ASHEBORO, NC — ASHEBORO, N.C. (AP) — Donald Trump holds its first outdoor rally since just survive an attempted murder in Pennsylvania last month.
Trump’s podium at the North Carolina Aviation Museum & Hall of Fame, where he will deliver a speech on national security on Wednesday afternoon, is surrounded by bulletproof glass that forms a protective wall over the stage.
Storage containers are stacked around the perimeter of the space to create additional walls and block sightlines. Snipers are positioned on rooftops of the venue, where vintage airplanes sit behind the stage and a large American flag hangs from cranes.
The event is part of Trump’s week-long counter-programming series on the Democratic National Conventionthat is going on in Chicago. Allies have urged him on to focus on policy rather than personal attacks as he struggles to adjust his campaign against Vice President Kamala Harris after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race.
On Tuesday night, the convention saw a double dose of Obama’s firepower, as the former president and former first lady Trump attackedrepeatedly calling him by name.
“His narrow and constricted view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hardworking, educated, successful people who happened to be black,” Michelle Obama said of Trump in a stirring speech.
She also referred to a comment he made during a June debate, in which he asked: “Who’s going to tell him that the job he’s applying for now might be one of those ‘black jobs’?”
Barack Obama laughed at Trump’s obsession with the size of his audience, calling Trump “a 78-year-old billionaire who hasn’t stopped whining about his problems since he stepped off his golden escalator nine years ago.”
“There has been a constant stream of complaints and grievances, which has only gotten worse now that he is afraid of losing to Kamala,” the former president said.
Trump will be joined on Wednesday by his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, who has spent the week visiting states that have been hit hardest by the Republican primaries.
The trip reflects the importance of North Carolina in this year’s election and is Trump’s second visit to the state in the past week. Last Wednesday, he appeared in Asheville, North Carolina, for a speech on the economy.
Trump won North Carolina by a comfortable margin in 2016. The state gave the former president his closest statewide victory four years ago, and it is again seen as a key battleground in 2024.
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Colvin reported from New York.