Former President Trump appeared at a town hall event in Wisconsin on Thursday alongside Hawaii's Tulsi Gabbard, previewing how the Trump campaign plans to use the former Democratic congresswoman on the campaign trail in the coming weeks.
Gabbard, who declared her support for Trump earlier this week, moderated a town hall event in La Crosse, guiding the conversation and at times trying to keep it focused on hot-button issues like immigration, inflation and foreign policy.
The former congressman began his speech by sharing his own experience of struggling with fertility treatments, opening up a discussion about President Trump's new proposal to have the government pay for in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments.
Gabbard ran for president in the 2020 Democratic primary but lost. She announced her departure from the party in 2022 and has become a frequent face in conservative media, so her support for Trump is not surprising.
The Trump campaign has said it expects Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who suspended his independent presidential bid to endorse Trump, to appear at campaign events supporting the former president in the coming weeks.
Trump was on stage for just about 30 minutes, answering questions about immigration, inflation, crime and preventing terrorist attacks. The former president told the audience he didn't know he would be holding a town hall event until an aide told him about the format while on a flight to Wisconsin.
He took up familiar talking points, claiming the country is being overrun by illegal immigrants, downplaying the threat of climate change and accusing Vice President Harris of being a “Marxist” who swings between issues.
“She's changed her tune on everything. In fact, maybe we should put a Make America Great Again hat on Kamala,” Trump said. “But the thing is, that's not what she believes in. Her belief is open borders. Her belief is abolishing Social Security. Her belief is doing health care and all these other big, disruptive government programs.”
Harris has not called for the abolition of Social Security, and she has said she supports a bipartisan border security deal that would increase funding for the Border Patrol, distancing herself from her past support for Medicare for All.
Trump's event came just before CNN aired Harris' first major interview since becoming the Democratic nominee. The former president mocked the setup of the interview during a speech in Wisconsin, telling the audience that “Harris didn't look like a leader.”
Wisconsin is expected to be a close battleground in November, with Harris leading Trump by 3 percentage points in the state according to a Decision Desk HQ/The Hill polling average.
