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Two days after surviving an assassination attempt, former President Donald Trump appeared triumphantly wearing a bandage on his right ear on the opening night of the Republican National Convention, the latest compelling scene in a presidential campaign already marked by dramatic twists and turns.
Republican delegates cheered loudly when Trump appeared on a screen behind the stage and then emotionally charged into the arena as composer Lee Greenwood sang “God Bless the USA” just days after the convention formally nominated the former president to lead the Republican ticket against President Joe Biden in November.
Trump did not address the hall — his acceptance speech was scheduled for Thursday — but he quietly smiled and occasionally waved during Greenwood’s song. He eventually joined his newly announced running mate, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, to listen to the night’s remaining speeches, often with a subdued expression and muted reactions that are unusual for the unabashed showman.
The crowd showed affection
The rousing reception underscored the depth of the crowd’s affection for a man who won the nomination in 2016 as an outsider at odds with the party establishment but has now vanquished all Republican rivals, silenced most GOP critics and won loyalists at all levels of the party.
“We must be united as a party and we must be united as a nation,” Republican Party Chairman Michael Whatley, whom Trump has handpicked as party leader, said Monday as he opened the primetime national convention session. “We must show the same strength and resilience as President Trump and lead this nation to a better future.”
But Whatley and other Republican leaders made clear that their call for good faith does not extend to Biden and Democrats, who still worry that the 81-year-old question is not enough to defeat Trump.
Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson welcomed the party to his battleground state, saying “their policies pose a clear and present danger to America, our institutions, our values, and our people.” Trump won the state in 2016 but lost to Biden four years ago.
Slogans raised for Trump
The shooting at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, which left Trump wounded and one person dead, was clearly in the background, but the proceedings were celebratory — a stark contrast to the anger and anxiety that had pervaded the past few days. Some delegates chanted “fight, fight, fight” — the same words Trump was seen shouting to the crowd as the Secret Service escorted him off the stage, his fist raised and face covered in blood.
“We should all be grateful right now that after what happened on Saturday, we’re able to cast our votes for President Donald J. Trump,” New Jersey State Senator Michael Testa said in announcing all 12 of his state’s delegates for Trump.
When Trump cleared the required number of delegates, video screens in the arena flashed “Over the Top” while the song “Celebration” played and delegates danced and waved Trump signs. During the voting, delegates with “Make America Great Again” signs applauded as one state after another voiced their support for Trump’s second term.
Several speakers resorted to religious imagery to discuss Trump and the assassination attempt.
South Carolina Senator Tim Scott said, “The devil came to Pennsylvania with a rifle. But an American lion stood on his feet again!”
Rep. Sheryl Foland of Wyoming was among those who adopted the “Fight” slogan after seeing Trump come alive on Saturday in what she called a “monumental photo and video.”
“We knew then that we would make this our mantra,” said Folland, a child trauma mental health counselor. “Not just because we wanted him to fight, and God was fighting for him. We thought, isn’t it our job to take on that challenge and fight for our country?”
“This is bigger than Trump. This is a mantra for our country,” Folland said.
Trump’s legal concerns
Another well-timed development on Monday energized the mood at the convention: The federal judge hearing Trump’s classified documents case dismissed the prosecution because he had concerns about the appointment of the prosecutor who brought the case, handing the former president a major victory in court.
The convention is designed to reach out to people outside the Republican Party’s base
Trump’s campaign chiefs had designed the convention to deliver a softer and more optimistic message, focusing on themes that would help a divisive leader increase his appeal among liberal voters and people of color.
On a night devoted to the economy, delegates and a national TV audience heard speakers whom the Trump campaign introduced as “everyday Americans” — a single mother talking about inflation, a union member who identified herself as a lifelong Democrat now supporting Trump, a small business owner, among others.
Key speakers also included black Republicans, who have been at the forefront of the Trump campaign’s effort to win more votes from the core Democratic constituency.
U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt of Texas said rising grocery and energy prices are hurting Americans’ wallets and cited Ronald Reagan’s call for inflation to be “the cruelest tax on the poor.” Hunt argued that Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris don’t understand the problem.
“We can fix this disaster,” Hunt said, by electing Trump and “sending him back to where he belongs, the White House.”
Scott, perhaps the party’s best-known black lawmaker, declared: “America is not a racist country.”
There was celebration over Trump’s selection of JD Vance as his Vice Presidential candidate
Republicans called Vance’s selection a key step toward a winning coalition in November.
Trump announced his selection of his running mate Monday during a vote on the former president’s nomination. The young Ohio senator first gained national attention with his best-selling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” which recounted his Appalachian upbringing and was seen as a glimpse into the working-class parts of America that helped propel Trump.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who was being considered a possible vice presidential candidate, said in a post on X that Vance’s “small-town roots and service to country make him a powerful voice for the America First agenda.”
Yet, despite the calls for harmony, two of the opening speakers at Monday evening’s session — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson of North Carolina — have been known as among the party’s most inflammatory figures.
Robinson recently spoke during a church service in North Carolina about “evil” people he said were a threat to American Christianity. “Some people should be killed,” he said then, though he distanced himself from such rhetoric on the conference stage.
The campaign continues
Trump’s nomination came on the same day that Biden sat down for another national TV interview, in which the president attempted to demonstrate his ability to serve for another four years despite ongoing concerns within his party.
Biden told ABC News he recently made a mistake when he told Democratic donors the party should stop questioning his qualifications for office and instead “take aim” at Trump. Republicans have aggressively circulated the comment since Saturday’s assassination attempt, with some openly blaming Biden for the attack on Trump’s life.
The president’s admission is in keeping with his appeal from the Oval Office on Sunday to all Americans to tone down political rhetoric. But Biden said on Monday that comparisons with Trump, who uses harsh and accusatory language, are a legitimate part of the presidential race.
Republicans on the field in Milwaukee did not ease their attacks on Biden, at one point playing a video that mocked the president’s physical stamina and mental acuity.
He frequently referred to the “Biden-Harris administration” and regularly took digs at Vice President Kamala Harris — a clear nod to the notion that Biden might step back in favor of his second-in-command.
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