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Trump holds first campaign rally after assassination attempt
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Trump holds first campaign rally after assassination attempt

Donald Trump will hold his first campaign rally on Saturday since narrowly escaping an assassination attempt last week, and he is also fresh from his nomination convention, where he sealed his takeover of the Republican Party.

Trump will appear in Grand Rapids, Michigan, along with his new vice presidential candidate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio. It will be their first campaign event together as the now-official Republican presidential nominee.

Republican Party officials said this week at Trump’s nominating convention in Milwaukee that his near-death experience last Saturday had changed him and that he would call for national unity in his acceptance speech on Thursday night.

Although Trump began his speech with a call for unity and national healing, the bulk of his address consisted of his familiar list of grievances and attacks on opponents.

It’s not yet clear what kind of speech Trump will deliver on Saturday, but his loyal supporters typically flock to such rallies to hear Trump’s more traditional, inflammatory rhetoric.

Trump and Vance will take the stage in Grand Rapids with the Republican Party united behind them after this week’s nominating convention. Democrats, by contrast, are in turmoil, and it is no longer certain that President Joe Biden will be the Democratic nominee to challenge Trump in the Nov. 5 election.

Biden is facing increasing calls from many elected officials within his own party to resign as White House candidate and end his re-election campaign following his poor performance in the debate against Trump last month.

Biden is trailing in opinion polls and trailing Trump in every swing state. Many Democrats fear he has virtually no path to victory and that the party needs a new presidential candidate to challenge Trump.

The Grand Rapids rally will be held in an indoor arena, unlike last weekend’s event in Butler, Pennsylvania, which was outdoors. At that event, the shooter was able to scale the roof of a building outside the Secret Service perimeter before opening fire on Trump, cutting off his ear, killing one rallygoer 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. An investigation into security lapses at the Butler event is ongoing.

“The Secret Service does not discuss the means and methods we use in our protective operations,” the agency said in a statement.

Trump gave a detailed account of his close encounter with death in his speech at the convention on Thursday, telling the audience that he spoke to them only “by the grace of Almighty God.” -Reuters