By James Oliphant
UNIONDALE, New York (Reuters) – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump claimed he was being targeted by “radical left” forces and vowed to campaign with renewed purpose at his first full-fledged campaign rally since an alleged second assassination attempt on Sunday.
“These encounters with death have not broken my will,” he told a raucous crowd in Uniondale, New York, 30 miles from Manhattan. “They have only hardened my resolve.”
Trump spoke at a Long Island sports arena packed with more than 10,000 supporters even though New York, which leans heavily Democratic, is not considered to be a competitive state in the Nov. 5 election. Local Democrats said they didn’t mind having Trump in the region as it was keeping him from campaigning in battleground states set to decide the election outcome.
Trump wasted no time referencing the Sunday arrest of a gunman authorities allege planned to shoot Trump while he was golfing on his course in West Palm Beach, Florida. In July, another gunman wounded Trump as he gave a speech in Pennsylvania.
“God has now spared my life,” Trump said. “Not once, but twice.”
Trump blamed a “violent, radical-left monster” for the alleged attempt on his life, and later used similar language to describe his opponent in the election, Democrat Kamala Harris.
Trump did not cite any evidence backing his claim that the “radical left” was responsible for the attempts on his life.
Ryan Routh, 58, has been charged with two gun-related crimes following his arrest on Sunday. Routh has mocked President Joe Biden on social media and suggested in a 2023 self-published book that he voted for Trump in 2016, but later wrote that backing Trump was a “terrible mistake.”
Harris denounced political violence after the Sunday incident.
Trump thanked the Teamsters union, which earlier on Wednesday broke from a longstanding tradition of making an endorsement in the presidential race in what was a blow to Harris campaign. The Teamsters have endorsed every Democratic candidate for president since 2000. Trump attributed the decision to widespread support for him among the union rank-and-file. “This was a surprise,” he said.
Before Trump spoke, former New York mayor and Trump ally Rudy Giuliani took the stage and suggested to the crowd that Trump had been targeted by an assassin for his agenda. “No more attacks!” he exclaimed.
Trump was also on Long Island in a bid to bolster local candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives, chief among them Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, who spoke before Trump.
The New York suburbs are considered crucial to Republican hopes of holding onto control of the House. “We need to elect more Republicans up and down the ballot,” Trump said.
Trump again brought up the situation surrounding a Haitian immigrant community in Springfield, Ohio, a small town that has been plagued by false rumors of pets being eaten and subjected to bomb threats. Trump, who has helped to amplify those rumors, said he would visit the city within two weeks.
(Editing by Michael Perry)
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