FLINT, Michigan – Former President Donald Trump argued that it is “consequential” presidents who face the threats he has over the last few months at a town hall event in Flint, Michigan, the former president’s first since surviving an assassination attempt Sunday.
“You wonder why I got shot at right. You know, only consequential presidents get shot at right,” Trump said during the town hall at Flint’s Dort Financial Center.
The event marked Trump’s first official campaign stop since the latest attempt on his life Sunday, when a lone gunman was spotted by U.S. Secret Service agents while Trump was playing a round of golf at Trump International Golf Club in Florida.
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Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends a town hall meeting moderated by Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders at the Dort Financial Center in Flint, Michigan, on September 17, 2024. (Photo by JEFF KOWALSKY / AFP) (Photo by JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images)
The gunman, identified as 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh, was spotted by Secret Service agents as Trump moved between holes five and six on the course, with the agents firing at Routh after spotting his rifle and scope poking out of the brush.
Trump, who was about 300-500 yards away from the shooter at the time of the incident, escaped uninjured.
The attempt marked the second time Trump faced an assassination attempt, coming just over two months after the former president was grazed in the ear by a bullet fired at him during a rally in Butlery, Pennsylvania.
Trump reflected on the attempts on his life during the Michigan event, saying being and running for president is a “dangerous business.”
FBI investigators gather evidence from the perimeter of Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida on Monday, September 16, 2024. (Mega for Fox News Digital)
“It’s a dangerous business. However, being president, it’s a little bit dangerous. It’s. You know, they think race car driving is dangerous. No, they think bull riding. That’s pretty scary, right? No, this is a dangerous business, and we have to keep it safe,” Trump said.
The former president spent much of the event, which took place in a critical swing state, hitting Vice President Kamala Harris on issues such as inflation and the auto industry.
“’I’ll say this for Michigan, if I don’t win, you will have no auto industry within two to three years,” Trump said. “China is going to take over all of your business because of the electric car and because they have the material we don’t.”
Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends a town hall meeting moderated by Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) at the Dort Financial Center in Flint, Michigan, on September 17, 2024. (Photo by JEFF KOWALSKY / AFP) (Photo by JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images)
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Michigan figures to play a key role in this year’s election. Trump won the state by less than one percentage point in 2016, but lost it to President Biden in 2020 by less than three percentage points.
Polls show a close race brewing in the state again, with Harris holding a less than one percentage point lead as of Tuesday, according to the Real Clear Politics polling average.