Support truly
independent journalism
Donald Trump ditched his short-lived call for unity and declared he was “not going to be nice” at his first campaign rally since Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race.
The former president turned his attacks to Kamala Harris, his new presumptive rival come November, following her endorsement by Biden – who he claimed to have “defeated.”
The event in North Carolina came days after Biden announced he was withdrawing from the White House race and threw his support behind Harris to beat Trump.
The Republican told his supporters that Biden’s departure was due to pressure from higher-ups in the Democratic Party, and not simply the president’s decision.
“As you know, three days ago, we officially defeated the worst president in the history of our country, crooked Joe Biden,” he said. “He quit because he was losing so badly in the polls, he was down at every single pole, and down by a lot, so he quit.”
“But really what happened was the leaders of the Democrat party, in a very undemocratic move, the bosses, they said, ‘Either you get out, or we’re going to throw you out using the 25th Amendment’ – that’s what happened.”
Before his appearance at the Republican National Convention last week – where he accepted the official GOP nomination to run for president– Trump said that the attempt on his life at a rally had changed him, and that he would be calling for “unity.”
The former president still bore the marks of the shocking incident on Wednesday, though his ear bandage appeared somewhat smaller – with a skin-colored band-aid covering the top part of his right ear.
Trump’s new attitude also seemed to have been short-lived as he turned his ire to Harris, who he called “Lyin’ Kamala,” telling supporters he was now “supposed to be nice.”
“You know, I was supposed to be nice. They say something happened to me when I got shot, I became nice,” he said.
“And when you’re dealing with these people – they’re very dangerous people. When you’re dealing with them, you can’t be too nice. You really can’t be so if you don’t mind, I’m not going to be nice.”
The former president later adapted a selection of his favorite rally phrases to attack Harris, declaring: “Kamala, you’re fired. Get out of here. You’re fired,” – a reference to his reality TV show, The Apprentice.
After the renewed attacks on his new opponent, Trump returned to his classic fiery rhetoric, used before the attempt on his life. He blamed Harris for what he portrayed as the Biden administration’s failures and rattled off a selection of his favorite hits.
He zoned in particularly on security along the US-Mexico border, telling the crowd: “Under Harris, illegal aliens are pouring in by the millions and millions and millions. Its going to be 20 million, maybe more than that by the end....They're coming from everywhere. They're coming from all over the world, from prisons and jails, mental institutions and insane asylums.”
“Every disaster Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have created can be fixed and can be fixed very quickly,” he added. “Every problem can be solved and every wrong can be rectified. By this time next year, America’s borders will be strong, sealed and secure.”
Trump pledged to the cheering supporters that he would cut federal funding to schools teaching critical race theory or with mask mandates and “keep men out of women’s sports.”
“The Radical Left Democrats rigged the presidential election in 2020 and we're not going to allow them to rig the presidential election in 2024,” he said.
The rally speech also bore similarities to his mammoth address at the RNC in terms of length, running at around 90 minutues. At the convention, he spoke for 93 minutes, the longest acceptance speech in RNC history.
