Donald Trump made a triumphant appearance at the Republican National Convention, his first public outing since surviving an assassination attempt. The former president entered the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to thunderous applause and cheers, just days after a bullet grazed his ear during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Republican delegates stood and cheered as Trump, with a thick bandage over his right ear, entered the stadium to the tune of “God Bless the USA” by Lee Greenwood. Visibly moved, Trump did not address the convention but smiled and waved to the crowd as supporters chanted “Fight! Fight! Fight!” and pumped their fists, echoing his defiant response immediately after the shooting.
Trump is already leading Biden in most opinion polls, both nationwide and in battleground states
Trump then took a seat in a VIP box with some of his children and his newly announced vice presidential running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance. Multiple speakers addressed the attack on Trump, who has credited God with saving his life, often invoking religious imagery in their remarks.
“Our God still saves, he still delivers, and he still sets free,” South Carolina Senator Tim Scott told the crowd. “Because, on Saturday, the devil came to Pennsylvania holding a rifle – but an American lion got back up on his feet, and he roared.”
Speakers at the Republican National Convention emphasized the importance of economic recovery, with Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin highlighting Trump’s potential to restore a “rip-roaring economy that lifts up all Americans.”
Trump, who achieved a legal victory just hours before his appearance when a Florida judge dismissed one of three pending criminal cases against him, is set to formally accept the Republican nomination on Thursday.
Signaling that unity will be a central theme of the four-day event, Trump mentioned in a newspaper interview on Sunday that his speech would be “a whole different speech” from what he had originally planned.
The attack on Trump has led to widespread calls to reset the contentious political climate in the US, with both Trump and President Joe Biden urging Americans to set aside political divisions and come together ahead of November’s election.
However, Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher, reporting from Milwaukee, noted that Monday’s RNC schedule included many speeches that were “strident, very strong and, some would say, in places, they were angry.”
“There were a couple of speeches on the stage such as [that of] Ron Johnson, the Republican senator from right here in Wisconsin, who describes the Democrats as a clear and present danger,” Fisher reported.
“That’s the sort of language we were told that people would try and avoid.”
Johnson later told PBS Newshour that he had given the wrong speech after an earlier version of the text was loaded into the teleprompter.
Some prominent Republicans, including Vance, have accused Biden and the Democrats of inciting the attack through heated rhetoric casting Trump as an existential threat to democracy.
In his first television interview since the attempted assassination, Biden acknowledged that it was a mistake to tell donors that Trump should be put “in a bull’s-eye” but defended his portrayal of his Republican rival as a threat to democracy.
The Convention Crowd Chants “Fight! Fight! Fight!” As Trump Smiles And Waves
“Look, how do you talk about the threat to democracy, which is real, when a president says things like he says? Do you just not say anything because it may incite somebody?” Biden told NBC News.
While the impact of the attack on Trump’s campaign is not yet clear, some political analysts suggest it could strengthen his chances, especially as it occurred in a crucial swing state vital to Biden’s election hopes.
Trump is already leading Biden in most opinion polls, both nationwide and in battleground states such as Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan, all three of which flipped from Trump to Biden in 2020.
An average of polls collated by the 538 website shows Trump ahead by 2.2 percent nationally.
Trump’s lead has grown by 2 percentage points since Biden’s faltering debate performance last month, during which the 81-year-old Democrat stumbled over his words and lost his train of thought.
