Trump's new rally message: No mention of Jan. 6
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Former President Trump at his rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Saturday. Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Donald Trump's rally here Saturday was Classic Trump: a two-hour, rambling mix of word salads, boasting and false claims. But it also was clear that Trump has tweaked his message — and not just by recounting the attempt on his life a week ago.
Why it matters: For the second time in 48 hours, Trump delivered a lengthy speech without mentioning the Jan. 6 riot or his supporters who stormed the Capitol — those he'd been calling "patriots" and legal "hostages" for much of the past 3½ years.
- Earlier in the campaign, Trump's rallies began with a recorded version of the national anthem sung by the "J6 Prison Choir," a group of people jailed for their actions on Jan. 6.
- Saturday's rally in Grand Rapids — Trump's first with his new running mat, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) — began with a traditional performance of the song.
- As was the case in his speech Thursday night at the Republican National Convention, Trump didn't mention Jan. 6 or those convicted in the storming of the Capitol, many of whom he's suggested he'd pardon if he's re-elected.
- One other change: Instead of the big white bandage Trump wore to cover the wound on his right ear from last week's shooting, Trump sported a tan bandage Saturday.
Zoom in: With leads in national and most swing-state polls, Trump also is leaning more into an old message: that the only way Democrats can beat him in November is to "cheat."
- Trump has long made similar false claims about the 2020 election.
- Now references to cheating are peppered throughout his stump speech, in which he casts Democrats as incompetent — but somehow also the masterminds of a sophisticated, nationwide plan to "rig" state-run elections.
- "The only way you can get elected [as a Democrat] is to cheat. They are really good at it. That's the only thing they're good at. That is the only thing they focus on," Trump told the crowd of about 12,000 people in Grand Rapids.
- His son Don Jr. made a similar remark at an Axios event in Milwaukee on Wednesday, saying that if his father loses in November, it will be because of "cheating."
Between the lines: Trump also is now spending time at his rallies trying to distance himself from the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 agenda, a 900-page plan for radical change in the federal government.
- At least 140 former Trump administration officials contributed to Project 2025, CNN has reported.
- "Some on the severe right came up with this Project 2025 ... they're very, very conservative," Trump said. "They're kind of the opposite of the radical left, they're the radical right."
The big picture: During the past seven days, Trump has been in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and now Michigan — a sign of his campaign's focus on the "Blue Wall" states where working-class voters hold the key to President Biden's chances for re-election.
- Those states will be a focus for Vance during the rest of the campaign, according to Trump's team.
Eight hours before Trump was set to speak, rally-goers had already formed a line that snaked around two sides of the Van Andel Arena.
- A person familiar with Trump's movement told Axios that most, if not all of Trump's future rallies will be held in indoor locations, unlike the rally in Butler, Pa., where Trump was shot.
- The Grand Rapids event had been on the schedule since before the assassination attempt, the person said. It just hadn't been announced yet as of last Saturday.
What's next: Vance will hold a rally in his hometown of Middletown, Ohio, and then in Radford Va., on Monday, and Trump will have a rally in Charlotte on Wednesday.
- All of those events will be indoors.
