Thousands of people showed up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to support former President Donald Trump just one week after his assassination attempt.
“It was exactly one week ago today, almost to the hour, even to the minute,” Trump said to rallygoers in Van Andel Arena.
Supporters filled the 12,000-person stadium, from floor to ceiling, to hear Trump speak on the evening of July 20. This was Trump’s first rally since an assassin wounded him and two attendees, killing another, at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Hours before the rally, Secret Service agents and Grand Rapids police officers patrolled outside the Van Andel Arena in downtown Grand Rapids. Police blocked off the surrounding streets, and officers on horseback rode back and forth. Hurricane fences and steel barricades guided the crowd to a security checkpoint, and Secret Service K-9 detection units — allegedly absent from the Butler rally — scanned for anything suspicious.
Trump said during his speech that “crowds of people” were still outside for “blocks and blocks.”
A New Enthusiasm
An almost religious air filled the crowd for the divine providence that saved Trump from an assassin’s bullet. People distributed Scripture on the sidewalks outside the entrance. Clothes bearing crosses, Scripture verses, and religious messages dotted the crowd.
Rep. Tim Walberg. R-Mich., delivered an invocation that roughly followed The Lord’s Prayer, in the name of “my savior Jesus Christ.”
Walberg opened by asking those who believe God listens to prayer to raise their hands. The crowd responded with raised hands and
