Former President Donald Trump took the stage in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on Wednesday, his first appearance in the state since the shooting at his Butler rally on July 13.
Trump, whose disastrous performance at the National Association of Black Journalists conference earlier on Wednesday included him accusing Vice President Kamala Harris of lying about her race, scrambled for new attacks against his opponent, as she surges in national and swing state polls.
Trump opened the rally with a dig at Harris’ star-studded Atlanta rally, which pulled ten thousand attendees, and featured a performance from rapper Megan Thee Stallion.
Trump: Over 20,000 people couldn't get in, and we didn't need anybody to get the people here. We didn't need a star. We didn't need a star. We didn't need some entertainer pic.twitter.com/H54qw128iH
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 31, 2024
“We didn't need anybody to get the people here. We didn't need a star,” Trump said. “We didn't need some entertainer.”
Trump, who earlier claimed Harris, a biracial woman, wasn't Black but instead recently adopted the identity, accused her of "trying to out brand a new southern accent" in her Atlanta remarks, before leading the crowd in boos against the press present at the rally, suggesting he couldn't get away with the same.
The former president, who hasn't yet launched substantive policy criticism of Harris, also complained about the difficulty of starting his campaign anew, admitting that his attacks on President Joe Biden had expired.
Trump: "The hard part is that 3 or 4 weeks ago I was talking about Biden." pic.twitter.com/5U03a6k0Mz
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 31, 2024
“The hard part is that 3, 4 weeks ago, I was talking about Biden: ‘He’s incompetent, he’s a horrible president, he’s the worst president in the history of the country.’ But now I say, ‘she’s the worst vice president,’” Trump said, acknowledging the adaptation before claiming he “didn’t even know her name” two weeks ago.
Almost seeming to miss Biden's presence in the race, Trump claimed his former opponent is “Not old. You know, 81 is not old.”
Trump also expressed frustration at the comparison between “prosecutor vs. felon” from the Harris campaign, adding that Harris “wasn’t tough on crime, she’s only tough on guys like me.”
Trump, who also launched confusing attacks on electric vehicles, despite reaping millions in campaign contributions from Tesla CEO Elon Musk, backed out of debates against Harris earlier this week and fired off multiple Truth Social posts fuming about her absence at the National Association of Black Journalists Convention on Wednesday.
