Donald Trump resumed campaigning Tuesday for the first time since a second apparent attempt on his life, boasting “only consequential presidents get shot at” while praising Kamala Harris for making a phone call to check on him.
Trump spoke at a town hall meeting before fervent supporters in Flint, a beleaguered industrial city that was once a jewel of the US automotive industry in swing state Michigan, before factories closed due to foreign competition.
Trump drew a link between what the FBI called a foiled assassination bid against him Sunday at his golf course in Florida and his pledge to slap heavy tariffs on imports of cars from Mexico and China.
“And then you wonder why I get shot at, right? You know, only consequential presidents get shot at,” Trump said.
Trump’s election rival Harris, campaigning in another swing state, Pennsylvania, said Tuesday she had reached out to the former president after the thwarted attack.
“I checked on him to see if he was OK. And I told him what I have said publicly -- there’s no place for political violence in our country,” Harris said in an interview with the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ).