ST. CLOUD, Minn. – Former President Donald Trump spent much of his rally in Minnesota on President Joe Biden – despite the fact that he was no longer his 2024 opponent.
The demonstration often reflects the events of the campaign before the assassination attempt and the beginning of the campaign of the vice president Kamala Harris.
In front of an enthusiastic crowd, Trump mocked Biden’s golf game, cognitive ability and performance at events. He criticized the son of his former opponent, Hunter Biden, and called the president names. Trump ridiculed how Biden walked, snaking across the stage in an effort to represent Biden who couldn’t get out of an event.
Although he pivoted to attack Harris, Trump himself seemed to allude to the constants that have persisted in the past month, despite the seismic upheavals in the 2024 race. The former president discussed the assassination attempt in his demonstration in Pennsylvania, a life or death experience that could be transformative for many. But Trump said that hasn’t changed since the attempt on his life.
“Everybody says, ‘I think it’s changed.’ I think that has changed since two weeks ago. Something affected him,” Trump said, referring to the assassination attempt. “No, I haven’t changed. Maybe I’m worse, actually, because I get angry at the incompetence that I witness every day, the way that millions of people pour into our country.”
When Trump addressed Harris, he often focused on her record on the US-Mexico border and worked to paint her as “a radical left-wing lunatic.”
The former president also criticized the Democrats, arguing that Biden stepping down “was really a blow to the Democrats.”
“We have a new victim now, Kamala,” Trump said. “We have a new victim. We have a new victim.
The Trump campaign confused 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 overseeing the border crisis, to out-of-control inflation, to unrest on the world stage,” said the communications director of the Trump campaign Steven Cheung in a statement.
Before Trump took the stage, his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, blasted Harris, referring to her as “whacky,” “out of touch” and “a card-carrying member of the lunatic fringe”.
Harris’ campaign in a statement criticized Trump as “a 78-year-old, disgraced, bitter convicted felon.”
Harris campaign spokeswoman Sarafina Chitika said Trump “ran on about his former opponent and golf,” adding later, “Does he remember who his opponent is?”
“Trump has made his goals clear: He is determined to pull us back, undermine our democracy, and implement his Project 2025 agenda to tear away our freedoms,” the statement said.
A New York Times/Siena poll conducted after Biden dropped out of the race found Trump and Harris locked in a neck-and-neck race. Among likely voters, 48% preferred Trump and 47% chose Harris, although the results are within the poll’s margin of error.
Aaron Gilchrist, Lindsey Pipia and Alex Tabet contributed.
