ST. CLOUD, Minnesota – Foformer president Donald Trump spent much of his rally in Minnesota dinging President Joe Biden – despite him no longer being her opponent in 2024.
The rally often reflected his campaign events prior to the assassination attempt and the start of Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign.
Before an enthusiastic crowd, Trump mocked Biden’s golf game, cognitive ability and performance at events. He criticized his former opponent’s son Biden Hunter and cursed the president. Trump ridiculed the way Biden walked, wandering around the stage in an effort to portray Biden as incapable of leaving an event.
Even as he turned to attack Harris, Trump himself seemed to allude to the constants that have persisted over the past month despite seismic shocks in the 2024 race. The former president discussed the assassination attempt at his rally in Pennsylvania, an experience of life or death that can be transformative for many. But Trump said he hasn’t changed since the attempt on his life.
“Everyone says, ‘I think he’s changed. I think he’s changed since two weeks ago. Something got to him,’” Trump said, referring to the assassination attempt. “No, I haven’t changed. Maybe I’ve gotten worse, actually, because I’m angry at the incompetence I witness every day, the way millions of people are invading our country.”
When Trump turned to Harris, he often focused on her record in US-Mexico border and worked to paint her as “a radical left lunatic.”
The former president also criticized Democrats, arguing that Biden’s departure “was really a coup by and by Democrats.”
“We have a new victim now, Kamala,” Trump said. “We have a new victim. We have a whole new victim.”
The Trump campaign combined the Biden and Harris campaigns in a statement, arguing that “Biden’s record is Kamala’s record.”
“She owns and is complicit in every bad thing that has happened, from her oversight of the border crisis to runaway inflation and unrest on the world stage,” Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement.
Before Trump took the stage, his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, focused on Harris, referring to her as “crazy,” “out of touch” and “a card-carrying member of the lunatic fringe.”
Harris’ campaign in a statement blasted Trump as a “78-year-old, embittered and unhinged convicted felon.”
Harris campaign spokeswoman Sarafina Chitika pointed out that Trump “rambled about his former opponent and golf,” later adding, “Does he remember who his opponent is?”
“Trump has made his goals clear: he is determined to drag us back, undermine our democracy and enact his Project 2025 agenda to destroy our freedoms,” the statement said.
A New York Times/Siena Survey conducted after Biden left the race found that Trump and Harris are in a tight race. Among likely voters, 48% preferred Trump and 47% chose Harris, although the results were within the poll’s margin of error.
This article was originally published in NBCNews. with
