MILWAUKEE — The 45th president of the United States took the stage on Thursday at the Republican National Convention to accept his party's nomination to become the 47th — just days after surviving an assassination attempt in a Pennsylvania field.
“Tonight through faith and devotion I proudly accept your nomination for president of the United States,” former President Donald Trump said to cheers from the crowd in the Fiserv Forum.
He described to the crowd what he experienced in those moments in Butler, Pa.
“I felt very safe because I had God on my side,” he told the crowd, who interrupted his speech with “Fight! Fight!”
A bandage over his right ear served as reminder of how different this celebration of Trump might have been.
“I'm not supposed to be here tonight,” he said. “I'm not supposed to be here.”
“Yes, you are! Yes, you are!” the crowd responded.
“I said to myself, ‘Wow, what was that? It can only be a bullet,’ and moved my right hand to my ear, brought it down,” Trump said. “My hand was covered with blood ... and immediately knew it was very serious and we were under attack.”
He described looking into the direction of charts containing border crossing numbers.
“If I had not moved my head at that very last instant, the assassin's bullet would have hit its mark, and I would not be here tonight,” the former president said. “We would not be together.”
At one point during his speech that same chart was displayed on a screen behind him.
“The last time I put up that chart, I never got to look at it,” he said. “But without that chart, I would not be here today.”
Over four days on the shore of Lake Michigan, Republicans have again sought to define a man that speaker after speaker contended has been maligned by “lies” about his character and unfairly persecuted by a “weaponized” justice system that has made him the first convicted felon to garner a major party's presidential nomination.
“The only crime President Trump has committed is loving America,” said Alina Habba, one of his criminal defense lawyers.
Trump responded to allegations that he represents a threat to democracy.
“That is not true,” he said. “I am the one saving democracy for the people of our country.”
Perhaps because of his close call on Saturday, convention-goers and Americans at home heard a softer tone from the former president than many in his base — and even his harshest critics — have come to expect from him.
At the convention, Trump's been portrayed as a loving father, grandfather, and friend and a sympathetic ear to families of fallen soldiers and the residents of East Palestine, Ohio, following last year's dangerous chemical train derailment.
An angry social media post, his family said, is simply the price to be paid in exchange for Trump policies that, as each night's themes contend, will make American wealthy, safe, strong, and great once again.
At one point, he turned to Ohio's U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, his running mate.
“J.D., you're going to be doing this for a long time,” he said. “Enjoy the ride.”
Trump is seeking to become just the second former president in the nation's history to return from defeat to reclaim the White House — after Grover Cleveland in 1892. Trump would be the first Republican to do so.
He painted a picture of what he said is a nation in decline under the Biden Administration, vowing to end inflation, bring down interest rates, unleash energy production, lower taxes, end taxes on tips, lower debt, resume construction of a border wall, launch a massive deportation operation, protect Social Security and Medicare, and end Biden green energy policies.
“America is on the cusp of a new golden age,” Trump said. “We are going to have the courage to seize it.”
He vowed to impose tariffs on foreign vehicle imports and to bring back auto industry jobs lost to other countries and to build an “iron dome” to protect the country.
“Less than four years ago we were a great nation, and we will soon be a great nation again,” Trump said.
Conservative political commentator Tucker Carlson, a Trump ally, said the former president rose from the sniper attack a different man, one who chose not to inflame an already incendiary situation with divisive political rhetoric.
“Everything was different after that moment ...,” he said. “When he stood up after being shot in the face, bloodied, he put his hand up. ... That was a transformation. ... He was no longer just a political party nominee, a former president, or future president. This was a leader of a nation.”
Gina Campbell, a state central executive committee member from Findlay, watched as Mr. Trump accepted the nomination at her first convention as a voting delegate.
“I don't care whether you like Trump or not or his rhetoric or not, he's doing what's best for the country,” she said. “We've all got to back him and stand by him. We all want the same things. We all want freedom, and it seems like there's only one party standing up for that right now.”
Trump spoke as Democratic President Biden has been sidelined from the campaign trail after being diagnosed with another mild case of coronavirus. The incumbent has come under increasing pressure from within the body to step aside in favor of Vice President Kamala Harris or another younger candidate in the wake of his dismal performance at the first presidential debate weeks ago.
The convention was choreographed to present a unified face to the nation and one after another of former Trump detractors — including Mr. Vance — lined up to enthusiastically back his election.
At the same time it has put forward the faces of what the party contends is the next generation of Republicans ready to pick up the MAGA torch after four more years of Trump.
“The attacker in Pennsylvania wanted to stop our movement,” Trump said. “But the truth is the movement was never about me. It was always about you.”
With the celebration in Wisconsin and the doubts within the Democratic ranks, delegates are heading home with a sense of momentum.
”Simply put, we will very quickly make American great again,” Trump said.
The GOP ticket will rally together for the first time as a running mates on Saturday in Grand Rapids, Mich. Mr. Vance will then hold his first solo rally in his southwest Ohio hometown of Middletown.
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