Former President Donald J. Trump told supporters on Sunday that he “shouldn’t have left” the White House at the end of his term during a rally where he expressed frustration over new public polls indicating he was losing ground to Vice President Kamala Harris and made jokes about reporters being shot at.
At the rally held at an airport in Lititz, Pa.—his first of three swing-state stops on the second-to-last day of his campaign—Trump described Democrats as a “demonic” party. His voice was noticeably hoarse and his speech appeared sluggish as he made unfounded claims about election interference. He took pride in abandoning his prepared remarks, claiming it allowed the “truth” to emerge.
“We had the best border, the safest border,” Trump said regarding his time in office. He remarked on the economy being in good shape before referencing a chart showing immigration statistics when he was shot at during a rally in Butler, Pa., in July.
“It said we had the safest border in the history of our country the day that I left,” he noted.
“I shouldn’t have left, I mean, honestly,” Trump continued, adding, “We did so well, we had such a great—” before cutting himself off. He then quickly noted, “so now, every polling booth has hundreds of lawyers standing there.”
This remark echoed statements he reportedly made to aides shortly after his 2020 election loss, asserting he wasn’t going to leave the White House.
“I’m just not going to leave,” he told one aide. To another, he said, “We’re never leaving,” and asked, “How can you leave when you won an election?” Trump has never conceded the race to President Biden, maintaining his belief that he won and supported by a group of advisers and lawyers who sought various ways to overturn Biden’s victory. These efforts culminated in the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob as Biden’s electoral college victory was being certified.
Hundreds have been charged in connection with that attack, and Trump has since been indicted in Georgia and by a federal special counsel for his attempts to retain power.
Trump also expressed discontent over a series of recent polls. His campaign had circulated a memo questioning a Des Moines Register poll from Iowa that showed him trailing by four points and new New York Times/Siena College polls of battleground states.
However, Trump took his complaints further, spending nearly 20 minutes trying to sow doubt about the election and reviving a slew of baseless claims of widespread fraud that he had previously made in 2020.
He asserted that voter machines could be hacked, insisted that elections should be called by 11 p.m. on Tuesday night, and claimed that efforts to extend polling hours to allow more people to vote—which his own party has advocated for in Pennsylvania—were tantamount to fraud.
As he riffed, Trump also pointed to the protective glass surrounding him at outdoor rallies since he survived the assassination attempt in Butler. “To get to me, somebody would have to shoot through fake news, and I don’t mind that much, ’cause, I don’t mind. I don’t mind,” he said, prompting laughter and cheers from the crowd.
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