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Arizona man wanted for threatening Trump on social media

WASHINGTON — An Arizona man is wanted after threatening over social media to kill former President Donald Trump, the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday. 

Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president, is in Cochise County as he visits the U.S. border with Mexico as part of his campaign. 

The man, Ronald Lee Syvrud, 66, has multiple outstanding warrants from Wisconsin, the sheriff’s office said.  

This is the latest in a series of threats against candidates ahead of the November 5 general election.  

In early August, a Virginia man was charged with threatening Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s Democratic rival, and a New Hampshire man was arrested in December for threatening to kill Republican presidential candidates. 

In July, Trump was wounded in his ear in an attempted assassination that left two others injured and one man dead.  

The U.S. Secret Service came under widespread scrutiny following the shooting. It resulted in the resignation of the agency’s director.
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Trump visits US-Mexico border to contrast with Democrats on immigration

SIERRA VISTA, Arizona — On a dirt road below the shrub-dotted hills of Arizona, Donald Trump used a stretch of wall and a pile of steel beams to draw a visual contrast between his approach to securing the border and that of his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. 

Trump brought along grieving mothers, the sheriff of Cochise County and the head of the Border Patrol union to echo his tough-on-border-security message at Thursday’s visit, which was themed “Make America Safe Again.” 

“To my right is what we call Trump wall. This was wall that was built under President Trump,” said Paul Perez, president of the Border Patrol union. “To my left, we have what we call Kamala wall. It’s just sitting there doing nothing, lying down.” 

The Biden administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the wall construction. 

The visit was the fourth in a series of events held in battleground states this week to try to draw the focus away from Democrats’ celebration of Harris’ presidential nomination in Chicago. Speakers at the convention on Wednesday night accused Trump of using the border to stir up his base by demonizing immigrants. 

Joining Thursday’s border visit were the mothers of children who were killed during the Biden administration in cases where the suspects are immigrants in the country illegally. Trump frequently highlights attacks involving immigrants to fuel concerns about the Biden administration policies, though some studies have found that people living in the U.S. illegally are less likely than native-born Americans to have been arrested for violent, drug and property crimes. 

“I just really, really, really want everybody to please take into consideration how important border control is, because we’re losing very innocent people to heinous crimes,” said Alexis Nungaray, the mother of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, who was strangled to death in Houston in June. 

At the Arizona event, snipers stood nearby at an elevated position, their eyes and weapons pointed toward Mexico, a day after Trump held his first outdoor rally since an assassination attempt last month. Security forces were also visible on the Mexican side of the border, including several men with rifles and tactical gear. Others wore uniforms identifying them as members of the Mexican state police. 

“What Biden and Kamala have done to the families here with me and so many others, thousands and thousands of others, not only killed, but also really badly hurt, badly hurt to a point where they’ll never lead a normal life again. It’s shameful, and it’s evil,” Trump said. 

In his tour of battleground states this week, Trump has traveled to Pennsylvania, Michigan and North Carolina and will hold events in Las Vegas and the Phoenix suburb of Glendale on Friday. His running mate, Senator JD Vance, spoke at the same location near the border a few weeks ago. 

Elected Democratic officials argued Wednesday night at the convention that their party is the one offering real leadership on border issues. 

“When it comes to the border, hear me when I say, ‘You know nothing, Donald Trump,’ ” said U.S. Representative Veronica Escobar, who represents the border city of El Paso, Texas. “He and his Republican imitators see the border and immigration as a political opportunity to exploit instead of an issue to address.” 

U.S. Democratic Senator Chris Murphy spoke after a video played showing Republican opposition to a bipartisan border deal earlier this year. Murphy was the top Democrat negotiating the proposal with conservative senators and said the bill would have had unanimous support if it weren’t for Trump. 

Trump was asked about the deal, and he called it “weak” and “ineffective.”

 
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Tim Walz’s nickname shines light on ‘period poverty’ in America

Washington — A schoolyard taunt against U.S. vice presidential candidate Tim Walz has vaulted a serious issue into the spotlight: that even in the world’s wealthiest nation, the struggle to afford menstrual supplies — known as “period poverty” — is a driving concern for the large portion of the population that menstruates.  

In 2023, the Minnesota governor signed a state law mandating free menstrual products in schools. His support drew the ire of conservatives who questioned the bill’s language requiring pads and tampons in all school bathrooms — not just those designated for girls. And it earned him a moniker that opponents have strung around his neck as he seeks the vice presidency: “Tampon Tim.” 

Much of the online chatter using the nickname devolves into crude, sexual claims about Walz.  

“He’s sick,” said Jesse Watters, a host on the conservative Fox news network, shortly after Walz was announced as Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate. “Walz forced schools to stock tampons in boys’ bathrooms. Tampons in fourth grade boys’ bathrooms. What a freak. What do boys need tampons for?” 

Presidential candidate Donald Trump said at a recent rally in North Carolina: “He wants tampons in boys’ bathrooms. I don’t think so. Tampons!” 

What the law actually says – and doesn’t 

But the Minnesota state law’s language, advocates argue, does not say that. It makes no mention of sex or gender, saying only that supplies must be provided “to all menstruating students” in “restrooms regularly used by students in grades 4 to 12.” 

The editorial board of the state’s largest newspaper agreed, calling the $2 million initiative “good and necessary policy.” The paper also quoted a top Minnesota school administrator who said that the law’s language gives flexibility to schools to stock products in unisex bathrooms, girls’ bathrooms, with the school nurse or in the front office — and that, more than eight months into the program’s rollout, she had heard no concerns from schools about implementation.  

Opponents of similar initiatives have not given clear reasons for their opposition. In June, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis vetoed the Menstrual Hygiene Products Grant Program, a $6.4 million plan to provide free pads and tampons for kindergarten through 12th grade students in his state. The conservative governor did not say specifically afterwards why he vetoed this measure — which was among about $900 million he cut from the state budget through the veto pen.  

“Some of the stuff I don’t think was appropriate for state tax dollars,” he said. “Some of the stuff are things that I support but that we have state programs for.”  

And this month, the Florida governor called out Walz directly, saying: “This is a guy that used Minnesota tax dollars to put tampons in the boys’ bathrooms throughout the schools in Minnesota. Are you kidding me?” 

‘We cannot learn when we are leaking’ 

But all the talk about bathrooms and other issues, menstrual health advocates say, obscures the original point of the Minnesota bill. Its sponsor, Rep. Sandra Feist, said high school students lobbied her to present the legislation to combat the dire effects of period poverty. 

“One out of 10 menstruating youth miss school because of their menstrual cycle or during the menstrual cycle because of a lack of access to menstrual products and resources,” she said in presenting the bill. “This absenteeism impacts educational attainment directly and indirectly, through its correlation with increased depression and anxiety.” 

In the United States, it costs an average of just under $9 per month to cover period supplies, according to a study of average costs worldwide. But that cost can come down dramatically when school districts purchase the products in bulk. 

Elsewhere, costs are lowest in India — estimated at just under $3 — and highest in Algeria, where a month’s worth of supplies costs upwards of $34. 

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, when challenged recently by Trump adviser Stephen Miller to explain Walz’s support of the law, countered by highlighting Pennsylvania’s similar law, on social-media platform X: “No girl should have to worry about anything but her work at school each day.” 

And as then high-school student Elif Ozturk said in appealing to Minnesota legislators: “I have friends who decided to just skip school during that time, because we cannot learn when we are leaking.” 

VOA asked both presidential campaigns to outline how they would address period poverty, if elected. Neither responded.  

Not just a US problem 

These are familiar refrains in the developing world, where period poverty and menstrual shame are often documented. There, NGOs have intervened in some communities with programs that provide reusable supplies and work to destigmatize menstruation.  

The American Bar Association says in the developed world, Canada, Scotland and Spain recently enacted laws that aim to support people who menstruate. Taiwan, Japan, Zambia, are on a growing list of places that have menstrual leave protections, and Australia, China, Chile and Zimbabwe are considering steps as well.  

Campaigners say that the U.S. government could make several moves. Those include making supplies freely available through Medicare, federal educational programs and shelters; eliminating sales taxes on hygiene products; and by adding them to the list of items available through assistance programs. And they point to a pending bill that would, in addition to some of those things, require that all employers of more than 100 people provide free supplies. 

About 25 states — including Arizona, Michigan, New Mexico, New Jersey and Ohio — have passed laws providing free products in schools. 

Estimates of how much this costs vary widely — ranging between $2 and $29 per student per year. Overall spending by U.S. public schools averages $16,280 per pupil each year, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics. 

Studies find that nearly one in four American students has trouble affording menstrual supplies, which are often taxed, unlike other essential medical supplies, and have seen steep inflation in recent years.  

‘Why is a girl with a period such a big, scary thing?’ 

Michela Bedard, executive director at PERIOD, an advocacy group, argues that this is not a personal problem, but a social one.  

“When people who require menstrual products — which is over half of our population — can’t fully engage in school, can’t fully engage in work or a commute to work, or athletics, or all the scholastic activities they want, it brings us all down, doesn’t it?” she told VOA. “We don’t talk about hunger that way. We often don’t talk about other basic needs that way. And so period products need to be considered part of the list of essential supplies that society needs to rely on to live their full selves.” 

And, she said, younger Americans are more accepting — and are the force behind many of the new state laws.  

This new attitude may be best reflected in a stalwart of the American teen literary scene, Seventeen magazine. As recently as the turn of the century, this glossy, bubbly American teen rag printed a page in every issue of short, reader-submitted anonymous tales. And that page, every month, reliably featured at least one paragraph-long horror story of the same exact narrative, which was posited as the worst nightmare of every high-school menstruator: Oh no my period happened in front of my crush! I was SO EMBARRASSED I wanted to just die!!!!  

That attitude is long gone, as reflected in a 2016 piece in that same magazine, outlining the exact same scenario of a crush learning a biological truth about his 16-year-old admirer and then shaming her for it.  

Instead, she rejects the shame, saying: “Why is a girl with a period such a big, scary thing? And I decided: It’s not. A period is not something embarrassing. It’s a sign that you’re healthy and that your body is doing what it’s supposed to.” 

Bedard told VOA that Walz should take a cue from today’s teens and wear his nickname with pride.  

“He is Tampon Tim to me,” she said. “He’s my kind of governor. I think that we need to lean into names like that, because it normalizes all the work that we at PERIOD have been doing for years. This is not a controversial issue.” 
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Democrats make strong appeals to Native voters, but have they missed the mark?

WASHINGTON — The Native American Caucus, meeting at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, opened its first meeting earlier this week with a prayer.

Amelia Flores, who chairs the Colorado River Indian Tribes in Arizona, introduced herself in the Mojave language and called on “Father, Creator” to bless Democrat leaders.

“We ask that you grant them wisdom and that our spirits will remain in a positive attitude throughout the next four days here. … We are gung-ho for our vice president and newly elect, with your favor, the first woman president of the United States,” she said.

More than 150 Native American delegates representing tribes across the U.S. participated in the convention this week. They brought a unique set of concerns that include safeguarding tribal sovereignty, clarifying their relationship with the federal government and overcoming voting barriers.

Native vote power

Speaking with VOA in July, Association on American Indian Affairs Director Shannon O’Loughlin, a citizen of the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma, emphasized that Native Americans have become an increasingly important voting bloc.

“If we do show up, and we do vote locally and nationally, we have the power to change the direction of the candidates and who’s chosen,” O’Loughlin said to VOA in July. “We saw that in the last election.”

That said, she notes some states’ efforts to discourage Native voters. In 2020, for example, the Native vote in Arizona helped swing the election in Biden’s favor. Two years later, Republican lawmakers passed a law requiring Arizonans to prove U.S. citizenship, a hardship for many Native voters.

Lower courts rejected the law, and the Republican National Committee has called on the U.S. Supreme Court to decide in time for the state to begin printing ballots.

A look at the numbers

According to the Native American Rights Fund, out of nearly 6.8 million American Indians and Alaskan Natives, 4.7 million are older than 18 and registered to vote.

It is commonly assumed that Native American voters favor the Democratic Party. But some studies show otherwise:

Oklahoma State University researchers in 2016 conducted an internet poll in which 46% of Native American respondents identified as Democrats, 26% as Republicans and 25% as independents.

A 2022 Midterm Voter Election Poll by the African American Research Collaborative showed similar numbers but also revealed that Native American voters are less likely to believe either political party is truly committed to advancing their issues and priorities.

“We obviously want to look at the numbers, which are very interesting and important, but I think what’s more telling at the end of the day is the fact that Native Americans are not really attached and don’t have a solidified relationship with either party,” said Gabriel Sanchez, a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institute.

“Native American voters overwhelmingly tell us they’re not really partisan in how they approach voting decisions. It’s more a campaign season to campaign season evaluation of which party they perceive to be better for their communities,” he noted.

Sanchez told VOA that Native Americans are usually represented, at least symbolically, in political conventions. He observed, however, little Native presence at the Republican convention in mid-July.

In contrast, Native Americans showed up in force at the Democratic convention this week to support Kamala Harris’ bid for the White House, and they heard from prominent Democrats, including Governor Tim Walz (D-MN), the vice presidential nominee.

“We have 11 sovereign nations, Anishinaabe and Dakota, and our history in Minnesota, just like the rest across this country, is dark,” he said. “But in Minnesota, we’ve acknowledged it’s not just enough to admire a problem.

“What are you going to do to make a difference? What are you going to do to partner? What are you going to do to acknowledge the first Americans? And what are you going to do to understand that our state of Minnesota is stronger because of our 11 sovereign nations?”

Senator Corey Booker (D-NJ) expressed solidarity with Native voters, noting that Black and Native Americans face similar challenges “with a justice system that treats you better if you’re rich and guilty than if you’re poor and innocent, with a health care system where literally the lowest life expectancy in the nation is Native American and African American men.”

But will these messages resonate with Native voters, particularly those registered as Independents?

“An issue that’s nowhere near on the radar of either party’s platform is missing and murdered Indigenous women,” Sanchez told VOA, citing a First Nations Development Institute survey of Native Americans showing this to be a top concern.

“And I think if either the Democrat or Republican Party can embrace that particular issue, it will go a long way.”
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Minnesota Governor Tim Walz accepts Democratic Party VP nomination

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz accepted his party’s nomination as vice president during the third day of the Democratic National Convention. VOA Midwest Correspondent Kane Farabaugh has more from Chicago.
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Democratic convention ends Thursday with party’s new standard bearer, Kamala Harris

Harris will cap whirlwind month that began when President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid
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Harris’ running mate, Tim Walz, introduces himself to the nation

CHICAGO — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz accepted his party’s nomination for vice president Wednesday night, using his Democratic National Convention address to thank the packed arena for “bringing the joy” to an election transformed by the elevation of his running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris.

“We’re all here tonight for one beautiful, simple, reason: We love this country,” Walz said as thousands of delegates hoisted vertical placards reading “Coach Walz” in red, white and blue.

Walz described his upbringing in Nebraska and teaching and coaching football in Minnesota and told the crowd, “Thank you for bringing the joy to this fight.”

“While other states were banning books from their schools, we were banishing hunger from ours,” he said. In a dig at his Republican counterpart, JD Vance, he added, “I had 24 kids in my high school class, and none of them went to Yale.”

When Walz talked about the difficulty conceiving his daughter, Hope, she made a heart with her hands and held it over her chest. His son, Gus, wept watching his dad speak and at least once shouted, “That’s my dad!”

“I haven’t given a lot of speeches like this, but I’ve given a lot of pep talks,” Walz said.

Democrats gathered at Chicago’s United Center are hoping to build on the momentum Harris has brought since taking over the top of the party’s presidential ticket last month. They want to harness the Democratic exuberance that followed President Joe Biden stepping aside while also making clear to their supporters that they face a fierce battle with former President Donald Trump.

Many Americans had never heard of Walz until Harris made him her running mate. In his first weeks of campaigning, he’s charmed supporters with his background and helped to balance Harris’ coastal background as a cultural representative of Midwestern states whose voters she needs this fall.

But Walz also has faced scrutiny, including questions about embellishing his background. His wife this week clarified that she did not undergo in vitro fertilization, as Walz has repeatedly claimed, but used other fertility treatments. Republicans also have criticized Walz for a 2018 comment he made about carrying weapons in war. Though he served in the National Guard for 24 years, he did not deploy to a war zone.

Benjamin C. Ingman, one of Walz’s old high school students, introduced the man many speakers — and Harris at times — have referred to as “Coach Walz.” At Ingman’s prompting, many of Walz’s former players decked out in their red and white jerseys took the stage to help introduce him.

The Bill and Oprah show

Walz’s speech followed former President Bill Clinton who returned to a place he knows well, the Democratic National Convention stage, to denounce Donald Trump as selfish and praise Kamala Harris as focused on the needs of Americans — firing up his party with his trademark off-the-cuff flourishes.

Clinton was meant to add heft to a third DNC night headlined by vice presidential nominee Tim Walz ‘s introduction to a national audience.

“We’ve got a pretty clear choice it seems to me. Kamala Harris, for the people. And the other guy who has proved, even more than the first go-around, that he’s about me, myself and I,” Clinton said.

The nation’s 42nd president and a veteran of his party’s political convention going back decades, Clinton was once declared the “secretary of explaining stuff” by Barack Obama, whose reelection bid in 2012 was bolstered by a Clinton stemwinder at that year’s DNC.

Now 78 — the same age as Trump — Clinton’s delivery was sometimes halting, his movements slower and he mispronounced Harris’ first name twice. His left hand often shook when he wasn’t using it to grip the lectern.

Still, he delivered several memorable, homespun pronouncements including asking. “What does her opponent do with his voice? He mostly talks about himself. So the next time you hear him, don’t count the lies, count the I’s.”

Oprah Winfrey, who long hosted her signature TV talk show from Chicago, picked up on one of Democrats’ favorite themes of late, scoffing at Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance having once derided “childless cat ladies” as he argued that Americans should be having more children.

Winfrey said that if a burning house belonged to a “childless cat lady,” neighbors would still help and “try to get that cat out, too.”

“We are beyond ridiculous tweets and lies and foolery,” she said of Trump, before referencing a recent comment he made to supporters about only having to vote once more — for him — and never again.

“You’re looking at a registered independent who’s proud to vote again and again and again, because that’s what Americans do,” she said. “Voting is the best of America.”

A focus on ‘freedoms’

The night’s theme was “a fight for our freedoms,” with the programming focusing on abortion access and other rights that Democrats want to center in their campaign against Trump. Speaker after speaker argued that their party wants to defend freedoms while Republicans want to take them away.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis used a prop that has become a convention staple, an oversized book meant to represent the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, a sweeping set of goals to shrink government and push it to the right, if Trump wins. Polis even ripped a page from the ceremonial volume and said he was going to keep it and show it to undecided voters.

The former president has distanced himself from Project 2025, but its key authors include his former top advisers. His running mate, JD Vance, wrote the foreword for the Heritage Foundation CEO’s new book.

Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz told the story of a woman in her state, which enacted new abortion restrictions after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, who was forced to carry to term a child with a fatal illness, only to watch the newborn die just hours after birth.

Dana Nessel, Michigan’s attorney general and an openly gay woman, declared, “I got a message for the Republicans and the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court: You can pry this wedding band from my cold, dead, gay hand.”

Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi spoke about the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He chaired a congressional committee that investigated the mob overrunning the Capitol, saying, “They wanted to stop the peaceful transfer of power for the first time in American history.”

“Thank God they failed,” Thompson said.

Trump bashed the convention as a “charade” and noted the fact that he has been a frequent topic of conversation. He also singled out his predecessor, Obama, for a highly critical convention speech Tuesday night, saying Obama had been “nasty.”

A recognition of the Oct. 7 hostages

Democrats recognized the hostages still being held by Hamas after its October 7 attack on Israel in which 1,200 people were killed. Jon and Rachel Goldberg-Polin brought some in the arena to tears as they paid tribute to their son Hersh, who was abducted in the attack.

Freeing hostages “is not a political issue. It is a humanitarian issue,” Jon Goldberg-Polin said, adding that “in a competition of pain there are no winners.”

The Israel-Hamas war has split the Democratic base, with pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrating outside the United Center and several speakers this week acknowledging civilian deaths in the Israeli offensive in Gaza. More than 40,000 people have died in Gaza, according to local health authorities. 
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Pro-Palestinian protesters rally, march on Democratic convention’s 3rd night

CHICAGO — More than 2,000 pro-Palestinian protesters marched Wednesday past a park where pro-Israel demonstrators had gathered earlier and toward the arena hosting the third night of the Democratic National Convention.

The demonstration, which stayed largely peaceful, came a day after violent clashes between police and protesters led to 56 arrests at a much smaller unsanctioned protest outside the Israeli Consulate.

Organizers of Wednesday’s demonstration drew on the Chicago area’s Palestinian community, one of the largest in the country, by bringing buses from suburban mosques.

Raed Shuk, 48, came with his children from the suburbs, including his 2-year-old son, who sat on Shuk’s shoulders ahead of the march. Shuk, whose parents are Palestinian, said they have come to so many rallies that his son knows the chants by heart.

“Everybody’s humanity needs to be equally addressed here and there,” he said of Gaza. “I want to help my children learn from this experience that you always like to stand up for your rights and always peacefully protest.”

The march, one of the largest anticipated demonstrations of the week, took on a festive tone at times as a drum line led marchers and a sea of Palestinian flags waved above the crowds. Some kids ate popsicles as they walked, and others were pushed in strollers or rode in wagons.

The crowd stopped outside a park that is roughly a block from the United Center and used megaphones and air horns to call out elected leaders, including Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, for being “complicit” in the war in Gaza. The two-term Democrat, who was under consideration as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, criticized a cease-fire resolution Chicago approved in January.

The crowds of pro-Palestinian protesters included many families and people of different faiths. Small groups of Muslims gathered in prayer at a park just ahead of the march’s kickoff, using keffiyeh as prayer rugs. Rabbis were among the leaders of the march, and a small group marched through in the crowd holding a sign that said, “Christians for Ceasefire.”

Rabbi Brant Rosen, a founder of the Jewish Voice for Peace Rabbinical Council, condemned Democrats for not speaking out about the war in Gaza at the convention.

“The word Palestine is not allowed inside the Democratic National Convention. The word cease-fire has barely been uttered,” he said. “This is a Hollywood-style coronation of a candidate. They assume they are entitled to our votes, but they are not entitled to our votes.”

Earlier in the day, police escorted pro-Israel demonstrators out of a park near the United Center as the area was blocked off ahead of the march of activists heading there.

The rally near the United Center was organized by the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, a Palestinian and Arab community-based organization. It was in stark contrast to the protest Tuesday night outside the Israeli Consulate. Protesters not affiliated with a coalition of more than 200 groups that have the city’s permission for demonstrations ended up in an intense standoff with Chicago police.

Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said those arrested Tuesday night outside the Israeli Consulate, about 3.2 kilometers from the United Center, “showed up with the intention of committing acts of violence, vandalism.” Snelling called the police response “proportionate.”

Thirty of the people detained by police were issued citations for disorderly conduct, according to Chicago police. One person was arrested on a felony charge of resisting police, while nine were charged with misdemeanors including disorderly conduct, resisting officers, battery, assault and criminal damage to property, police said.

Snelling said that two people were taken to the hospital with minor injuries, one for knee pain and one with a finger injury. Two officers were injured, but they refused medical attention because they did not want to leave fellow officers, Snelling said. He said three journalists were among those arrested, but he did not have details on charges.

Hatem Abudayyeh, co-founder of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, put the onus on police to keep the peace when asked about the clashes between pro-Palestinian protesters and police. The police “only have one responsibility here,” he said. “They have the responsibility of not infringing on our First Amendment rights.”

The Israeli Consulate has been the site of numerous demonstrations since the war in Gaza began in October, and protests during the DNC have largely focused on opposing the Israel-Hamas war.

The largest protest so far, which attracted about 3,500 people on Monday, was largely peaceful and resulted in 13 arrests, most related to a breach of security fencing. Two were arrested Sunday night during another mostly peaceful march. 
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Trump holds first outdoor rally since last month’s assassination attempt

ASHEBORO, North Carolina — In his first outdoor rally since last month’s assassination attempt, Donald Trump appeared on stage in North Carolina to talk about national security as part of his weeklong trip across the country to draw attention away from Democrats and their national convention.

“Seventy-six days from now, we’re going to win this state and we’re going to win the White House,” Trump said at the North Carolina Aviation Museum & Hall of Fame from behind a podium surrounded by panes of bulletproof glass that formed a protective wall across the stage.

Storage containers were stacked around the perimeter to create additional walls and block sight lines. Snipers were positioned on roofs at the venue, where old aircraft were sitting behind the podium and a large American flag was suspended from cranes.

The event, billed as being focused on national security issues, is part of Trump’s weeklong series of counterprogramming to the Democratic National Convention, which is underway in Chicago. Allies have been urging him to focus on policy instead of personal attacks as he struggles to adjust to running against Vice President Kamala Harris after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race.

Trump was joined Wednesday by his running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, who cast Harris as a candidate selected by power brokers instead of voters and lambasted her vice presidential pick, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, before Trump took the stage.

That included continuing to hammer Walz for mischaracterizing his service record as an Army National Guard member, as well as Walz’s retirement from service before his unit’s deployment to Iraq.

Trump has spent the week visiting battleground states in his busiest week of campaigning since the Republican primaries.

Reflecting the importance of North Carolina in this year’s election, the trip is Trump’s second to the state in the past week. Last Wednesday, he appeared in Asheville, North Carolina, for a speech on the economy.

Trump won North Carolina by a comfortable margin in 2016. The state delivered the former president his closest statewide margin of victory four years ago and is once again considered a key battleground in 2024.

Before Trump arrived, his plane did a flyover of the rally site. The crowd erupted into cheers.

Edna Ryan, a 68-year-old retired flight attendant and private pilot, said she was bullish on the Republican’s chances, but said: “We need to be strong because otherwise we’re going to be very sorry.”

Lisa Watts, a retired business owner from Hickory, North Carolina, who was attending her fifth Trump rally, said she’s feeling “very positive” about the race against Harris.

Watts said she doesn’t think Trump’s chances of winning are much different now from when Biden was the Democratic nominee.

“I think the Democrats are going to try to do everything they can to keep her up on that pedestal,” she said, predicting the hype around Harris will fade.
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Fannie Lou Hamer rattled Democratic convention 60 years ago with ‘Is this America?’ speech

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Tim Walz, Bill Clinton to speak at Democratic convention’s third day

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Former president Obama rallies Democrats for Harris in Chicago

Former President Barack Obama addressed Democrats in his home city of Chicago Tuesday, saying Vice President Kamala Harris is the right choice to take on Donald Trump in the U.S. presidential election this November. VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson has more from the second night of the Democratic National Convention.
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