Former US President and Republican candidate Donald Trump held his first outdoor rally since being shot in July on Wednesday. This time, security was tightened.
The chosen setting was the city of Asheboroin the key state of North Carolina and where Trump was protected by sheets of bulletproof glass.
The event focused on national security and he used it to argue that the United States was stronger under his leadership and to emphasize that wars like the one in Ukraine would not have happened if he had remained in power: “My attitude kept us out of wars. I stopped wars with phone calls,” he said.
Trump repeated his claim that current President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris “are leading us to the precipice of World War III.” He, he claimed, “will bring peace back to the world.”
The 78-year-old New York tycoon was wounded in the ear on July 13 after a young man shot him at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The attacker was on a roof outside the premises and before being shot down by law enforcement, he killed one member of the public and injured two others.
The then director of the US Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, ended up resigning ten days later due to security errors at that meeting and after having stated that this assassination attempt represented the “biggest operational failure” of the agency “in decades”.
Last week it was revealed that the Secret Service has approved a plan to increase Trump’s security that includes the use of bulletproof glass screens. Normally, such bulletproof sheets are only provided to presidents and vice presidents. when deemed necessary for outdoor appearances.
Trump’s appearance on Wednesday, his first under the new device, comes amid an intense week of campaigning in which he and his vice presidential candidate, Senator JD Vance, are trying to counter the media spotlight on the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, which has made Harris’ candidacy for the White House official.
Trump and his team will be visiting four of the key states these days, Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina or Arizonafocusing on issues that are crucial for conservatives ahead of the November 5 presidential election, such as immigration, security and the economy.
