GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Just one week after surviving an assassination attempt, former President Donald Trump hit the campaign trail again, but this time, with a new partner.
Saturday’s event at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids marked Trump’s first rally as the GOP’s official presidential nominee. He was joined by U.S. Senator J.D. Vance (R., Ohio), who accepted Trump’s nomination of vice president.
The duo is wasting no time, quickly hopping on the campaign trail after spending the past week in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention. Despite the busy week, Trump entered the stage energetically, quickly taking digs at his opponent.
“They’re going to go to the convention, and they have a couple of problems,” Trump said of the Democratic Party. “Number one, they have no idea who their candidate is and neither do we.”
The rally comes as Democratic President Biden has come under increasing pressure to step down from the race before the Democratic National Convention next month. Mr. Biden has failed to gain confidence from the party after his performance during the first presidential debate in June, during which he lost his train of thought and spoke incoherently many times.
Trump quickly shifted to Project 2025, a proposed conservative platform created by the think-tank Heritage Foundation. The think-tank is staffed by former Trump administrative officials, but Trump has denied connection with the proposed party platform. A different party platform was adopted at the RNC.
“I’m a person with great common sense. I’m not an extremist like some on the right, severe right, who came up with this Project 2025,” Trump said. “… I don’t know anything about it … but what they do is misinformation and disinformation, and they keep saying ‘here’s a threat to democracy.’”
“Last week, I took a bullet for democracy,” he added.
The unity of the Republican Party was center stage after Trump invited U.S. Senate candidates Mike Rogers and Sandy Pensler to the stage. Both candidates are on Michigan’s primary ballot with Justin Amash and Sherry O’Donnell, but once on stage, Mr. Pensler ended his campaign for the Senate seat.
“President Trump endorsed Mike Rogers, and tonight, so am I am,” Mr. Pensler said.
Hoping to connect with his Michigan attendees, Trump voiced his support to the state’s auto industry, claiming that he has done more for Michigan auto workers than any other president. He pledged to end electric vehicle mandates, hire American workers to make American automobiles, and impose tariffs on American-made cars.
“Under the radical Democrat policies, the U.S. auto industry has been decimated,” Trump said.
He also vowed to save oil rigs by digging, restore social security and Medicare, launch a large deportation effort, and cut funding for any school with critical race theory in its curriculum.
“I will sign a new executive order to cut federal funding for any school pushing critical race theory, transgenders, and any other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content into the schools,” he said.
Although he was in Michigan territory for the rally, Mr. Vance didn’t forget his Ohio roots, talking about growing up in the southern part of the state. Mr. Vance was greeted onstage by cheers of “O-H.”
“To my Ohio brethren, we need to win Michigan,” Mr. Vance said. “That is the most important thing this election cycle.”
Mr. Vance said he used to oppose both political parties, claiming they were broken, but after Trump took office in 2016, he saw how the former president kept manufacturing jobs in the United States and since then, he has been a loyal supporter.
“President Trump came along and said ‘We need to make more of our own stuff. We’ve got to make it with our own workers’ hands, and we’re gonna do it for own people right here in the United States of American and right here in Michigan,” he said.
Mr. Vance has come under criticism for once being a “never Trump guy,” to becoming his running mate. During Trump’s first presidential campaign, Mr. Vance took to social media to attack him, even once calling Trump “America’s Hitler.” When Vance began his Senate campaign, he changed his tone about Trump, even publicly apologizing for his past criticisms. Trump endorsed Vance in the Ohio Senate GOP primary.
Thousands filed around the block of Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids to hear both the former president and his vice president pick speak.
“What [Vance] offers us is a continuum of moving forward into a future that brings us the kind of America we know as an older generation,” Julianne Carey, 59, said after Mr. Vance’s speech.
Ms. Carey, from the Grand Rapids area, applauded Trump’s pick and said she hopes Mr. Vance will carry on Trump’s legacy after his political career comes to an end.
Brenda Vanderplow, 49, from Zeeland, Mich., made the 40-minute drive with her family. Ms. Vanderplow was looking forward to hearing Trump talk about border control.
Security was a top concern for many attendees after a gunman opened fire at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pa., one week before. Trump was struck in his right ear, one person died, and two others were critically injured.
Before Trump took the stage on Saturday, the former president’s physician Ronny Jackson said in a statement that the bullet produced a 2 cm wide wound that extended down the cartilage of his ear.
“There was significant bleeding, followed by marked swelling of the entire upper ear,” the statement said. “The swelling has since resolved, and the wound is beginning to granulate and heal properly.”
Kaylie Smith, 22, from Jenison, Mich., said she only attended because the event was indoors.
“If it was outdoors, I probably wouldn’t have attended,” Ms. Smith said of the Michigan rally. “But I think there is a lot more security here.”
Both the U.S. Secret Service and the Grand Rapids Police Department were surrounding the venue and inside. Bags were checked, and GRPD was ushering attendees directly to their seats to mitigate the number of people walking around the venue. Additional law enforcement from the Kent County Sheriff’s Office, the Michigan State Police, and neighboring police agencies were enlisted to help as well.
“The safety and security of everyone downtown and elsewhere in our city is our top priority,” GRPD Chief Eric Winstrom said.
Some attendees, like Kevin Fifield, 65, thought the assassination attempt changed the former president.
“I think he’s done with the games,” Mr. Fifield said after watching the former president’s speech at the RNC. “I think the shooting attempt changed him. It’s calmed him down, fortunately and unfortunately.”
But Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes is warning voters ahead of the primary and the November election against Trump’s agenda.
“Let me be clear: Donald Trump and JD Vance aren’t wanted here,” Ms. Barnes wrote in a statement. “Their MAGA agenda and cadre of extremists are wildly out of line with our families and our values, and their policies will make life worse for Michiganders as they cut taxes for the wealthy and leave our middle class out to dry.
“I know that Michiganders will once again reject Trump and his extremist agenda this November,” the statement continued.
Trump narrowly won Michigan in 2016, but President Biden won the state in 2020. According to the New York Times’s most recent poll, Trump is currently beating Mr. Biden in Michigan.
Mr. Vance will make a solo appearance on Monday in his hometown of Middletown, Ohio, followed by a stop in Radford, Va. Trump will take a short break before holding his next rally on Wednesday in Charlotte, N.C.
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