Donald Trump made his first outdoor appearance since last month’s assassination attempt Wednesday. But his personal safety was not on his mind as he took to the stage behind bulletproof glass—his hurt feelings were.
Specifically, the psychic wounds he felt after Michelle and Barack Obama, the former first lady and the former president, used their speeches to the Democratic National Convention to flame the 45th president as an ugly, misogynistic, racist liar—and mock his obsession with crowd sizes with what many took to be a d--k joke.
Obama made a “suggestive gesture” with his hands, as The New York Times described it, suggesting that something was little.
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That was what appeared to rile Trump most as he spoke in Asheboro, North Carolina. “Did you see Barack Hussein Obama last night? Taking little shots at your president. He was taking shots at your president, and so was Michelle,” Trump told a crowd of supporters towards the start of the speech.
At the end, Trump redirected his ire back to Obama: “Now, he was very nasty last night,” said Trump. “I try and be nice to people, you know, but it’s a little tough when they get personal.”
He then polled the crowd, “Should I get personal, or should I not get personal?” Fans went wild for the personal side.
The rally had been supposed to be about national security and to present a contrast to Vice President Kamala Harris and the DNC. Trump has been criticized by allies in recent weeks for talking less about policy and more about his own personal complaints.
But at the rally, Trump went further than ignoring the allies: He mocked them. “They always say, ‘Sir, please stick to policy, don’t get personal,’ and yet they’re getting personal all night long, these people. Do I still have to stick to policy?” Trump questioned to a roaring crowd, before, mocking campaign officials again. “Sir, you must stick to policy, you’ll win it on the border, you’ll win it with inflation ... Sir, you’re going to win it on all of these things.”
Donald Trump speaks behind bulletproof glass during a campaign rally at the North Carolina Aviation Museum & Hall of Fame in Asheboro, North Carolina.
PETER ZAY/Peter Zay/AFP via Getty ImagesAs the rally went on he called Hillary Clinton, “Crooked Hillary,” Nancy Pelosi “nuts” and “crazy” and Joe Biden “angry” and “seething.”
The former president doubled down on his suggestion that Harris is a secret communist, calling her “Comrade Kamala.”
At one point, he stopped his rally to call for a doctor for a supporter who appeared to be in need.
“It is very hot here, I noticed, it’s very hot and a lot of the people waited for days to get here, so I understand,” Trump said, to a chorus of applause, before walking over and checking on the crowd.
Prior to Trump’s appearance was vice-presidential pick JD Vance, who defiantly told supporters that “we are going to take this country back.” Adding that he watched Tuesday night’s DNC, he complained “Democrats, they think they’ve cracked the code for how to appeal to normal Americans” and decried their use of camouflage hats.
“That’s their strategy for appealing to rural voters?” he chuffed.
Parts of Trump’s speech were posted by Kamala’s campaign on X, highlighting some of the more disturbing parts of his appearance.
The Harris campaign pointed out another flub from the former president, who when complaining about the “Afghanistan disaster” name-checked a plane that does not exist.
“We have F-16s, we have F-35s, F-32s, and we were knocking the hell out of them,” Trump said. “It was easy.”
As the Harris campaign noted, there is no such thing as an F-32.
