Trump slams Harris in fiery first outdoor rally after assassination bid

Donald Trump has held his first outdoor campaign event since an assassination attempt, lobbing insults at his surging Democratic opponent Kamala Harris from behind bulletproof glass at a rally in the battleground state of North Carolina.

Trump, 78, speaking against a backdrop of vintage warplanes at an aviation museum on Wednesday, called Harris the "most radical left person" ever to run for the White House and claimed that millions of jobs will "vanish overnight" if she wins in November.

"Your life savings will be totally wiped out," the Republican candidate told the crowd on Wednesday, one of a number of apocalyptic scenarios he painted during his speech.

"If comrade Kamala wins this November, World War III is virtually guaranteed to happen," he said.

With Harris replacing Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket, the event in Asheboro was a chance for Trump to reclaim his longtime dominance in staging spectacular rallies.

It was his first big outdoor event since being wounded in an attempted assassination at a similarly open site in Butler, Pennsylvania, a month ago.

That attack left one rally participant dead before the shooter was killed by a Secret Service sniper.

The Secret Service recommended that Trump stick to more easily controllable indoor venues such as sports arenas. He has since held about a dozen indoor events.

The Secret Service does not comment publicly on security operations and did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday's preparations.

A bulletproof screen could be seen around the podium where Trump and his vice presidential pick, JD Vance, addressed the crowd in Asheboro.

Swing states

At one point during his speech, Trump left the stage and entered the crowd to check on an attendee who was suffering a medical issue.

Crowds are an integral part of Trump's political brand, with the right-wing billionaire seeking to portray himself as an outsider and man of the people.

Even as president, he kept up a steady schedule of election-style rallies, often filling sports arenas with at least 10,000 people.

He had counted on these demonstrations of strength as a key weapon in his plan to make the 81-year-old Biden, whose own public events were generally low-key and relatively small-scale affairs, look ineffectual.

North Carolina is one of a handful of swing states that are expected to determine the outcome of the November 5 election.

US presidential elections are not decided by an overall national vote but state-by-state, with each state worth varying amounts of Electoral College votes.

The winning candidate needs to win a majority of the Electoral College.

Most states trend solidly Republican or firmly Democrat, and only around seven are considered true toss-ups where the race is really fought — and where the candidates spend most of their campaigning time and money.