SUMMERVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump stopped by a gun store and toured a ship constructing facility in South Carolina Monday, ramping up his in-person marketing campaign after a weekend on-line threatening the media, making a number of accusations of treason and urging congressional Republicans to go forward and shut down the federal government.
He additionally claimed he might design a greater fighter jet than the navy.
The Republican presidential front-runner, who has spent far much less time on the marketing campaign path than his main rivals, started his journey to small-town Summerville with a meet-and-greet with volunteers at an area marketing campaign workplace and a go to to an area gun retailer, the place he admired a Glock handgun and posed for images.
Spokesman Steven Cheung posted that the previous president, who’s at the moment beneath federal indictment, had bought the weapon throughout his go to to Palmetto State Armory, however later deleted the put up on the social media web site X, previously Twitter, and clarified that Trump, “says he needs to purchase one.”
Federal legislation prohibits the sale of weapons to individuals beneath felony indictment and bars them from receiving a gun “which has been shipped or transported in interstate or international commerce.” Nonetheless, after a 2022 Supreme Courtroom determination that created new requirements for firearm restrictions, some judges have declared the measure unconstitutional. A federal appeals court docket is at the moment contemplating a problem to the legislation.
Trump later rallied supporters outdoors a ship manufacturing facility within the blazing solar, the place he vowed to overturn a proposed Biden administration rule that will decrease the velocity restrict for boats alongside the East Coast in an effort to stop collisions with North Atlantic proper whales. The world was surrounded by energy boats.
He additionally confirmed off new South Carolina endorsements, together with from the state’s legal professional basic, its secretary of state, its Home majority chief and different members of the South Carolina Home of Representatives.
Whereas his rivals have been busy holding city halls and visiting native diners, Trump has spent a lot of the final months responding to his mounting authorized troubles. He has been indicted 4 occasions in 4 jurisdictions and faces 91 prison prices, however that has but to harm his standing within the GOP main.
In an indication of his dominance, he’s going to skip the second Republican main debate on Wednesday, as he did the primary, and can as a substitute go to Michigan to voice his opposition to President Joe Biden’s automotive insurance policies amid an auto staff strike.
Trump, who has vowed retribution if he wins a second time period, spent the weekend lashing out on the media and others on his Reality Social platform. Amongst his targets: NBC Information and MSNBC, which he claimed “needs to be investigated for its ‘Nation Threatening Treason.’” He as soon as once more slammed the free press — a cornerstone of U.S. democracy — as its “true risk,” whereas warning “The Faux Information Media ought to pay a giant value for what they’ve achieved to our as soon as nice Nation!’”
Trump usually casts unflattering protection and tales he doesn’t like as ”faux.”
Past his complaints with the press, Trump lashed out at Mark Milley, the retiring chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Workers, over cellphone calls he made to China within the ultimate stormy months of Trump’s presidency. Milley has defended these calls as “routine” and “completely inside the duties and obligations” of his job.
However Trump on Friday claimed Milley had dedicated “an act so egregious that, in occasions passed by, the punishment would have been DEATH! A conflict between China and america might have been the results of this treasonous act.” He mentioned Milley’s retirement ”can be a time for all residents of the USA to rejoice!”
Trump additionally laced into congressional leaders as he pressed Republicans to embrace a looming authorities shutdown — “UNLESS YOU GET EVERYTHING, SHUT IT DOWN!” he urged — and once more referred to as for the ouster of Senate Minority Chief Mitch McConnell, “the weakest, dumbest, and most conflicted ‘Chief’ in U.S. Senate historical past.”
Trump was simply as displeased with McConnell’s Democratic counterparts. “EVERY DEMOCRAT SHOULD RESIGN FROM THE SENATE!” he mentioned, within the wake of a sweeping bribery indictment in opposition to New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez.
He additionally claimed, after the current crash of an F-35B Joint Strike Fighter plane in South Carolina, that as president he had informed the the U.S. Air Power and Lockheed Martin quite a few occasions that the F-35 Fighter Jet was “in impact, DEFECTIVE, as a result of it solely has one engine” — and that he additionally suggested Boeing in opposition to growing the 737 MAX earlier than a pair of crashes.
He insulted his former U.N. Ambassador and present GOP rival Nikki Haley, a local of South Carolina, calling her “Birdbrain.” And he took the time to criticize shock jock Howard Stern, calling him “a damaged weirdo, unattractive each inside and outside, making an attempt like hell to be related!”
Trump final visited the state final month, when he spoke on the state GOP’s largest annual fundraiser in Columbia.
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Related Press writers Michelle Value in New York and Alanna Durkin Richer in Boston contributed to this report.
