Being president is a “dangerous job,” Donald Trump told a crowd of supporters in Michigan on Tuesday night. He told cheering supporters that the attempt on his life only proved that he mattered.
“You know, only powerful presidents get fired,” Trump said at a rally in Flint, where he spoke at length about the dramatic incident.
It was one of many light-hearted remarks sprinkled throughout his remarks as he pointed out the dangers inherent in his public profile. After a couple of assassination attempts, he compared the job to risky professions like race car racing and bull riding.
“What can you do? You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do, right? We’ve got to be brave, or we’re not going to have a country left,” Trump said.
Trump then went on to give a detailed account of the attempt on his life, just as he had spoken about the first assassination attempt at the Republican convention. This time, there was no impact to speak of.
The former president praised the officer who shot suspect Ryan Routh, who was hiding in bushes with an AK-47 at Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course.
“There was no talking. He didn’t say, ‘Hello, what are you doing here?’ He just pulled out his gun and started shooting him,” Trump said approvingly.
He also praised the sharp-eyed woman who took photos of the suspect’s getaway car.
Former President Donald Trump said only “important” presidents get shot, highlighting what impressed him most about the response to the second assassination attempt on him
If that wasn’t the case, “I’d be walking around saying, ‘Where is this guy? Is he in the audience? We’d have a maniac here,'” Trump said.
Instead, authorities were able to apprehend the suspect within minutes of his flight.
Trump also joked about the attempt on his life when he said he would impose 200 percent tariffs on Mexican auto imports amid Chinese investment — this time saying it was his policies that made him a target. “And then you wonder why they’re shooting at him, right?” he said.
The life-and-death jokes were the most dramatic part of a town hall meeting where the former president appeared to confuse Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan with a national oil spill in Alaska. “We have Bagram in Alaska,” Trump said, conflating two failures of the Biden administration.
While the Secret Service has been criticized for allowing a second attempt in a few weeks, Trump has supported the service but acknowledged there are shortfalls.
“These guys are doing a great job.”
“They need more people now and have been complaining about it for a long time,” Trump said.
He made his comments at a town hall meeting hosted by his former spokeswoman, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who in her opening statement blamed the “left” for the attack on his life.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders led the town hall. “They have tried to impeach this president. They have tried to throw him in jail. And not once, but twice, two would-be assassins have tried to overthrow this president,” she told the crowd.
“Can I be honest? This was more fun than a rally today,” Trump said of the town hall format, which included only a few questions from the audience and lots of cheering. He defended himself against accusations of “gibberish” and his references to Hannibal Lecter
“They tried to overthrow this president. They tried to throw him in jail. And not once, but twice, two would-be assassins tried to overthrow this president,” she told the crowd, which booed when she mentioned it.
Trump also responded to accusations from Vice President Kamala Harris and the media that she was speaking rashly.
He did this after giving a long answer to a question about the attempt on his life that took place at Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan and at oil drilling sites in Alaska.
Trump seemed to realize how far he had strayed. “That is the longest answer in the world to an otherwise simple question,” he told the crowd, laughing.
“We don’t mind you giving long answers because you actually have something to say,” the Arkansas governor and his former spokesman told him.
“Everybody is staying until the end, by the way,” Trump said.
“If I saw them leaving, I would say, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, make America great again,’ and I would get out of there as fast as I could.”
He also defended his references to Hannibal Lecter, which Harris’ campaign has exploited.
“When I mentioned Dr. Hannibal Lecter, I meant it as an example for people who come from The Silence of the Lambs,” Trump said.
A Ford auto worker asked Trump about the biggest threats to the state. Instead of addressing the challenges of the auto industry, Trump gave a long answer about nuclear war.
“I got along well with Kim Jong-un of North Korea. Everybody said, ‘Oh, you can’t get along with him.’ He liked me. I got along well with him, and he’s got a lot of nuclear power, but you’ve got five countries, and you’re going to get more. Like it or not, you’re going to get more,” Trump said.
Then Trump spoke about India and Pakistan’s nuclear capabilities and climate change. ‘And when I hear these people talk about global warming, it’s global warming you should be worried about, not that the ocean is going to rise an eighth of an inch in 400 years, and you’re going to have more property on the ocean, right? If that happens.’
Trump then called for “doing business with Russia.”
“They have so much in terms of minerals and things, the size of their land mass is, like, four times larger than the United States. The minerals and things that they have. We can do great business, and you keep everybody happy.”
Trump did eventually get to the issue of auto jobs, but not before touching on the “China virus,” tariffs and other topics.
“I promise that your state will see power generation at a level we haven’t seen in 50 years,” Trump said.
During his response at Bagram, Trump spoke at length on the subject, bizarrely mentioning the air base the U.S. abandoned in Afghanistan where it had abandoned its equipment. His former press secretary did not correct him when he tried to describe the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge.
“We have Bagram in Alaska. They say it could be as big – maybe even bigger than all of Saudi Arabia. I got it approved. Ronald Reagan couldn’t do it. Nobody could do it. I did it their first week. They shut it down. Look at that, Bagram. Look at that. No – Think about this between Bagram, between you and ANWR, you look at the kind of things we’ve given up.
“We’ve got to have that air base, we’ve got to have that oil,” Trump said, finally correctly identifying the two issues.
Security was tight outside the event. But when Trump made his entrance, his security team walked him through the packed Dort Financial Center arena to shake hands with supporters. The arena holds about 6,000 people for concerts and was full for the televised event.