The former president portrayed himself as having “wounds all over” while suggesting that he was being targeted for his support of religious freedoms.
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Former president Donald J. Trump speaks at Faith & Freedom Coalition’s conference in Washington, D.C. on Saturday.
Former President Donald J. Trump addressed the evangelical Faith & Freedom Coalition in Washington on Saturday, presenting himself as a champion of religious freedom and a martyr for Americans of faith while denouncing what he described as a mass persecution of Christians.
Mr. Trump also portrayed himself as having “wounds all over,” alluding to his legal troubles while suggesting that he was being targeted for his political beliefs.
“In the end, they’re not after me, they’re after you,” Mr. Trump said. “I just happen to be, very proudly, standing in their way.”
He added to raucous applause, “We need Christian voters to turn out in the largest numbers ever to tell Crooked Joe Biden ‘you’re fired!’”
Mr. Trump’s appeals to the evangelicals come at a crucial phase in the presidential campaign. President Biden and Mr. Trump will face off in an unusually early debate on CNN on Thursday, as polls reflect a tightening of the race. FiveThirtyEight’s aggregate of national polls show Mr. Biden very slightly ahead of Mr. Trump for the first time since recording began in March, while its election forecast shows the outcome of the race as effectively a coin flip.
Mr. Biden traveled to Camp David, the presidential country retreat, this weekend to prepare for the debate. He is joined by Ron Klain, his former chief of staff, who has taken time away from his post-White House career to help the president prepare, along with other key advisers.
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Source: nytimes.com
