Trump Declares November’s Presidential Election as ‘Most Important Date’ in US History

(CTN News) – Donald Trump told a rally in Ohio on Saturday that the November presidential election will be the “most important date” in US history, portraying his campaign for the White House as a watershed moment for the nation.

Days after solidifying his place as the likely Republican nominee, the former president warned of a “bloodbath” if he is not elected — though it was unclear what he was talking about, given that the remark came in the middle of talks about risks to the US car sector.

“The date — remember this, November 5 — I believe it’s going to be the most important date in the history of our country,” the 77-year-old told rally-goers in Vandalia, Ohio, reiterating well-worn charges of his adversary, President Joe Biden, as the “worst” president.

Criticizing Chinese intentions to construct vehicles in Mexico and sell them to Americans, he claimed, “They won’t be able to sell those cars if I’m elected.”

“Now, if I don’t get elected, there’s going to be a slaughter for the entire country, and that’s not even the half of it. That will be the least of it. But they won’t sell those cars.”

As Trump’s tweet spread on social media, Biden’s campaign issued a statement branding the Republican a “loser” at the 2020 election who then “doubles down on his threats of political violence.”

“He wants another January 6, but the American people will hand him another electoral defeat this November because they continue to reject his extremism, love of violence, and thirst for vengeance,” the campaign said, referring to the deadly attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters in 2021.

Later, Biden addressed a luncheon in Washington, warning of “an unprecedented moment in history.”

“Freedom is under attack…” “The lies about the 2020 election, the plot to overturn it, and the embrace of the Jan. 6 insurrection pose the greatest threat to our democracy since the American Civil War,” he stated.

“In 2020, they failed, but … the threat remains.”

The 81-year-old, who has dismissed fears that he is too old for a second term, peppered his remarks with comedy.

“One candidate’s too old and mentally unfit to be president,” he remarked of the presidential election. “The other guy’s me.”

Earlier this month, Trump and Biden gained enough delegates to secure their party nominations for the 2024 presidential contest, effectively ensuring a rematch and setting up one of the longest election campaigns in US history.

Trump is campaigning on significant reforms to what he called Biden’s “horror show” immigration policy while successfully persuading Republicans to oppose a bill in Congress that featured the harshest border security measures in decades.

On Saturday, he mentioned the border again as he attempted to reach out to minorities who have generally voted Democratic.

He said Biden “repeatedly stabbed African-American voters in the back” by awarding work permits to “millions” of immigrants, warning that they and Hispanic Americans “are going to be the ones that suffer the most.”

For decades, Ohio was seen as a bellwether battleground state, but it has shifted more decisively Republican since Trump’s presidential victory in 2016.

The gathering occurred a day after Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence, said he would not support his former boss for a second term in the White House.

At an annual media dinner on Saturday, US President Joe Biden joked about Donald Trump and his age before launching into deadly serious critiques of his challenger in the November election.

“One candidate’s too old and mentally unfit to be president,” the 81-year-old Democrat joked at Washington’s Gridiron Club. “The other guy’s me.”

Democrat Joe Biden was giving his first speech as president at the annual white-tie dinner for the US media and political elite, which Republican former President Donald Trump addressed in 2018.

Biden is trailing in some surveys and confronts voter concerns about his age, which he has attempted to overcome by noting 77-year-old Trump’s recent linguistic gaffes.

In his speech, Biden lashed out at Republicans in Congress who have initiated an impeachment investigation into his son’s business transactions, claiming they would “rather fail at impeachment than succeed at anything else.”

He claimed that Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, who sat at the head table with Biden on the eve of St. Patrick’s Day, “took one look at Congress and asked for another Guinness.”

During a meeting at the White House on Friday, Varadkar and Biden urged Republicans in Congress to stop opposing military supplies to Ukraine in response to Russia’s invasion.

However, Biden returned to Trump, claiming that the Democrats’ election campaign would demonstrate how they rebuilt the US economy during the Covid-19 outbreak “without encouraging the American people to inject bleach.”

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He was referring to an instance in which Trump, as president, asked a top medical advisor if virus victims could be treated by injecting them with a disinfectant.

“Look, I wish these were jokes, but they’re not,” Biden explained.

“Democracy and freedom are literally being attacked. Putin is on the march in Europe. My predecessor bends before him and says, ‘Do whatever the heck you want.'”

Noting the presence of Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, a prominent critic of Russia, at his table, Putin said, “We will not bow down, they will not bow down, and I will not bow down.”

Biden stated that Trump’s bogus claims to have won the 2020 election, as well as the January 6, 2021, Capitol assault by pro-Trump rioters, demonstrated that “poison was coursing through the veins of our democracy.”

He also defended journalists, whom Trump has constantly criticized, saying, “You are not the enemy of the people.” “You are the foundation of any free society.”

In his speech at the Gridiron Club six years ago, Trump traded unusually humorous jabs with the Washington press corps while also making jokes about North Korea and his leadership style.

The Gridiron dinner, conducted behind closed doors with no photos allowed, brings Washington’s elite together for a night of self-deprecating humor, including costumed members performing a song.