Donald Trump will hold his first campaign rally on Saturday since he narrowly escaped an assassination attempt one week ago and fresh from his nominating convention where his takeover of the Republican Party was cemented.
Mr Trump will appear in Grand Rapids, in the battleground state of Michigan, along with his new vice-presidential pick, Ohio senator JD Vance. It will be their first campaign event together as the now official Republican presidential ticket.
Republican Party officials said during Mr Trump’s nominating convention in Milwaukee this week that his brush with death last Saturday had changed him, and that when he made his acceptance speech on Thursday night he would call for national unity.
Mr Trump gave a detailed account of his narrow brush with death in his convention speech on Thursday, telling the audience that he was only talking to them “by the grace of Almighty God”.
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However, while the Republican candidate began the address with a call for unity and national healing, much of his speech was his well-known list of grievances and attacks on opponents.
It is unclear what type of a speech Mr Trump will deliver on Saturday, but his diehard supporters typically flock to such events to hear Trump’s more traditional inflammatory rhetoric.
Mr Trump and Mr Vance will take the stage in Grand Rapids with the Republican Party unified behind them after this week’s nominating convention.
In contrast, the Democrats are in turmoil and it is no longer certain that President Joe Biden will be the Democratic nominee facing Mr Trump in the November 5th election.
Mr Biden is facing mounting calls from many elected officials in his own party to step aside as the party’s White House candidate and to end his re-election bid, after his poor debate performance against Mr Trump last month.
The US president is trailing in opinion polls and is behind in every swing state against Mr Trump. Many Democrats fear he may have almost no path to victory and that the party needs a new presidential candidate to take on Mr Trump.
Almost 35 Democrats in US Congress say it is time for Mr Biden to step aside, with 12 coming forward on Friday. More legislators are expected to speak out in the days ahead.
Donors have also raised concerns, and an organisation – called Pass the Torch, Biden – is planning a rally on Saturday at the White House.
The stand-off has become increasingly untenable for the party and its leaders, a month from the Democratic National Convention that should be a unifying moment to nominate their incumbent president to confront Mr Trump.
The Trump rally in Grand Rapids will be in an indoor arena, unlike the event in Butler, Pennsylvania, last weekend that was outdoors.
At that event, the gunman was able to scale the roof of a building outside the secret service perimeter before opening fire on Mr Trump, clipping his ear, killing a rally-goer and wounding several others.
The secret service, which is responsible for protecting Mr Trump, declined to comment on security for the Grand Rapids event. An investigation is under way into the security failures at the Butler rally. – Agencies