Donald Trump declared victory over Joe Biden and slammed Kamala Harris as “incompetent” Wednesday in his first rally since the president ended his re-election bid.
Trump, 78, sported a small bandage matching his skin tone on his right ear as he took the stage and addressed his supporters inside a packed arena in Charlotte, NC, a state which he predicted he would win in “an epic landslide.”
“As you know, three days ago, we officially defeated the worst president in the history of our country,” the former president told the fired-up crowd.
“He quit because he was losing so badly in the polls,” Trump said of the 81-year-old president’s shocking exit from the 2024 race.
The GOP nominee then suggested that Biden was forced out by Democratic Party elites.
“But really what happened was the leaders of the Democrat Party – in a very undemocratic move – the bosses said, ‘Either you get out or we’re going to throw you out using the 25th Amendment.’ That’s what happened,” Trump argued.
Turning his attention to the vice president, Trump declared, “We have a new victim to defeat – Lyin Kamala Harris.”
Harris, 59, who was endorsed by Biden to run in his stead shortly after his withdrawal from the race, has secured enough Democratic delegate support to receive the party’s nomination for president.
She’s expected to formally be named the Democratic nominee by Aug. 7, in the virtual roll call that the Democratic National Committee rules committee approved Wednesday.
Trump slammed Harris as “the most incompetent and far left vice president in American history” and claimed that she’s been a key player in Biden administration policies that have contributed to record levels of inflation and illegal immigration.
What to know about President Biden’s decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race:
- President Biden announced Sunday he is dropping out of the 2024 presidential race — after weeks of prominent Democrats and donors calling on him to withdraw following his disastrous performance in the first presidential debate.
- In a letter posted on X Sunday afternoon, Biden admitted that it is in the “best interest of my party and country” for him to step down as the Democratic nominee.
- Biden wrote that he intends to serve out the remainder of his term and will address the country on his decision later this week.
- In a follow-up X post, Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the suddenly open Democratic nomination. “Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year,” the president wrote.
- Former President Donald Trump reacted to the news by labeling Biden the “worst president in the history of our country” in a call with CNN.
“For three-and-a-half years, Kamala Harris has been the ultra liberal driving force behind every single Biden catastrophe,” the 45th president said.
“She is a radical left lunatic who will destroy our country if she ever gets the chance to get into office.”
“Kamala Harris is the most liberal elected politician in American history,” Trump claimed, calling the vice president “more liberal” than Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
At several points in his remarks, Trump linked Harris to the Biden administration’s border policy, which polls show was one of Biden’s biggest weaknesses.
“She was the border czar but she never went to the border,” the former president noted.
“As border czar, Kamala opened our borders and allowed 20 million illegal aliens to stampede into our country from all over the world,” he added.
Turning to the economy, Trump noted that Harris broke a tie in the Senate to pass the $739 billion Democratic spending plan dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act.
“As vice president, she cast the tie breaking vote that created the worst inflation in a half century, decimating middle-class families and hurting very badly, as you know, all people in North Carolina,” Trump said.
The GOP nominee also attacked his likely opponent’s forays in foreign policy, arguing that the vice president was at least partly responsible for failing to prevent Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
“Kamala Harris was sent to Europe to deter Russia – what a joke that was – from attacking Ukraine,” Trump claimed.
“How did that work out? Russia answered by launching the invasion just five days after she left.”
“[Russian President Vladimir] Putin laughed at it like she was nothing. She is nothing,” Trump argued.
“Harris now wants a promotion to deliver four more years of chaos,” he said.
Several rally attendees told The Post that they agreed with the former president that their lives have been worse off under Biden and Harris.
Austin Davis, a 26 year-old GIS technician, told The Post his “paycheck has definitely gone down since Biden took over.”
Michelle Smith, 57, said she believes Trump “has the heart of America as what he stands for” and that “illegal immigration is out of control.”
Robin Padgett, 55, said there are “too many homeless people, people can not afford rent, groceries. It’s just terrible.”
The latest on President Biden’s decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race:
- Biden drops out of presidential race: live updates
- Kamala Harris campaign flooded with ‘record-breaking’ $81 million in donations in first 24 hours after Biden drops out
- Top Dems threatened to forcibly remove Biden from office unless he resigned, set him up to fail at Trump debate: sources
- Schumer, Pelosi played ‘good cop, bad cop’ to convince Biden to drop out with ex-speaker stating, ‘Easy way or the hard way’
- Trump and JD Vance accuse Dems of leading ‘coup’ against Biden, call to ‘invoke the 25th Amendment’
Trump, who was introduced at the Bojangles Arena by legendary former NASCAR driver and current race team owner Richard Childress, briefly touched on the July 13 shooting in Butler, Pa., that left him and two others wounded and killed one rally-goer.
“Bullets were flying,” Trump said of the horrific incident.
“And it was a rough, horrible, horrible time,” he added.
He noted that Secret Service agents wanted to put him on a stretcher after the shooting but he refused.
“I said, ‘You’re not putting me – I’m not getting on a stretcher,’” Trump recalled.
“My shoes got knocked off … They tackled me so damn hard,” he said, referring to the Secret Service agents that stormed the stage moments after the shots rang out.
Near the end of the rally, Trump announced that he had received the endorsement of the National Association of Police Organizations.
NAPO President Mick McHale praised Trump as a “steadfast and very public” supporter of law enforcement” in a letter handed to the media at the event.