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WATCH: Former President Donald Trump accepts the Republican nomination:
Donald Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention on Thursday, looking grim and covered in bandages, during a speech in which he described how he felt about the assassination attempt that could have ended his life.
“I shouldn’t be here tonight,” Trump said in a packed convention hall as thousands listened in silence. “There’s blood everywhere, but in a way, I feel very safe because I have God on my side.”
The 78-year-old former president, known for his bombastic and aggressive rhetoric, delivered a more modest and very personal message this time, stemming directly from his brush with death. He asked for a minute’s silence for retired fire chief Corey Comperatore, who was killed at the rally.
“The discord and division in our society must be healed. We can only heal it sooner rather than later. As Americans, we are bound together by a common destiny and a common fate. We will either rise together or we will fall apart,” said Trump, who had a large white bandage wrapped around his right ear, as he had for a full week, to cover the wound he sustained in Saturday’s shooting. “I ran for president for all of America, not half of America, because a victory over half of America is not a victory.”
Trump’s speech marked the culmination and end of a massive four-day Republican pep rally that brought together thousands of conservative activists and elected officials in the swing state of Wisconsin as voters weighed the election between two deeply unpopular candidates. Sensing a political opportunity after his near-death experience, the often bombastic Republican leader adopted a new tone that he hopes will help generate more momentum in an election that appears to be in his favor.
But with less than four months until the election, there is a real, if small, chance that the campaign dynamics could change dramatically.
Trump’s appearance comes as Biden, an 81-year-old Democrat, faces relentless pressure to hold on to his party’s nomination from key allies in Congress, donors and even former President Barack Obama amid concerns that Biden might not win reelection after his disastrous debates.
Allies have long urged Biden to campaign more aggressively, but he has instead been self-isolating at his Delaware beachfront home after being diagnosed with Covid.
“A Real American Badass”
While Trump struck a softer tone than usual Thursday night, the packed speaking program on the convention’s final day was also designed to project strength while implicitly condemning Biden, and Trump’s speech was noticeably more macho than much of the week.
Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White called Trump “the real American villain.” Kid Rock sang a song with the refrain “Fight, fight!” and wrestling icon Hulk Hogan described the former president as an “American hero.”
There was a huge reaction when Hogan stood on the main stage and ripped off his shirt to reveal a red Trump-Vance “Make America Great Again” shirt.
“As an entertainer, I try to stay out of politics,” Hogan said before briefly breaking character. “I can’t stay silent anymore.”
Like many speakers during the convention, former Fox host Tucker Carlson said recent events were divinely inspired and he wondered “if there was something bigger going on.”
“I think it changed him,” Carlson said of the shooting, praising Trump for not venting in anger afterward.
“He did his best to bring the country together,” Carlson added. “It was the most responsible and unifying behavior I’ve ever seen from a leader.”
Former first lady Melania Trump and Ivanka Trump, the president’s eldest daughter and former senior adviser, arrived before Trump’s speech, marking their first appearance at the event. Neither woman spoke.
Meanwhile, divisions emerged within the Democratic Party
While the Republican convention will leave the party more united than in recent years, the party is deeply divided over whether Biden should continue to lead the general election. Biden performed poorly in last month’s debate with Trump but has resisted growing pressure to withdraw from the Democratic convention scheduled for next month in Chicago.
Hours before the balloons were expected to be dropped on Trump and his family inside the convention hall, Biden deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks appeared around Milwaukee and repeatedly insisted Biden would not step down.
“I don’t want to be rude, but I don’t know how many more times I can answer that question,” Fulks told reporters. “There is no plan to replace Biden in the election at this time.”
Nearly two-thirds of Democrats nationwide say Biden should step down and let his party nominate another candidate, according to an AP-NORC poll released Wednesday.
The convention showcased the reshaping of the party under Trump since he stunned the party establishment and won over the party’s grassroots en route to the 2016 GOP nomination. Trump’s defeated rivals — including Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — put aside past criticisms and gave him unconditional endorsements.
Even Trump’s pick for vice president, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, whom Trump chose to carry his movement into the next generation, was once a fierce critic, suggesting in private messages that Trump might be “America’s Hitler,” something he later said publicly.
Security in Milwaukee has been a focus in the wake of a near-assassination attempt on Trump, but after nearly four days, there have been no serious incidents in the convention hall or within the large security perimeter surrounding it.
The Secret Service, backed by hundreds of law enforcement officers from across the country, has a large and visible presence, and Trump has a wall of agents surrounding him wherever he goes during his nightly appearances.
Meanwhile, Trump and his campaign have not released information about his injuries or the treatment he received.
“The assassin’s bullet came within a quarter of an inch of me and nearly took my life,” Trump said. “Despite the brutality of this attack, our unity tonight is stronger than ever.”
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