RYAN MEILSTRUP
GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN — Former President Donald Trump and Republican Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio held their first joint rally together in Michigan on Saturday, a state that the pair is seeking to turn red after President Joe Biden won it in 2020.
The event in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was the first rally since Trump survived an assassin’s bullet in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13 — a shooting that injured the GOP nominee’s ear and caused the death of Corey Comperatore, a veteran and former volunteer fire chief.
Trump struck a more critical tone when referencing his political opponents than he did at his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention on Thursday. The former president hit back at his opponents that refer to him as “an enemy of democracy.”
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“They keep saying [I’m] a threat to democracy. I’m saying, what the hell did I do for democracy? Last week, I took a bullet for democracy,” Trump said Saturday.
The Republican nominee distanced himself from the Heritage Foundation’s project 2025, calling it “extreme,” a statement that puts him at odds with some on the right who are hoping he will implement many of the initiatives in the nearly 1,000 page plan.
Republican Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio addresses crowd at Trump rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on July 20, 2024. (Photo by Ryan Meilstrup/Daily Caller News Foundation)
On his pick for vice president, Trump said he chose Vance “because he’s for the worker.”
Vance acknowledged his Midwestern roots by poking fun at the Michigan attendees, acknowledging the rivalry between the states of Ohio and Michigan. “I am going to respect Michigan to my Ohio brethren. We have to win Michigan,” Vance said.
Cops patrol the streets on bicycles outside of Trump rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on July 20, 2024.(Photo by Ryan Meilstrup/Daily Caller News Foundation)
Security appeared to be increased following Saturday’s tragic events. Local police patrolled the streets of the city on bikes, horseback and vehicles. Secret Service shadowed Trump as he approached the stage as local police stood guard in the upper deck above the stage.
The Secret Service, Michigan State Police and Grand Rapids Police Department did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the DCNF.
Law enforcement patrol the upper deck of the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on July 20,2024. (Photo by Ryan Meilstrup/Daily Caller News Foundation)
Trump: ‘I stand before you only by the grace of almighty God’
“I stand before you only by the grace of almighty God,” Trump said at his Saturday rally. “I shouldn’t be here. Maybe J.D. or somebody else would be here, but I shouldn’t be here right now,” Trump said.
Twenty-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks fired into the crowd of rally goers using an AR-15 on July 13, wounding Trump in the ear and killing Comperatore. Two others were also injured in the attack. No clear explanation has been determined since the assassination attempt, but much of the focus has been on the roles the Secret Service and local police played in the major security failure at the event.
Crooks reportedly flew a drone hours before the rally to scope the surroundings, according to The Wall Street Journal. Crooks was later killed by a law enforcement sniper who fired at Crooks from an adjacent building.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle said the building that Crooks fired from had a sloped roof, which presented challenges to law enforcement. Secret Service was responsible for securing the inner perimeter of the rally, while local law enforcement was responsible for the outer perimeter, she claimed. “That building in particular has a sloped roof at its highest point. And so, you know, there’s a safety factor that would be considered there that we wouldn’t want to put somebody up on a sloped roof, Cheatle said during a Tuesday interview with ABC News.
Michigan is viewed by political analysts as a crucial state for Trump to win if he is to be elected to a second term as president. The state was pivotal to Trump’s election win over then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Trump won by just over 10,000 votes, winning the state’s 16 electoral votes and becoming the first Republican presidential nominee to win the Great Lakes state since former President George H.W. Bush in 1988. Trump lost Michigan to Biden by over 150,000 votes during his unsuccessful reelection bid in 2020.
Former President Donald Trump held his first rally with his newly minted vice presidential nominee, Sen. J.D. Vance at a Grand Rapids, Michigan, rally on July 20, 2024 (Photo by Ryan Meilstrup/Daily Caller News Foundation)
Grand Rapids, the state’s second largest city, is located in Kent County, an area that voted mostly Republican for decades until Biden won it in 2020, receiving 70% of the vote in the city, according to Bridge Michigan. The west Michigan district was also represented by a Republican in Congress for decades, including by former President Gerald R. Ford, who represented the area for 25 years until becoming vice president in 1973.
Democrats reclaimed Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District in 2022’s midterm elections when now Democratic Rep. Hillary Scholten defeated Trump-endorsed Republican nominee John Gibbs. The seat was previously held by businessman Peter Meijer who lost the Republican primary in 2022 to Gibbs after voting to impeach Trump in 2021.
Scholten, who will face a tough reelection effort in November, is one of 35 congressional Democrats who have called for Biden to end his campaign following his disastrous debate performance against Trump on June 27, according to The Hill.
The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Hailey Gomez contributed to this report.
(Featured image photo credit: Ryan Meilstrup/Daily Caller News Foundation)
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