Behind a glass wall, Donald Trump said on Wednesday that millions of jobs would “disappear overnight” if Kamala Harris wins the US election in November, at his first outdoor rally since the assassination attempt on him in July.
“Their entire life savings will be completely wiped out,” said the Republican candidate at the aviation museum in Asheboro (east), with the sound of warplanes as a backdrop.
“If Comrade Kamala wins this November, World War III is virtually guaranteed,” he said, reiterating that his rival is the “most radical leftist person” ever to run for the White House.
“She wants open borders” and “if she were president in four years” there would be “60 to 70 million” migrants from around the world, said Trump, whose anti-immigration rhetoric has become a signature of his campaign.
The billionaire promised that if he wins the election he will make “America strong and great again.”
The 78-year-old Republican boasted that he could prevent a war with a phone call.
– A simple call –
“We are going to bring peace back to the world, and I can do it with a phone call” to warn the country that if it enters the war it will not be able to “do business in the United States” and will pay “100% tariffs,” he said.
The Secret Service, which is responsible for protecting high-ranking politicians, recommended that Trump stop participating in outdoor public events after he was slightly injured when a young man shot him from a rooftop during a rally on July 13.
The assassination attempt led to the resignation of then-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle.
Since then, Trump, accustomed to mass rallies, has held a dozen campaign events in closed venues.
He appeared calm on Wednesday. At one point during his speech, he left the stage and approached the crowd to inquire about a person who seemed unwell. At the end, he also took his time leaving.
– Key States –
This week, the billionaire is campaigning in several key states, coinciding with the Democratic Convention in Chicago (north), with the aim of stopping Harris’s momentum.
The vice president received the formal endorsement of Democratic delegates on Tuesday, becoming the first black woman to run for president of the country.
Since President Joe Biden threw in the towel, Harris has infused the party with hope, mobilizing crowds of up to 10,000 people in stadiums and boosting fundraising.
But what worries Trump most is the shift in the polls, where the Democrat has a slight advantage in some key states.
North Carolina is one of a handful of swing states that is likely to decide the outcome of the November 5 election.
Most states lean Republican or Democrat, but in about seven the electoral battle is very close and the candidates are focusing on them.
There are still more than two months of campaigning left and the die is not cast for any of the candidates, who will have to fight to win the votes of young people, independents or undecided voters and minorities, especially Latinos and African-Americans.
Some Republicans are urging Trump to focus on his political agenda and leave aside personal attacks on his opponent.
He is not so sure about it and on Wednesday he complained that the Democrats are obsessed with him and are using the justice system, which convicted him in May in a criminal case and has opened other cases against the former tycoon.
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