'Only consequential presidents get shot at...' Trump resumes US Presidential campaign | WATCH
United States Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump resumed his campaign on Tuesday, following a second apparent assassination attempt. While thanking Kamala Harris for calling to check on him after the incident, Trump remarked, "Only consequential presidents get shot at."
Trump addressed a town hall in Flint, Michigan, a former hub of the US auto industry, which has struggled due to factory closures from foreign competition. He connected the failed assassination attempt at his Florida golf course with his promise to impose tariffs on cars imported from Mexico and China.
"You wonder why I get shot at, right? Only consequential presidents get shot at," Trump said.
Kamala Harris, Trump's election rival, campaigning in Pennsylvania, confirmed that she reached out to Trump after the incident. "I checked on him to see if he was OK and reiterated that political violence has no place in this country," she told the National Association of Black Journalists.
The White House called the exchange "cordial and brief," with Trump acknowledging that Harris "could not have been nicer."
Trump has accused the shooter of being influenced by rhetoric from President Joe Biden and Harris, claiming it casts him as a threat to democracy.
At the town hall, Trump's supporters rallied around him, with some, like 71-year-old retired autoworker Donald Owen, believing the attacks were an attempt to prevent Trump from serving a second term.
Trump framed himself as the saviour of the US auto industry, warning that if he lost, manufacturing jobs would disappear. He defended his often meandering speaking style, veering off-topic to suggest, incorrectly, that the Bagram airbase was located in Alaska, potentially confusing it with the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Meanwhile, Harris used her Pennsylvania interview to address false claims by Trump that Haitian immigrants in Ohio had been eating pets, a rumor that led to bomb threats and school closures in the town of Springfield. "It's a crying shame what those families are going through," Harris said, adding, "This kind of rhetoric has no place in our country."
The apparent assassination attempt against Trump on Sunday, where gunman Ryan Routh was found at his Florida golf course, was the second such incident in recent months. In June, a bullet grazed Trump's ear at a rally in Pennsylvania, where another man was killed.
As both candidates focus on critical swing states, a new poll from Suffolk University and USA Today shows Harris leading Trump in Pennsylvania by a narrow margin of 49-46%, largely driven by strong support from women voters. Harris holds a 56-39% lead among women, while Trump leads among men 53-41%.
AFP