GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan — One day before President Joe Biden announced he would no longer seek reelection this November, supporters of former President Donald Trump were unconcerned about the top of the Democratic ticket because they were confident in Trump’s electoral chances regardless.

As the Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee, and down-ballot teams reconsider their strategies for the next three-and-a-half months, depending on whether Vice President Kamala Harris becomes the new nominee, some of the thousands of Trump supporters who descended on downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan for Trump’s first post-assassination attempt rally on Saturday downplayed the importance of his opponent.

Republicans, such as Diallo Wright of Grand Rapids, quipped Democrats, at the very least, needed “anyone younger than” Biden.

“I’m not gonna lie, I’d say a random old grandma,” Dino Daveon, another Grand Rapids resident, told the Washington Examiner when asked who should replace Biden. “They’re sweet and nice and gotta be better than Biden, I guess.”

However, other Republicans, including Justin, who declined to provide his last name, contended Democrats should not have pushed out Biden.

“The people voted for Joe Biden,” the Lapeer resident told the Washington Examiner. “Democracy is you’ve got to go with the people. I mean, it’s up to the people, you know?” 

Although Harris could motivate younger Democrats and minority voters, particularly black women such as her, should she become the nominee, Republicans projected confidence based on her record before and after she became synonymous with the Biden administration. 

When pressed on how Harris could upend their strategy, Trump campaign aides pointed the Washington Examiner to a statement from co-campaign managers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles from earlier Sunday.

“Kamala Harris is just as much of [a] joke as Biden,” the pair wrote. “Harris will be even worse for the people of our nation than Joe Biden. Harris has been the enabler in chief for Crooked Joe this entire time. They own each other’s records, and there is no distance between the two. Harris must defend the failed Biden administration and her liberal, weak-on-crime record in CA.”

At the same time, Trump has proposed that Fox News host his debate with the Democratic nominee and not ABC, a possible indication he is worried about how to handle a head-to-head with Harris.

During the Grand Rapids rally, Trump polled the crowd on who they would prefer to be the Democratic nominee, with the audience reacting more to Biden than Harris.

“You have a terrible governor here who did a terrible job,” he said, referring to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI). “I’d like to run against her.”

Trump and Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance ratcheted up their criticism of Harris during the event at Van Andel Arena amid speculation she could replace Biden, a trend that was also evident during last week’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

“I call her laughin’ Kamala,” Trump said on Saturday. “You ever watch her laugh? She’s crazy. You can tell a lot by a laugh. No, she’s crazy. She’s nuts. She’s not as crazy as Nancy Pelosi. Crazy Nancy.”

“Kamala Harris said something to the effect of, that I have no loyalty to this country,” Vance added. “I don’t know Kamala. I did serve in the United States Marine Corps and built a business. What the hell have you done other than collect a check?”

During the convention, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) underscored that it did not “matter” who the Democratic nominee is “because their agenda will remain the same.”

“Do you think that the note card in Joe Biden’s pocket is any different than what Elizabeth Warren says on a daily basis?” Donalds told the Florida delegation breakfast last Friday of the Massachusetts senator. “Do you really think that Kamala Harris and Bernie Sanders are different in terms of where they want to take the United States of America? When she was in the Senate, she co-sponsored his crazy Medicare for All. She was a co-sponsor of the Green New Deal.” 

“Gavin Newsom? Are you kidding me?” he said. “That guy’s the worst governor in the country. There is a reason why people are leaving California in droves.”

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), too, pressured Biden to step down as president, not only as the Democratic nominee.

“I think the question is, if he’s not going to be their nominee because he’s not up to it, how can he be our president for the next six months?” Rubio told reporters after the same breakfast. “They’re going to remove this nominee, they’ve got to remove the president. That’s really bad for our country. But look, they’re all responsible because there’s this conspiracy of lies that they’ve sort of deliberately hidden his deterioration from the American public until they could no longer do it.”

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Biden announced his decision not to seek reelection in a public letter Sunday, endorsing Harris in a separate social media post shortly afterward. Harris responded with her own statement and immediately started fundraising for her campaign.

“I am honored to have the president’s endorsement, and my intention is to earn and win this nomination,” she wrote. “I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party — and unite our nation — to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda. We have 107 days until Election Day. Together, we will fight. And together, we will win.”

2024-07-22 10:45:00, http://s.wordpress.com/mshots/v1/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonexaminer.com%2Fnews%2Fcampaigns%2Fpresidential%2F3093228%2Ftrump-supporters-project-confidence-biden-harris%2F?w=600&h=450, GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan — One day before President Joe Biden announced he would no longer seek reelection this November, supporters of former President Donald Trump were unconcerned about the top of the Democratic ticket because they were confident in Trump’s electoral chances regardless. As the Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee, and down-ballot teams reconsider,

GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan — One day before President Joe Biden announced he would no longer seek reelection this November, supporters of former President Donald Trump were unconcerned about the top of the Democratic ticket because they were confident in Trump’s electoral chances regardless.

As the Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee, and down-ballot teams reconsider their strategies for the next three-and-a-half months, depending on whether Vice President Kamala Harris becomes the new nominee, some of the thousands of Trump supporters who descended on downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan for Trump’s first post-assassination attempt rally on Saturday downplayed the importance of his opponent.

Republicans, such as Diallo Wright of Grand Rapids, quipped Democrats, at the very least, needed “anyone younger than” Biden.

“I’m not gonna lie, I’d say a random old grandma,” Dino Daveon, another Grand Rapids resident, told the Washington Examiner when asked who should replace Biden. “They’re sweet and nice and gotta be better than Biden, I guess.”

However, other Republicans, including Justin, who declined to provide his last name, contended Democrats should not have pushed out Biden.

“The people voted for Joe Biden,” the Lapeer resident told the Washington Examiner. “Democracy is you’ve got to go with the people. I mean, it’s up to the people, you know?” 

Although Harris could motivate younger Democrats and minority voters, particularly black women such as her, should she become the nominee, Republicans projected confidence based on her record before and after she became synonymous with the Biden administration. 

When pressed on how Harris could upend their strategy, Trump campaign aides pointed the Washington Examiner to a statement from co-campaign managers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles from earlier Sunday.

“Kamala Harris is just as much of [a] joke as Biden,” the pair wrote. “Harris will be even worse for the people of our nation than Joe Biden. Harris has been the enabler in chief for Crooked Joe this entire time. They own each other’s records, and there is no distance between the two. Harris must defend the failed Biden administration and her liberal, weak-on-crime record in CA.”

At the same time, Trump has proposed that Fox News host his debate with the Democratic nominee and not ABC, a possible indication he is worried about how to handle a head-to-head with Harris.

During the Grand Rapids rally, Trump polled the crowd on who they would prefer to be the Democratic nominee, with the audience reacting more to Biden than Harris.

“You have a terrible governor here who did a terrible job,” he said, referring to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI). “I’d like to run against her.”

Trump and Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance ratcheted up their criticism of Harris during the event at Van Andel Arena amid speculation she could replace Biden, a trend that was also evident during last week’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

“I call her laughin’ Kamala,” Trump said on Saturday. “You ever watch her laugh? She’s crazy. You can tell a lot by a laugh. No, she’s crazy. She’s nuts. She’s not as crazy as Nancy Pelosi. Crazy Nancy.”

“Kamala Harris said something to the effect of, that I have no loyalty to this country,” Vance added. “I don’t know Kamala. I did serve in the United States Marine Corps and built a business. What the hell have you done other than collect a check?”

During the convention, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) underscored that it did not “matter” who the Democratic nominee is “because their agenda will remain the same.”

“Do you think that the note card in Joe Biden’s pocket is any different than what Elizabeth Warren says on a daily basis?” Donalds told the Florida delegation breakfast last Friday of the Massachusetts senator. “Do you really think that Kamala Harris and Bernie Sanders are different in terms of where they want to take the United States of America? When she was in the Senate, she co-sponsored his crazy Medicare for All. She was a co-sponsor of the Green New Deal.” 

“Gavin Newsom? Are you kidding me?” he said. “That guy’s the worst governor in the country. There is a reason why people are leaving California in droves.”

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), too, pressured Biden to step down as president, not only as the Democratic nominee.

“I think the question is, if he’s not going to be their nominee because he’s not up to it, how can he be our president for the next six months?” Rubio told reporters after the same breakfast. “They’re going to remove this nominee, they’ve got to remove the president. That’s really bad for our country. But look, they’re all responsible because there’s this conspiracy of lies that they’ve sort of deliberately hidden his deterioration from the American public until they could no longer do it.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Biden announced his decision not to seek reelection in a public letter Sunday, endorsing Harris in a separate social media post shortly afterward. Harris responded with her own statement and immediately started fundraising for her campaign.

“I am honored to have the president’s endorsement, and my intention is to earn and win this nomination,” she wrote. “I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party — and unite our nation — to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda. We have 107 days until Election Day. Together, we will fight. And together, we will win.”

, GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan — One day before President Joe Biden announced he would no longer seek reelection this November, supporters of former President Donald Trump were unconcerned about the top of the Democratic ticket because they were confident in Trump’s electoral chances regardless. As the Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee, and down-ballot teams reconsider their strategies for the next three-and-a-half months, depending on whether Vice President Kamala Harris becomes the new nominee, some of the thousands of Trump supporters who descended on downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan for Trump’s first post-assassination attempt rally on Saturday downplayed the importance of his opponent. Republicans, such as Diallo Wright of Grand Rapids, quipped Democrats, at the very least, needed “anyone younger than” Biden. “I’m not gonna lie, I’d say a random old grandma,” Dino Daveon, another Grand Rapids resident, told the Washington Examiner when asked who should replace Biden. “They’re sweet and nice and gotta be better than Biden, I guess.” However, other Republicans, including Justin, who declined to provide his last name, contended Democrats should not have pushed out Biden. “The people voted for Joe Biden,” the Lapeer resident told the Washington Examiner. “Democracy is you’ve got to go with the people. I mean, it’s up to the people, you know?”  Although Harris could motivate younger Democrats and minority voters, particularly black women such as her, should she become the nominee, Republicans projected confidence based on her record before and after she became synonymous with the Biden administration.  When pressed on how Harris could upend their strategy, Trump campaign aides pointed the Washington Examiner to a statement from co-campaign managers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles from earlier Sunday. “Kamala Harris is just as much of [a] joke as Biden,” the pair wrote. “Harris will be even worse for the people of our nation than Joe Biden. Harris has been the enabler in chief for Crooked Joe this entire time. They own each other’s records, and there is no distance between the two. Harris must defend the failed Biden administration and her liberal, weak-on-crime record in CA.” At the same time, Trump has proposed that Fox News host his debate with the Democratic nominee and not ABC, a possible indication he is worried about how to handle a head-to-head with Harris. During the Grand Rapids rally, Trump polled the crowd on who they would prefer to be the Democratic nominee, with the audience reacting more to Biden than Harris. “You have a terrible governor here who did a terrible job,” he said, referring to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI). “I’d like to run against her.” Trump and Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance ratcheted up their criticism of Harris during the event at Van Andel Arena amid speculation she could replace Biden, a trend that was also evident during last week’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. “I call her laughin’ Kamala,” Trump said on Saturday. “You ever watch her laugh? She’s crazy. You can tell a lot by a laugh. No, she’s crazy. She’s nuts. She’s not as crazy as Nancy Pelosi. Crazy Nancy.” “Kamala Harris said something to the effect of, that I have no loyalty to this country,” Vance added. “I don’t know Kamala. I did serve in the United States Marine Corps and built a business. What the hell have you done other than collect a check?” During the convention, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) underscored that it did not “matter” who the Democratic nominee is “because their agenda will remain the same.” “Do you think that the note card in Joe Biden’s pocket is any different than what Elizabeth Warren says on a daily basis?” Donalds told the Florida delegation breakfast last Friday of the Massachusetts senator. “Do you really think that Kamala Harris and Bernie Sanders are different in terms of where they want to take the United States of America? When she was in the Senate, she co-sponsored his crazy Medicare for All. She was a co-sponsor of the Green New Deal.”  “Gavin Newsom? Are you kidding me?” he said. “That guy’s the worst governor in the country. There is a reason why people are leaving California in droves.” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), too, pressured Biden to step down as president, not only as the Democratic nominee. “I think the question is, if he’s not going to be their nominee because he’s not up to it, how can he be our president for the next six months?” Rubio told reporters after the same breakfast. “They’re going to remove this nominee, they’ve got to remove the president. That’s really bad for our country. But look, they’re all responsible because there’s this conspiracy of lies that they’ve sort of deliberately hidden his deterioration from the American public until they could no longer do it.” CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER Biden announced his decision not to seek reelection in a public letter Sunday, endorsing Harris in a separate social media post shortly afterward. Harris responded with her own statement and immediately started fundraising for her campaign. “I am honored to have the president’s endorsement, and my intention is to earn and win this nomination,” she wrote. “I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party — and unite our nation — to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda. We have 107 days until Election Day. Together, we will fight. And together, we will win.”, , , https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/trump-michigan-1-scaled-1024×683.webp, Washington Examiner, Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/cropped-favicon-32×32.png, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/feed/, Naomi Lim and Amy DeLaura,

GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan — Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance’s story of overcoming personal hardship was one of the reasons former President Donald Trump tapped him to become his running mate, with the hope people in the midwestern battleground states, including Michigan, would relate to him.

Although the 39-year-old Ohio senator’s nomination acceptance speech last week at the Republican National Convention was peppered with quips at Michigan, particularly regarding football, Michigan Republicans do not appear to mind.

“It’s all fun and games,” Jill Kindig, a Brighton, Michigan, resident, told the Washington Examiner on Saturday outside Trump’s rally in Grand Rapids, his first since last week’s assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania and Vance’s first as a vice presidential candidate.

“They have that joke all the time,” Sierra Ackerman, an Ohio resident who came to Michigan for the event, said outside Van Andel Arena downtown.

“That’s been going on for years on top of years,” David Martinez, a Muskegon, Michigan, resident, added. “I’ve got relatives that played for Ohio State. I’ve got a granddaughter at Michigan, I’ve got a granddaughter and daughter at Michigan State. So it doesn’t matter. Come on, you know, we’re American, we’ve got to have that rivalry in football.”

Most of Vance’s banter is based on the football rivalry between the University of Michigan and the Ohio State University.

“I heard some ‘O-H’s but I’m going to respect Michigan and not respond here,” Vance told the crowd during one of his two appearances onstage. “To my Ohio brethren: Guys, we’ve got to win Michigan. That’s the most important thing this election cycle.”

Michigan’s importance to the 2024 election was underscored by aides choosing it as Vance’s first rally as the Republican vice presidential nominee. For President Joe Biden, or whoever might replace him as the Democratic presidential nominee, the so-called “blue wall” of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, where last week’s convention was, will be crucial to securing 270 Electoral College votes in November. That is where polling is still within the margin of error between Biden and Trump, compared to the other battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, and even Nevada, which has not supported a Republican in a presidential election since then-President George W. Bush in 2004, where the GOP nominee is ahead. Biden’s campaign has also described the blue wall as his “clearest path” back to the White House.

Trump has a 1.7-percentage-point lead on Biden in Michigan, according to RealClearPolitics‘s aggregation of head-to-head polling, with Trump’s advantages over Biden in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin widening since their debate and Democratic calls for the president to step aside as the party’s nominee. Biden’s standing in Michigan had earlier been jeopardized by his response to the Israel–Hamas war in the Gaza Strip because of the state’s large Arab American and Muslim communities.

David Cohen, a politics professor at the University of Akron in Ohio, reiterated that Trump had picked Vance to campaign in the Midwest, amplifying the former president’s message of economic populism and social conservatism — policy positions that helped him crack the blue wall in 2016 against then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

“Though Ohio is not a battleground state this year, Ohio’s neighbors of Michigan and Pennsylvania are — and they are perhaps the two most critical swing states in 2024,” Cohen told the Washington Examiner. “Vance’s story plays well in these places — particularly in the rural, blue-collar areas of the Midwest.

“It is interesting that he played up the Ohio-Michigan rivalry at the RNC convention,” he said. “I’d be surprised if he talked about his graduating from the Ohio State University while in Michigan — I’m pretty sure that would not go over well with the crowd.”

During his convention address, Vance joked that the Ohio delegates needed to “chill with the Ohio love here.”

“We’ve got to win Michigan too,” he said. “… We’ve had enough political violence.”

But Vance Patrick, the Republican Party chairman in Oakland County, Michigan, who started a counter-“Let’s Go Blue” chant on behalf of the University of Michigan, dismissed the idea the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry will undermine the senator in the Great Lake State, contending that he is “absolutely” an asset in the Midwest.

“The Michigan and Ohio delegates laughed, shook hands, and hugged after the chant,” Patrick told the Washington Examiner. “This also blew up a UoM Twitter feed, again in a good, national unity way.”

For a second Michigan Republican strategist, Vance improves the foundation on which the Trump campaign can “build an even bigger stronghold in the entire region,” given Ohio’s closeness in geography and culture to Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

“Those are must-win states and, in addition to his loyalty to the former president, J.D. knows exactly how to speak to voters in those critical states,” the strategist told the Washington Examiner. “[That is] further evidenced by their choice of Michigan as the site of their first post-convention, post-nomination rally.

“Midwest voters have been suffering under relentless inflation and coastal elites don’t recognize that,” the strategist continued. “J.D. is acutely aware of that, as well as the failures of the Biden-Harris administration, such as East Palestine,” Ohio, the site of last year’s toxic train derailment, which Biden did not travel to until this March, attracting criticism from Republicans.

Vance was raised by his grandparents in Middletown, Ohio, amid his family’s encounters with addiction and abuse before he enlisted in the Marine Corps after high school in 2003 and deployed to Iraq as a war correspondent in 2005. Vance then enrolled at Ohio State before graduating summa cum laude in two years in 2009.

Vance went on to attend Yale Law School and worked for Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), Judge David Bunning, law firm Sidley Austin, and investment firms funded by the likes of AOL co-founder Steve Case and Case’s PayPal counterpart, Peter Thiel, after he graduated in 2013. He met his wife, Usha Chilukuri Vance, with whom he shares three children, there when they were both students. Vance wrote the 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy, which recounts his experiences.

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“It’s still a little bit weird to see my name on those signs,” Vance said Saturday. “Such an honor, such an incredible honor. You think about how I grew up, and you think about nobody in my immediate family had ever gone to college, and here I am getting to represent this ticket in the great state of Michigan, getting an opportunity to earn your vote as the next vice president of the United States. What a great country this is.”

Vance’s first solo rally will be Monday in Middletown.

GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan — Despite promising during his nomination acceptance speech during last week’s Republican National Convention not to keep revisiting his assassination attempt, former President Donald Trump relived the moment during his first post-shooting rally in Grand Rapids.

“It was exactly a week ago today almost to the hour, almost to the minute,” Trump told a crowd of 13,000 people Saturday in downtown Grand Rapids to chants of “fight, fight, fight,” the same words he uttered before Secret Service ushered him off the stage to safety seven days ago in Butler, Pennsylvania.

When the crowd started booing members of the news media who were present at Trump’s mention, the former president discouraged them, contending that the attempt on his life was covered fairly.

“They keep saying, ‘He’s a threat to democracy,’” he said. “I’m saying, ‘What the hell did I do for democracy? Last week I took a bullet for democracy! What did I do against democracy?’ Crazy.”

Trump, who now has a smaller bandage covering where the bullet grazed his ear, shared with the crowd that he had telephone discussions with Elon Musk, who announced his endorsement of the former president this week. The SpaceX CEO also committed to donating $45 million to his campaign a month, revealing that he does not have a problem with the Republican presidential nominee’s position against electric vehicles, a hot-button issue in Michigan. Trump also welcomed Judge Aileen Cannon’s dismissal of his classified documents case in Florida, claiming, “When you have honorable judges … good things can happen.”

Thousands of people were outside the Van Andel Arena by 9 a.m. Saturday, hours before Trump was scheduled to speak at 5 p.m., expecting stricter security after last week. The indoor venue can be compared with the outdoor Butler Farm Show, which experts describe as a soft target for attacks, such as the one that unfolded.

A week after Secret Service agents, who have been criticized since the shooting, put themselves between Trump and a possible second bullet, the group outside repeatedly cheered and applauded passing police officers.

The second promise Trump broke during his convention address was his aides’ pledge that he would not say President Joe Biden‘s name. Trump made no such promise for Saturday, mocking Democrats for reconsidering the incumbent as their nominee in a county the former president won in 2016 but lost in 2020.

“It’s sort of interesting, this guy goes and he gets the votes and now they want to take it away,” he said of the primary. “That’s democracy. They talk about democracy, ‘Let’s take it away from him’.”

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI), among the rumored Democrats who could replace Biden as the party’s nominee should he decide to step aside, responded to Trump and Vance’s appearance in Michigan in a video, reiterating that her state is for abortion access, lowering costs, and workers’ rights.

“Oh, and one more thing, Michigan is going to reject your extreme Project 2025 agenda,” Whitmer said, referring to policies proposed by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

Distancing himself from Project 2025 as a plan of the “severe right,” Trump quipped that he would rather run against Whitmer, conducting a poll of the crowd regarding who should be the Democratic nominee.

“I’d like to run against her,” he said, reminding the crowd that Whitmer’s husband could do “whatever he wanted” during her COVID-19 lockdown.

Trump was introduced by Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), his running mate, who spoke twice during his campaign trail debut Saturday.

“You’re going to be a fantastic vice president of the United States,” Trump said. “I chose him because he’s for the worker, he is for the people who work so hard.”

During his historically long prime-time acceptance remarks Thursday at Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum, Trump told that arena that “the assassin’s bullet came within a quarter of an inch of taking my life.”

“So many people have asked me what happened, ‘Tell us what happened please,’ and therefore I’ll tell you what happened, and you’ll never hear it from me a second time because it’s too painful to tell,” he said.

After announcing that $6.3 million had been raised for the families of the victims of the Butler rally, including Corey Comperatore, the former fire department chief who was killed, Trump alluded to a chart with immigration statistics. The Republican presidential nominee has taken to projecting the chart at his rallies, and turning toward it last week caused the bullet to sideswipe his head instead of pierce his skull.

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“Last time I put up that chart, I didn’t really get to look at it,” he said. “Without that chart, I would not be here today.”

Trump has cemented his position in the 2024 race against Biden as Democrats openly discuss replacing the president as their nominee. Trump leads Biden in Michigan by an average of 2 percentage points, in Pennsylvania by 4.5 points, and Wisconsin by 3.5 points, according to RealClearPolitics.

GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan — Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance dinged Vice President Kamala Harris during his campaign trail debut in Grand Rapids.

“The vice president, Kamala Harris, she doesn’t like me,” Vance told the crowd Saturday. “Kamala Harris said something to the effect of that I have no loyalty to this country.

“Well, I don’t know Kamala,” he said. “I did serve in the United States Marine Corps and built a business. What the hell have you done other than collect a check? … We have to give her credit, my friends, she did serve as border czar during the biggest disaster open border that we’ve ever had in the country. Let’s get President Trump back there, close down that border, and bring some common sense and security to this country.”

Vance, appearing at former President Donald Trump‘s first rally since last week’s assassination attempt a week ago a few hours away in Butler, Pennsylvania, reflected on the past seven days, which included Trump tapping the Ohio senator, 39, as his running mate Monday during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

“I find it hard to believe that a week ago, an assassin tried to take Donald Trump’s life and now we’ve got a hell of a crowd in Michigan to welcome him back on the campaign trail,” Vance said, warming up the audience in Van Andel Arena in downtown Grand Rapids for the former president.

“I’m just so blessed and so grateful to be up here,” he added before introducing himself to those in attendance and criticizing the media for claiming Trump is “radical” and “dangerous.”

“It’s still a little bit weird to see my name on those signs,” Vance said. “Such an honor, such an incredible honor. You think about how I grew up, and you think about nobody in my immediate family had ever gone to college, and here I am getting to represent this ticket in the great state of Michigan, getting an opportunity to earn your vote as the next vice president of the United States. What a great country this is.”

The Trump campaign chose Grand Rapids as the backdrop to Vance’s first rally with the hope that his Ohio upbringing would appeal to Midwest voters, despite the rivalry between the University of Michigan and the Ohio State University, Vance’s alma mater. President Joe Biden‘s campaign, should he remain in the race, will be decided by the blue wall states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, where he polls better against Trump compared to Arizona, Georgia, and Nevada, but is still behind.

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“We’ve got to win Michigan, that’s the most important thing in this election cycle,” Vance said, quipping to his “Ohio brethren” that he will “respect” Michigan by not responding to “Ohio” chants.

Vance’s next rally, on Monday, will be his first solo one, an event in his hometown of Middletown, Ohio. He is also expected to debate Harris this or next month on CBS, though negotiations are still ongoing.