Trump says he took ‘a bullet for democracy’ in his first campaign rally with Vance

GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. — Former President Donald Trump told supporters here that he “took a bullet for democracy” as he and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, made their campaign debut at a rally Saturday.

Trump vowed to save the country from what he described as President Biden’s dysfunctional administration.

“Right now, the Democratic Party bosses are frantically trying to overturn the results of their own party’s primaries to remove the corrupt Joe Biden from the ballot,” Trump said. “And as you can see, the Democratic Party is not the party of democracy. They are actually the enemies of democracy.”

Trump wore a brown ear patch to cover the injury he sustained in Saturday’s assassination attempt, a direct appeal to auto workers and working-class and middle-class voters in a crucial swing state he won in 2016 but Biden captured in 2020.

Trump delivered a nearly two-hour speech shortly after the Republican Party convention, where the party fully endorsed its presidential candidate.

Building on that momentum, Trump portrayed Republicans as a party of unity.

At the same time, he railed against Democrats, who are even more confused about President Biden’s re-election campaign.

Those attacks expanded to include personal insults against Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Trump called Harris “crazy” — but not as “crazy” as Pelosi, who Trump said “betrayed Biden” and “turned on him like a dog.” Biden’s faltering debate performance against Trump has led some Democrats to increasingly call for him to withdraw from the race. Pelosi hasn’t explicitly done so, but she hasn’t explicitly endorsed Biden either.

Meanwhile, Trump portrayed himself as a defender of freedom.

“They keep saying, ‘He’s a threat to democracy.’ I say, ‘What the hell have I done for democracy?'” he said. “Last week I took a bullet for democracy.”

Trump also continued to spread false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. “The radical left Democrats rigged the 2020 presidential election, and we’re not going to allow them to rig the 2024 presidential election,” he said. “We’re not going to allow it.”

The crowd roared and responded in unison, “USA. USA.”

Trump and Vance are looking to build on the momentum from last week’s Republican convention as the campaign focuses on the Democrats’ key “Blue Wall” states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Vance plays a key role in that strategy.

To connect with working-class voters, Vance spoke about his own troubled childhood in southern Ohio, growing up with his grandmother while his mother battled addiction.

He portrayed Trump as a fighter and Biden as weak, asking his supporters to think about their lives during Trump’s years in the White House versus Biden’s term.

“Who could deny the idea that four years of President Trump has been a lot better than four years of Joe Biden, right?” he said.

Trump tried to distance himself from Project 2025

Trump and Vance both reiterated their core goal of “America First,” pledging to carry out the largest deportation of people in the country illegally in U.S. history, repair the southern border with Mexico, create more jobs and impose tariffs on China and other countries.

“The Trump-Vance administration will begin rapidly undoing every Biden-Harris disaster on day one,” Trump said. “And if you vote for Biden, you’re probably voting for Harris anyway.”

Trump also said he would introduce laws banning transgender students from participating in school sports and revoke federal funding for schools that enforce vaccination and mask mandates imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trump also sought to distance himself from Project 2025, a platform created by the prominent conservative think tank Heritage Foundation. Many of Project 2025’s authors are key figures in Trump’s orbit.

“The other side is trying to make me sound extreme — like I’m an extremist. I’m not,” said Trump, who has previously supported the Heritage Foundation and its work. “Like some on the right — the far right — came up with this Project (20)25.”

Trump said he knew some people who came up with 2025, but added: “You’ve got the radical left and you’ve got the radical right — and they come up with this. I don’t know what it is, it’s Project (20)25.”

The Race to Win Michigan

It’s no coincidence that Trump and Vance are making their first joint campaign stop in Michigan: Trump won the state in 2016, but four years later it flipped to Biden. Now, the Trump campaign, capitalizing on Vance’s Rust Belt background, has made it clear that it wants to win Michigan, along with other “blue wall” states that could decide this year’s election.

“This is going to be a Rust Belt election,” Donald Trump Jr. said Monday at the convention, citing the need to win key states like Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. “That’s (Vance’s) battleground. That’s his home. Those are his people.”

That’s why Trump and Vance both made direct appeals to the voices of Michigan residents during Saturday’s rally.

“I’ve heard some OHs, but I’m going to respect Michigan and not respond to that,” Vance said in his opening remarks. “To my Ohio brothers. Guys, we’ve got to win Michigan. That’s the most important thing in this election cycle.”

Trump pledged to bring more manufacturing and auto jobs to Michigan and said that if elected, he would make Michigan a prime construction site for a defense shield that would be placed across the U.S. — similar to Israel’s Iron Dome.

“And it will be built entirely in the United States, and a large portion of it will be built right here in Michigan,” Trump said.