Trump returns to the campaign trail in Michigan with VP pick Vance

Donald Trump and his freshly announced running mate, Senator J.D. Vance, held their first rally together Saturday in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Following his acceptance speech earlier this week at the RNC convention in Milwaukee, the rally marked Trump’s first time back on the campaign trail since surviving an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.

After being introduced by Vance, an energetic Trump appeared on stage without the white ear bandage he wore at his last public appearance. This one was replaced with a smaller, less conspicuous covering.

Early in his speech, the Republican candidate distanced himself further from the “severe right” Project 2025, a policy and staffing operation led by the Heritage Foundation.  Accompanied by a booing crowd, he described the project as “the opposite of the radical left.”

The statement follows a series of complaints from his staffers, notably senior advisor Chris LaCivita, who Trump acknowledged and thanked soon after dismissing his connections to the project. LaCivita has called the project a “pain in the ass,” saying that “these people do not speak for him.” Most recently, to a tweet displaying a Project 2025 bag, LaCivita quote-tweeted: “I would have thrown it out the window… bag full of – – – -.”

The Biden campaign and its media acolytes have led a concerted effort to connect Trump with a spooky and extreme Project 2025. Political strategy aside, and despite the Biden’s campaign’s messaging, Project 2025’s Mandate for Leadership does not call for complete bans on abortion, ending no-fault divorce, banning contraceptives, cuts to social security, banning curriculum about slavery.

Trump mentioned how China’s Xi Jinping wrote him “a beautiful note” following the assasination attempt. The former president also said of tech-billionaire Elon Musk: “He gives me $45 million a month and doesn’t even mention it. Other guys give you $2 and you have to take them out to lunch. You’ve got to wine them and dine them.”

Overall, Trump’s rally demonstrated that despite the talk about unity, he is still the all-in-offense man that his base loves him for, going after his “low IQ,” “crazy” and “feeble” challenger.