GOD AND CONSCIENCE
Trump ended his day at an evangelical Christian event in Concord, North Carolina, telling a crowd he likes to think that during the failed assassination attempt against him on Jul 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania, he was saved by being “knocked to the ground by a supernatural hand”.
In his remarks, he avoided using some of the off-colour rhetoric he has been using in recent speeches. He said as he looks back on his life, “I now recognise that it’s been the hand of God leading me to where I am today.”
Evangelical leader Franklin Graham offered a prayer that Trump be elected.
“Rallies and positive poll numbers are not going to win this election,” Graham said. “It’s going to be God.”
Trump’s visit to North Carolina coincided with concerns among his Republican allies that crippling damage from storm Helene will depress turnout in the battleground state’s conservative mountain regions.
The area hit hardest by Helene is deeply Republican. Trump won about 62 per cent of the vote in 2020 in the 25 counties declared to be a disaster area after Helene, while Biden won about 51 per cent in the remainder of the state, according to a Reuters analysis.
“Obviously, we want them to vote but we want them to live and survive and be happy and healthy, because this is really a tragedy,” Trump said at a campaign stop in Swannanoa, population 5,300, after touring areas destroyed by the storm.
