Trump unveils Democratic nominee he plans to run against and gives his thoughts on Project 2025 at massive rally a week after horrific shooting: ‘I took a bullet for democracy’

Donald Trump held his first campaign rally since he was shot on Saturday, thanking his supporters for their support while mocking Democrats for being a party of corrupt insiders bent on ousting their leader in a coup.

The large, white, gauze-filled bandage he had been wearing all week to protect his injured ear was gone, replaced by a smaller, flesh-colored bandage.

“Last week I took a bullet for democracy,” he said to loud cheers.

As Joe Biden, 81, recovers at home from COVID-19, Trump, 78, was greeted with thunderous applause, providing an extraordinary political split screen for the 2024 election.

While one president fights for his political life, another has survived a 2020 defeat, a criminal conviction and an assassin’s bullet to stand by his party once again.

According to his confidants, he returned to the stage in Grand Rapids a changed man.

Donald Trump held his first campaign rally since he was shot, thanking his supporters for their outpouring of love while ridiculing Democrats for being a party of corrupt insiders planning to oust their leader in a coup.

But he immediately moved on to his usual protest action: he conducted a poll among his supporters to find out who they would most like to face in the elections.

They punished Vice President Kamala Harris, but they paid even harder for Biden.

“I don’t think we have to go much further,” Trump said, before turning his attention to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, another possible candidate.

“You have a terrible governor who has done a terrible job. I would like to run against her.”

Security was noticeably tighter than at previous demonstrations. Not only was it kept indoors, but bags were also checked more closely than usual by Secret Service agents next to the Magnetometers.

Streets around the Van Andel Arena were cordoned off with dump trucks and snipers could be seen on nearby buildings.

That didn’t stop thousands of fans from lining up before the doors opened. Trump’s campaign claimed 25,000 people filled the arena (which actually has a capacity of somewhere over 12,000) with another 15,000 outside.

He turned his attention to Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who has also been mentioned as a possible candidate

After the formality of the Republican National Convention and its delegates last week in Milwaukee, Trump enjoyed the admiration of his supporters.

They raised their fists as he entered the arena and chanted “fight, fight, fight,” in a tribute to the way Trump responded after picking himself up from the ground after being injured last week.

He took the opportunity to distance himself from the radical Project 2025 plan developed by allies and former officials as a blueprint for a second Trump administration.

“Some on the right — the far right — came up with this Project 25,” he said. “And I don’t even know … they’re kind of the opposite of the radical left … I don’t know what the hell it is … some of the stuff — they’re really extreme.”

Democrats have confronted him with these extreme plans. “I don’t know what the hell it is,” Trump claimed.

His speech contained all of his greatest rallying hits. He promised to bring auto manufacturing back to Michigan, promised the largest deportation operation ever and said he would build an “iron dome” for the nation like Israel has, all while painting a picture of a nation in decline, “run by fools.”

And he said criminal charges would not give Biden the election victory.

Trump’s running mate, Senator JD Vance, warmed up the crowd for the former president

Supporters said they would not be deterred by last weekend’s shooting

“He is a weak, pathetic man who cannot organize elections. So he sues his opponent, thinking that he will win,” he said.

‘Third world countries do this a lot, banana republics do this a lot.

“We’ve never done it before. And we’re going to teach you why they can never do it again.”

Michigan is one of the key swing states that could determine the outcome of the election. Trump won it by just over 10,000 votes in 2016, but Joe Biden flipped it four years later.

Grand Rapids holds special significance for Trump, where he held his final rally of the 2016 campaign before a shock victory.

He returned for his final rally in 2020 but was unable to secure victory.

Last week, family, advisers and officials all said the shooting had changed Trump, and his speech at Thursday’s convention was billed as an opportunity to call for unity and understanding.

That lasted about 15 minutes, as the former president quickly transitioned into a speech criticizing Biden, “the deranged Nancy Pelosi” and his usual targets.

Supporters were not deterred by the shooting and lined up in their thousands

Police monitor the scene outside the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids from the roof of another building

Trucks block streets around Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids ahead of Donald Trump’s rally on Saturday

On Saturday he went straight back to his usual stormy performance, much to the delight of an army of fans undeterred by the minor matter of an assassin’s bullet.

“One of the messages that President Trump sent to the world after the events in Butler could best be summed up in two words: Don’t be afraid,” said Blake Marnell, a veteran of more than 40 rallies.

Dressed in his famous “brick suit,” he was in Butler, less than 30 feet from Trump, when he was shot in the ear and pushed to the ground by Secret Service agents.

Besides him, there were other ‘Front Row Joes’ who traveled the country from meeting to meeting.

“We saw the hand of God protecting the president last week and I feel safe here because that hand is protecting all of us,” said Rick Lane, 55, of Pennsylvania, wearing one of the “I bleed red, white, and Trump” T-shirts made by his own clothing company.