Don trumpets US strength, scoffs at Biden

Prez wants voters to cast two ballots in Nov. election

Wilmington, Sept. 3: As thunderstorms threatened, President Donald Trump sped through a V- J Day speech on Wednesday, trumpeting American strength and managing to squeeze in a swipe at Democratic rival Joe Biden. Trump stood before an iconic World War IIera battleship to declare the port city of Wilmington, North Carolina, a World War II “Heritage City”. He pointed to a bolt of lightning and said it was God saluting the event. He honoured war veterans, including 97year- old Hershel “Woody” Williams, the sole surviving Marine from the war to receive the Medal of Honour. The West Virginia native fought in the Battle of Iwo Jima in the Pacific. “He’s 100 percent sharp,” Trump said of Williams, who travelled to the key battleground state with the president aboard Air Force One.

“I know a 78- year- old who’s not so sharp,” Trump added, a clear allusion to Biden. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany had insisted earlier this week that there was no “political purpose” to Trump’s visit to North Carolina. But when the president landed in Wilmington, Trump lost no time in criticising Biden.

“This is the most important election in the history of our country. I really believe that, because we’re running against people that have got some big issues,” he told supporters on the airport tarmac. “They have got some big, big problems. They’re stone cold crazy.”

Trump also encouraged those who cast votes by mail to cast two ballots in November’s election, one by mail and another in person as a check to see if the mailed vote was counted.

“They’ll go out and they’ll vote and they’re going to have to go and check their vote by going to the poll and voting that way because if it tabulates then they won’t be able to do that. So, let them send it in and let them go vote,” Trump said in an interview with WECT- TV at the Wilmington airport.

“And if their system’s as good as they say it is, then obviously they won’t be able to vote. If it isn’t tabulated, they’ll be able to vote. So that’s the way it is, and that’s what they should do.”