The crowd in Grand Rapids chanted the word back to him Saturday more than once, though some appeared to tire of the lengthy address after 90 minutes and began filing out of the arena.
The rally represented a moment remarkable by any measure, with Trump back on stage exactly one week since the assassination attempt.
He appeared wearing a new, smaller, flesh-coloured bandage over his right ear, grazed in the attack by a 20-year-old gunman on a rooftop who also killed one bystander.
Security was reportedly tight inside the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan, amid questions over Secret Service lapses at the Pennsylvania rally — though there were few visible signs of any greater law enforcement presence.
BIDEN’S “BIG DECISION”
Meanwhile, Biden loyalists continued to defend the embattled president as the drumbeat of calls for him to abandon his campaign grows louder.
The 81-year-old and his team have remained publicly adamant that he is staying in the race, though some reports suggest discussions have begun in his inner circle about how exactly he might step aside.
There has been massive speculation over who could replace him. As vice president, Harris appears best positioned to do so.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, a leading progressive who sought the party’s presidential nod in 2020, gave Harris a boost Saturday without turning her back on the president.
“Joe Biden is our nominee,” she said on MSNBC. “He has a really big decision to make.
“But what gives me a lot of hope right now is that if President Biden decides to step back, we have Vice President Kamala Harris, who is ready to step up, to unite the party, to take on Donald Trump, and to win in November.”
Some Democrats, however, fear that such a late switch could trigger chaos, dooming the party at the polls.
Team Trump, for its part, is effervescent after an exceptional streak of luck – from the failed assassination bid to favorable court rulings and Biden’s disastrous debate performance last month.
