politics
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Donald Trumpserious and bandaged, accepted the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday to the Republican National Convention in a speech describing how he felt during an assassination attempt that might have ended his life.
“I wasn't supposed to be here tonight,” Trump said within the packed hall of Congress as 1000’s of individuals listened in silence. “There was blood everywhere, and yet in some ways I felt very safe because I had God on my side.”
The 78-year-old former president, best known for his boastful and aggressive rhetoric, delivered a softer and deeply personal message that spoke on to his brush with death. He asked for a moment of silence for Corey Comperatore, the retired fire chief who was killed on the rally.
“The discord and division in our society must be healed. We just need to heal it fast. As Americans, we are bound together by a single fate and a common destiny. We rise together. Or we fall apart,” Trump said, wearing, as he has done all week, a big white Band-Aid on his right ear to cover a wound he sustained in an attack. the shooting on Saturday“I'm running for president for all of America, not for half of America, because winning for half of America is not a victory.”
Trump's speech marks the culmination and conclusion of a four-day major Republican pep rally that drew 1000’s of conservative activists and elected officials to the swing state of Wisconsin as voters weigh an election that’s currently two deeply unpopular candidatesSensing a political opportunity after his near-death experience, the usually bombastic Republican leader has struck a brand new tone that he hopes will add much more momentum to an election campaign that appears to be turning in his favor.
However, with lower than 4 months remaining until the top of the competition, major changes to the race are possible, if not going.
Trump's appearance comes as The 81-year-old Democrat Biden is clinging to his party's nomination despite relentless pressure from key allies in Congress, donors and even former President Barack Obama, who fears he may not seek re-election after his disastrous debate.
Biden, who has long been urged by his allies to campaign more vigorously, is as an alternative in isolation at his beach house in Delaware after diagnosed with COVID-19.
While Trump struck a softer tone than usual on Thursday night, the packed program on the convention's final day was also designed to reveal strength and implicitly rebuke Biden, and was decidedly more masculine than it had been for much of the week.
Ultimate Fighting Championship President Dana White called Trump “a real American bad ass.” Kid Rock sang a song with the chorus “Fight, Fight!” And wrestling icon Hulk Hogan called the previous president “an American hero.”
Hogan received a standing ovation when he stood on the foremost stage and ripped off his shirt, revealing a red Trump-Vance shirt with the words “Make America Great Again” printed on it.
“As an entertainer, I try to stay out of politics,” Hogan said, breaking character briefly. “I can't stay silent any longer.”
Like many other speakers through the convention, Carlson said recent events were inspired by God and he wondered “if there is something bigger going on.”
“I think it changed him,” Carlson said of the shooting, praising Trump for not erupting in anger afterward.
“He has done his best to unite the country,” Carlson added. “It is the most responsible and unifying behavior of a head of state that I have ever seen.”
Former First Lady Melania Trump and Ivanka Trump, the president's eldest daughter and former senior adviser, met within the hall of Congress before Trump's speech. It was their first appearance there. But neither woman spoke.
While the Republicans will emerge from their convention more united than ever before, the Democrats bitterly divided about whether Biden should proceed to steer the list. Biden follows his disastrous debate performance Democrats who ran against Trump last month have resisted growing pressure to drop out, though their very own party convention is scheduled for next month in Chicago.
Hours before the balloon rain on Trump and his family was scheduled to happen within the congressional hall, Biden's deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks appeared nearby in Milwaukee and repeatedly reiterated that Biden wouldn’t resign.
“I don't want to be rude, but I don't know how many more times I can answer that,” Fulks told reporters. “There are no plans to replace Biden on the ballot.”
Nearly two-thirds of Democrats across the country say Biden should step down and let his party nominate one other candidate, based on an AP-NORC Poll published on Wednesday.
The convention showcased a Republican Party reshaped by Trump since he shocked the GOP establishment and won over the party base on his method to the party's nomination in 2016. Trump's defeated rivals – including Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis – put aside their earlier criticism and gave him their full support.
Even his running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, chosen by Trump to hold his movement into the following generation, was once a harsh critic, suggesting in a now-public private message that Trump might be “America’s Hitler.”
After Trump's near assassination, security was a top priority in Milwaukee. But after nearly 4 days, there have been no serious incidents within the congressional hall or in the big security perimeter surrounding it.
The Secret Service, supported by lots of of law enforcement officers from across the country, had a robust and visual presence. And at Trump's appearances every night, he was surrounded by a wall of security officers, irrespective of where he went.
Meanwhile, Trump and his campaign team non-released information about his injury or the treatment he received.
“The assassin's bullet came within a quarter of an inch of taking my life,” Trump said. “Despite this heinous attack, we stand together tonight more resolute than ever.”
image credit : www.boston.com