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Donald Trump holds his first open-air rally on Wednesday since being shot, but will deliver his speech from behind bullet-proof glass. Shipping containers were stacked two high around the perimeter of the site at the North Carolina Aviation Museum in Asheboro, obscuring the line of sight to the podium where the former president will address supporters.
He is making his third appearance of the week as he seeks to draw the spotlight away from the Democratic Party ‘s convention in Chicago and restart a campaign that has stuttered ever since Joe Biden dropped out of the race to be replaced by Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump is expected to hit Harris and lay out his national security plans for a second term. ‘Since weak, failed, and dangerously liberal Kamala Harris took office America has become a global laughingstock,’ the Trump campaign said.
‘From our wide-open border to the botched Afghanistan withdrawal to the Hamas-Israeli war to enabling the Iranian terrorist regime, this administration’s weakness on the world stage has put America’s national security in jeopardy and brought us to the brink of World War III.’
But the location is as important as his words as Trump seeks to show that a would-be assassin cannot put an end to his trademark outdoor rallies.
There are some concessions to the shooting barely five weeks ago, when he came within an inch of death. A three-inch thick panel of ballistic glass was installed in front of the lectern. Another three panels protect his rear side. And the podium and seating are carefully located between hangar buildings and stacks of shipping containers, to screen off the rally site.
Supporters, some of whom slept in the cars, began bagging seats in the open air soon after 10am when the gates opened. Martha Agnew, 61, in a silver cowboy hat and ‘women for Trump’ badge, said she had no qualms about taking a front-row seat at her 37th rally.
‘I’m very spiritual, so I think divine protection, common sense and what you see here …,’ she said, pointing at the panels of bullet-proof glass, ‘so absolutely I feel very safe.’ She said it was important to be at the rally. ‘It’s about showing up and standing up,’ he said.
Trump is spending the week crisscrossing battleground states, rolling out his policy platform. On Monday, he was in Pennsylvania where he talked about the economy. On Tuesday, it was Michigan and law and order.
After Asheboro, Trump heads on to Arizona for an event on the border and on Friday he is in Nevada, to highlight his ‘no tax on tips’ plan. However, he has seen his lead in the polls all but wiped out by Harris’ momentum since taking on the Democratic nomination.
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