Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday in Charlotte, North Carolina, held his first public campaign rally since President Biden dropped out of a 2024 matchup that both major parties had spent months preparing for, leaving the former president to direct his ire toward his likely new opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump opened his speech by claiming that Mr. Biden "quit" the race because "he was losing so badly in the polls," and he alleged, without evidence, that Democratic lawmakers conspired to force Mr. Biden's hand by threatening to use the 25th Amendment to remove him from office, a common attack line from Republican lawmakers in recent days.
"But really what happened was the leaders of the Democrat party, in a very undemocratic move, the bosses, they said 'either get out or we're going to throw you out using the 25th Amendment,'" Trump declared.
North Carolina is a swing state that Trump has carried in the past, but Democrats have seen as pivotal. The former president's trip to the state shows he's still concerned about keeping it in his column this November, even as his team reaches for wins in traditionally Democratic-leaning states like Minnesota, which Trump is set to visit on Saturday.
With Mr. Biden's abrupt departure from the presidential race and Harris edging closer and closer to officially being the Democrats' general election pick, Trump has ramped up his criticism of the vice president, whom he's characterized as "the same as Biden but much more radical."
Trump on Wednesday continued with the hyperbolic and sometimes dangerous rhetoric that has become typical of his stump speeches.
"Now we have a new victim to defeat, lying Kamala Harris ... the most incompetent and far-left vice president in American history," Trump told the crowd, adding that she was "the ultra-liberal driving force behind every single Biden catastrophe" and describing her as a "radical left lunatic who will destroy our country."
He blamed her for what he portrays as the Biden administration's failures, particularly on security along the U.S.-Mexico border.
"She's now trying to get rid of her record," Trump said, referring to Harris as a "border czar," a term that has become popular among Republicans, and one that isn't rooted in a factual basis.
In the days immediately following the assassination attempt against him, Trump indicated he would tamp down on some of his language. He appeared to do that with a relatively subdued speech at the Republican National Convention, but he has since reverted to his old form.
"You know, I was supposed to be nice," Trump said. "They say something happened to me, when I got shot. I became nice. And when you're dealing with these people, they're very dangerous people. When you're dealing with them, you can't be too nice, you really can't be, so if you don't mind, I'm not going to be nice. Is that OK?"
Trump has also hedged on plans for an expected debate with Harris, first saying that he wanted Fox News, not ABC, to host the matchup he had originally scheduled for September with Mr. Biden. On Tuesday, Trump appeared to tweak that message again, saying on a call with reporters that he'd like to debate Harris "more than once" but not committing to appearing at the debate currently on the books and saying he'd only agreed to debate Mr. Biden twice, not Harris.
At 81, Mr. Biden would have been the oldest presidential nominee heading into a general election. Now, the 78-year-old Trump occupies that slot. Harris, 59, has launched a campaign that at least in some corners appears to be stoking interest among the younger voters who could be key in deciding an anticipated close general election.
Republicans see North Carolina as a crucial state
North Carolina is a state Trump carried in both his previous campaigns but by fewer than 1.5 percentage points over Mr. Biden in 2020, the closest margin of any state Trump won. Trump stumped heavily in North Carolina even as the COVID-19 pandemic wore on, while Mr. Biden largely kept off the physical campaign trail and did not personally visit the state in the last 16 days of the election.
Mecklenburg County, home to Charlotte — the state's biggest city — was also the scene of Trump's narrowest margin of victory in North Carolina's GOP primary, edging out former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley by fewer than 8 percentage points.
This year, Trump had planned to hold his first rally since the start of his hush money trial in Fayetteville, but that event was called off due to inclement weather. Trump called in from his private plane instead.
Democrats looking to flip the script in North Carolina
Democrats also have been working to win North Carolina, where the party's most recent presidential win was former President Barack Obama's 2008 victory, despite recent GOP dominance.
Mr. Biden held a campaign event in Raleigh the day after his disastrous June debate with Trump. While he was much more forceful in that appearance than he was on the debate stage, it did not help much to quell the growing concern from members of his party about his ability to win the White House again.
With Harris now poised to take his spot, she may again be turning to North Carolina for some political help: the state's Gov. Roy Cooper is among the Democrats that Harris' campaign is vetting for a possible pick as her vice presidential running mate.
Cooper is term-limited and cannot seek reelection. The highly competitive race to replace him pits Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein against Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, a staunch Trump supporter who is North Carolina's first Black major party nominee for governor.
Trump's Charlotte event is his second campaign rally since a July 13 assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally. Days later, Trump accepted the GOP presidential nomination and gave a speech at the Republican National Convention, where his ear — injured in the shooting — was bandaged.
Wednesday's rally also is the first since the resignation of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, who said she took "full responsibility for the security lapse" that led to a gunman being able to get so close to Trump at the outdoor event in Pennsylvania.
The Charlotte rally, like the one over the weekend in Grand Rapids, Michigan, will be held in an indoor arena.
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