Following last week's presidential debate in Atlanta, Donald Trump and Joe Biden held dueling rallies in states officially won by their rival in 2020. In Chesapeake, Virginia, Trump addressed a crowd of 25,000, touting his debate performance and calling out Biden's fact-checked lies.
Meanwhile, the president descended on Raleigh, North Carolina, attempting to resuscitate his campaign with an address that only lasted 20 minutes, and much of that time was reportedly spent coughing, screaming, and mumbling to the audience of roughly 2,000.
"I know I'm not a young man, to state the obvious," he told the crowd. "I don't walk as easy as I used to. I don't speak as smoothly as I used to. I don't debate as well as I used to. But I know what I do know: I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong. And I know how to do this job."
Initial reports did not provide an estimate of attendance, but Dr. Alex McFarland says the site of Biden's rally, a building at the North Carolina Fairgrounds, is not that big.
"They put a shill audience together, got the cameras strategically positioned, and they're doing damage control," he submits. "That rally – the size it was, the close proximity to that train wreck of a debate – they're doing damage control, and the American people aren't stupid; they can see that."
Trump won North Carolina by about two percentage points in 2020. Wake County, where the city of Raleigh is located, is one area in the state where Biden found support then. McFarland is confident North Carolina will remain in the red column come November.
"Trump will win in 2024, just as he did in 2020," the apologist predicts. "The key is how sophisticated is the Democrat cheating machine this go-around."
Over the weekend, prominent Democrats rallied to deliver a public show of support for Biden's campaign.
