they’re getting personal all night long, these people.”
Trump was on a high after his brush with death but has seen his poll lead in battleground states erased by the emergence of Vice President Kamala Harris atop the Democratic ticket, after President Joe Biden dropped out.
He could get a much-needed boost after reports that the eccentric nephew of John F. Kennedy will drop out of the race and endorse Trump tomorrow, in a bid to dent Harris’s momentum after she addresses the Democratic convention tonight.
Trump spoke at the North Carolina Aviation Museum from behind panes of bulletproof glass, while storage containers were stacked around the perimeter to create additional barriers after he was shot and wounded in Pennsylvania.
His remarks were meant to be focussed on national security but he kept returning to the Democrats’ attacks in Chicago, branding “Comrade Kamala” a far-left radical.
