During his appearance at an engineering company in the city of York, the 78-year-old rejected the Democrats’ accusation that he was “weird.” “I think we’re extremely normal people,” Trump said of himself and his running mate JD Vance.
The Democratic vice presidential candidate, Tim Walz, invented the term “weird” for former President Trump. Walz started using it in an interview, and gradually all the prominent figures in the party took up the slogan. In reference to Walz, Trump now said: “He’s weird.” Trump also made fun of the laughter of the Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris. US Vice President Harris and Trump will run against each other in the presidential election on November 5.
In his speech, the Republican also promised to make the US capital Washington the most beautiful “capital in the world” if he is re-elected. Washington is “terribly run down, covered in graffiti,” he said. He will “very quickly” put the capital back in order and make it safe. Washington was once known in the USA as the “murder capital” because of its high crime rate. In the 1990s, the murder rate in the US capital began to fall, but in recent years the number has risen significantly again.
In his speech, in which he focused on energy policy, among other things, Trump also made reference to Germany. US Vice President Harris is on a “regulatory jihad” to shut down power plants in the USA. “Germany tried that a few years ago and got rid of its political leaders very quickly,” said Trump, apparently referring to Germany’s nuclear phase-out.
“And now they’re probably building 50 or 60 power plants, and they want to build a lot more, but they got rid of everything and wanted to switch to wind and solar power and a lot of other things. Unfortunately, that didn’t work.” Germany is now relying on fossil fuels again, Trump claimed. “I hope clean fossil fuels, clean coal,” the 78-year-old continued. Germany has the goal of becoming climate neutral by 2045 and wants to replace fossil energy sources accordingly. The share of renewable energies has risen steadily in recent years.
The Democratic Party Convention begins in Chicago on Monday evening (local time) – US President Joe Biden will speak on Tuesday night Central European Time. Other party figures such as former President Barack Obama will give speeches in the coming days. Harris will give the closing speech on Friday night. She is likely to be in the spotlight in the coming days.
Trump is therefore putting on a counter-program and touring the politically hotly contested swing states. Further events are planned in Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Arizona, Georgia and Nevada. In Arizona, Trump wants to visit the US southern border with Mexico. The swing states are crucial for the outcome of the election – there it is not clear in advance whether the Republican or Democratic candidate will win, as is tradition.
