Donald Trump will hold his first campaign rally on Saturday since an assassination attempt was made on him a week ago, and he has just returned from the nominating convention where his control of the Republican Party was confirmed.
Trump will appear in Grand Rapids, in the battleground state of Michigan, alongside his new vice presidential candidate, U.S. Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio. It will be their first campaign event as part of what is now the official Republican presidential ticket.
Republican Party officials said during Trump’s nominating convention in Milwaukee this week that his encounter with death last Saturday had changed him, and that he will call for national unity when he gives his acceptance speech on Thursday night.
Although Trump began his address with a call for unity and national reform, much of his speech was filled with a list of his grievances and attacks on his opponents.
It’s unclear what type of speech Trump will deliver on Saturday, but his die-hard supporters typically flock to such events to hear Trump’s traditional fiery speeches.
Trump and Vance will take the stage with Republicans in Grand Rapids after this week’s nominating convention. In contrast, Democrats are in turmoil and it is no longer certain that President Joe Biden will be the Democratic nominee to face Trump in the Nov. 5 election.
After a poor performance in a debate against Trump last month, Biden is facing growing calls from many elected officials in his own party to step down as the party’s White House nominee and end his re-election campaign.
Biden is trailing in opinion polls and is behind Trump in every swing state. Many Democrats fear he has no path to victory and that the party needs a new presidential candidate to counter Trump.
The rally in Grand Rapids will be in an indoor arena, while the event in Butler, Pennsylvania, last weekend was outdoors. At that event, the gunman managed to climb to the roof of a building outside the Secret Service perimeter and then shot at Trump, severing his ear, killing one rally attendee and wounding several others.
The U.S. Secret Service, which is responsible for protecting Trump, declined to comment on security at the Grand Rapids event. Security lapses at the Butler rally are under investigation.
“The Secret Service does not discuss the means and methods we use in our protective operations,” the agency said in a statement.
Trump detailed his near-death experience in his convention speech Thursday, telling listeners he was only speaking to them “by the grace of Almighty God.”
(Reporting by Tim Reid in Grand Rapids; Editing by Ross Colvin and Alistair Bell)
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
