Trump said his supporters would not need to vote “anymore” if he won the next presidential election.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is set to hold a rally in Minnesota as he wages a ferocious campaign following President Joe Biden's withdrawal from the election and the emergence of Vice President Kamala Harris as his presumptive Democratic successor.
The event, held in St. Cloud on Saturday, came as the former president, who is trailing Harris in the polls, traveled around the country to rally support ahead of the Nov. 5 election.
On Friday, Trump drew attention at a Florida event with the conservative Christian group Turning Point Action, where he told a crowd that if he wins the November 5 election, they wouldn't need to vote “anymore.”
“You don't have to vote anymore. We're going to figure it out in four more years. It's going to be OK. My beautiful Christian people, you don't have to vote anymore,” said Trump, who has led a campaign to overturn the results of the 2020 election and has been denounced by his Democratic opponents as a threat to democracy.
Trump said Saturday he would ignore a recommendation from the Secret Service to only hold indoor campaign events following the July 13 assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and promised to return to Butler for a “big, great” rally.
The assassination attempt, in which Trump was grazed by a bullet, marked a turning point in an election season that has already seen some unprecedented twists and turns, including Trump's historic conviction on felony charges related to paying hush money to porn stars.
Just two days before the Republican National Convention, Trump swiftly sent a message of defiance by naming Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate: “Fight, fight, fight,” a line he uttered in the aftermath of the attack, became a campaign slogan.
But the race has changed again since Biden abruptly dropped out of the race earlier this week and Harris emerged as the presumptive Democratic nominee.
While some early polls have shown Harris leading Biden's approval rating over Trump, they have also appeared to neutralize an expected surge in former President Biden's approval ratings after the Republican National Convention.
Harris is again expected to be Trump's top target in Minnesota. It's the first time a Republican presidential candidate has won the Midwestern state in 52 years, but Trump's campaign has repeatedly said he can win it in November. A win in the Midwestern battleground state is widely seen as the surest path to victory.
Earlier this week, at a campaign rally in North Carolina, Trump, for the first time since Biden dropped out, blasted Harris as “extremist” and “ultra-liberal” and an extension of Biden's economic and immigration policies.
Trump also criticised Harris for saying during a recent meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that she would “not be silent” about the suffering in Gaza.
The statement was one of the strongest yet from the Biden administration but was met with skepticism from Palestinian advocacy groups.
Harris is due to start campaigning again on Saturday, attending an event in Pennsylvania before heading to a fundraiser in Massachusetts.
Earlier this week, Harris, who would be the first woman, Black woman and South Asian person to serve as president, received an endorsement from former President Barack Obama.
In her first speech since becoming the party's presumptive nominee earlier this week, she vowed to unite the country to defeat Trump.
