- Hails Kamala For Checking Up On Him
Donald Trump returned to the campaign trail on Tuesday for the first time following a second apparent attempt on his life.
Speaking at a town hall in Flint, Michigan, Trump boasted, “Only consequential presidents get shot at,” while also commending Kamala Harris for calling to check on him after the incident.
The town hall took place in Flint, a struggling industrial city that was once a cornerstone of the U.S. automotive industry but has suffered due to factory closures and foreign competition.
Trump linked the recent assassination attempt, which was foiled at his Florida golf course on Sunday, to his vow to impose heavy tariffs on car imports from Mexico and China.
“And then you wonder why I get shot at, right? You know, only consequential presidents get shot at,” Trump remarked to an enthusiastic crowd.
Kamala Harris, Trump’s election rival, confirmed that she reached out to the former president after the attack. “I checked on him to see if he was OK. And I told him what I have said publicly — there’s no place for political violence in our country,” Harris shared in an interview with the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ).
The White House called the exchange a “cordial and brief conversation,” while Trump added that Harris “could not have been nicer.”
Trump claimed that the would-be shooter was influenced by rhetoric from President Joe Biden and Harris, who have labeled Trump a threat to U.S. democracy.
At the Flint event, many of his supporters expressed increased loyalty following the foiled attack.
“I believe that they want to kill Trump so that he can’t attempt a second term,” said Donald Owen, a 71-year-old retired autoworker.
READ ALSO: Again, Gunshots Fired Near Donald Trump At Golf Club
Trump used the town hall to paint himself as a savior of the U.S. auto industry, warning that a loss in the election would mean the end of American manufacturing jobs. “If a tragedy happens, and we don’t win, there will be zero car jobs, manufacturing jobs — it will all be gone,” he warned.
During his speech, Trump also defended his sometimes meandering speaking style, launching into an unrelated comment about fossil fuel drilling, and mistakenly referring to Bagram, an air base in Afghanistan, as being located in Alaska.
READ ALSO: VP Kamala Harris, Donald Trump Pay Respects At 9/11 Memorial in Manhattan
He may have confused it with the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, Harris gave her first response to the recent spread of false rumors by Trump that Haitian immigrants were eating local pets in a town in Ohio.
