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Former President Trump, speaking at his first rally since surviving an attempted assassination, said that “he took a bullet for democracy” last weekend, while also taking numerous jabs at President Biden.
Why it matters: Trump, who called for national unity in the immediate aftermath of the assassination attempt, repeated many of the common refrains during his rally in Michigan that have become staples in his campaign speeches.
- Appearing alongside his newly named VP Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance for the first time, Trump said, “I shouldn’t be here right now,” referencing how close the bullet came to killing him last week.
- Trump also said that China’s Xi Jinping wrote him a “beautiful note” following the shooting last weekend.
Driving the news: Wearing a smaller, beige-colored bandage than the white one he donned during the Republican National Convention, Trump also zeroed in on his frequent campaign priorities, including immigration and the economy.
- Trump also tried to distance himself again from Project 2025, the conservative plan that backs a dramatic expansion of presidential power.
- The former president has tried to put space between himself and the conservative vision, which several of his conservative allies contributed to.
- Trump said that Project 2025 is “seriously extreme” and was conceived by people on the “severe right.”
The campaign rally came as President Biden is facing mounting pressure from members in his party to withdraw from the election.
- Trump took a jab at the chaos within the Democratic Party, saying, Democrats “have no idea who their candidate is and neither do we.”
- Biden, who is currently at his Delaware residence as he recovers from COVID-19, has insisted that he is staying in the contest and plans to hit the campaign trail next week.
State of play: Michigan, which Biden narrowly won in 2020 after Trump won the state in 2016, is one of this election’s key swing states.
- Trump’s campaign is hoping that Vance, a Rust Belt native, will give their ticket a boost in November in these key states.
Go deeper: Trump unleashes attacks in RNC speech after promises of new tone
Editor’s note: This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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