Former US President Trump attended a municipal hall event in Michigan on Tuesday evening, September 17th. The event, hosted by his former White House press secretary and Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, marked Trump’s first campaign appearance since surviving an attempted assassination on Sunday.
The event took place in Flint, a crucial battleground in Michigan, where Trump and Sanders engaged in discussions on various topics.
Here are some key points summarized by The Hill from the event:
This was Trump’s first public appearance in a campaign event since the assassination attempt on Sunday at his golf course in Florida, where he emerged unharmed.
On July 13th, Trump was targeted in a shooting at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where a bullet pierced his right ear.
During the event on Tuesday, Trump jokingly told Sanders, “Only important presidents get shot.”
There is no indication that the events from Sunday will impact the presidential campaign. Both Trump and Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris have scheduled multiple campaign appearances this week.
Trump expressed concerns on Tuesday that if he doesn’t win the November election, the automotive industry will face bleak prospects.
He warned that if he doesn’t win, there will be no automotive industry in two to three years, everything will cease to exist.
Trump also criticized the measures taken by the Biden administration to encourage electric vehicle manufacturing, warning that it could destroy the auto industry.
He remains skeptical about the impact and reality of climate change, emphasizing his doubts during the Tuesday event.
Trump insisted that despite the Democratic portrayal of climate change as a survival issue, the biggest threat facing the public is the possibility of nuclear war that could destroy human civilization.
Critics accuse Trump of being unfocused and going off-topic during speeches, which was also targeted by Harris during the September 10th presidential debate.
However, Trump dismissed these criticisms during the event on Tuesday, calling it “fake news.”
Sanders, as the former White House press secretary and Governor of Arkansas, is popular among Republican voters. She helped Trump appeal to female voters during the event and described being a mother as “possibly the only job harder than being President of the United States.”
Sanders’ presence at the event on Tuesday hints that Trump’s campaign team may plan to utilize prominent endorsers to attract key voter groups in the final stages of the campaign.