ASHEBORO, N.C. (AP) — At his first outdoor rally since last month’s attempted assassination, Donald Trump spoke from behind bulletproof glass Wednesday in North Carolina at an event focused on national security. On politics, he called his predecessor Barack Obama “nasty” for his comments the night before at the Democratic National Convention.
Trump blamed President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for the deadly Afghanistan withdrawal and for wars in Ukraine and the Middle East while returning repeatedly in his remarks to the Democratic gathering in Chicago, where speaker after speaker has assailed Trump as a threat to the country should he return to the White House.
The former president, now the GOP nominee, asked the crowd gathered at the North Carolina Aviation Museum & Hall of Fame whether they had seen the speeches given Tuesday by former President Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama.
“He was taking shots at your president. And so was Michelle. You know, they always say, ‘Sir, please stick to policy. Don’t get personal.’ And yet they’re getting personal all night long, these people,” he said, asking: “Do I still have to stick to policy?”
Trump, who is facing Harris in the November election after Biden stepped aside, spoke from behind a podium surrounded by panes of bulletproof glass that formed a protective wall across the stage — part of ramped-up security measures aimed at keeping him safe after the attack by a Pennsylvania gunman on July 13.
Storage containers were stacked around the perimeter to create additional walls and block sight lines. Snipers were positioned on roofs at the venue, where old aircraft were sitting behind the podium and a large American flag was suspended from cranes.
The event, billed as focused on national security issues, was part of Trump’s weeklong series of counterprogramming to the Democratic National Convention, which is underway in Chicago. Allies have been urging him to focus on policy instead of personal attacks against Harris as he struggles to adjust to Biden’s departure from the race.
The second night of the Democrats’ convention Tuesday was a highly energized affair that featured speeches from both Obamas, who went after Trump in particularly biting terms.
“His limited and narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hardworking, highly educated, successful people who happen to be Black,” Michelle Obama said.
Barack Obama mocked Trump’s obsession with his crowd sizes and called Trump “a 78-year-old billionaire who hasn’t stopped whining about his problems since he rode down his golden escalator nine years ago.”
“It’s been a constant stream of gripes and grievances that’s actually gotten worse now that he’s afraid of losing to Kamala,” the former president said.
After mentioning the Obamas early on in his speech, Trump came back around to the former president’s comments.
“He was very nasty last night,” Trump said. “I try and be nice to people, you know. But it’s a little tough when they get personal.”
He then polled the crowd on whether he should listen to advisers who he said have told him, “Please, sir, don’t get personal. Talk about policy.”
“Should I get personal or should I not get personal?” he asked. The crowd overwhelmingly chose the former.
Trump also mocked the convention and its frequent references to him, calling it a “charade.”
In his remarks, Trump derided Harris as “the most radical left person ever to run for high political office in our country,” and said the woman he now calls “Comrade Kamala” will destroy the country if she is elected to the White House.
While Trump has acknowledged the race is closer than before Biden dropped out, his aides believe that Harris remains relatively unknown and that efforts to highlight her past statements and the positions she took in previous races will turn off swing voters after her honeymoon period ends.
He repeatedly referenced the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, and said that, if he wins, he will ask for the resignation of every senior military official who was involved.
He pledged to get “critical race theory and transgender insanity the hell out of our U.S. armed forces.” During his administration, he instituted a Pentagon policy that largely barred transgender individuals from serving in the military, which Biden reversed.
“Our warriors should be focused on defeating America’s enemies, not figuring out their genders,” he said. “If you want to have a sex change or a social justice seminar, then you can do it somewhere else, but you’re not going to do it in the Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force, Space Force or the United States Marines.”
He also pledged major investments in the armed forces and said he would launch the largest peace-time recruitment drive in the nation’s history.
“We’re going to make it so hot that I’m going to want to resign and join the military,” said Trump, who received a series of deferments, including one attained with a physician’s letter stating that he suffered from bone spurs in his feet.
Trump was joined Wednesday by his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, who cast Harris as a candidate selected by power brokers instead of voters and lambasted her vice presidential pick, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, before Trump took the stage.
That included continuing to accuse Walz of mischaracterizing his service record as an Army National Guard member, as well as criticizing him for retiring from service before his unit’s deployment to Iraq.
“What won’t Stolen Valor Tim Walz lie about?” Vance, who served four years as a Marine, asked the crowd.
Trump has spent the week visiting political battleground states in his busiest week of campaigning since the Republican primaries.
Reflecting the importance of North Carolina in this year’s election, the trip was Trump’s second to the state in just the past week. Last Wednesday, he appeared in Asheville, North Carolina, for a speech on the economy.
Trump won North Carolina by a comfortable margin in 2016. The state delivered the former president his closest statewide margin of victory four years ago and is once again considered a key battleground in 2024.
Before Trump landed in Asheboro, his plane did a flyover of the rally site. The crowd erupted into cheers.
Edna Ryan, a 68-year-old retired flight attendant and private pilot, said she was bullish on the Republican’s chances, but said: “We need to be strong because otherwise we’re going to be very sorry.”
Lisa Watts, a retired business owner from Hickory, North Carolina, who was attending her fifth Trump rally, said she’s feeling “very positive” about the race against Harris.
“I don’t think that her record proves that she is ready to run this country,” Watts said.
Watts said she doesn’t think Trump’s chances of winning are much different now from when Biden was the Democratic nominee.
“I think the Democrats are going to try to do everything they can to keep her up on that pedestal,” she said, predicting the hype around Harris will fade.
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Colvin reported from New York.