Trump set to accept Republican nomination in 1st public speech since attempt on his life

Donald Trump is set to accept his party’s nomination for president in his first public remarks since the attempt on his life. Trump will wrap up a convention week featuring a united Republican Party that’s spent days reminding voters about Trump’s vision for America. It comes as Democrats are facing an array of questions about the top of their ticket. Lisa Desjardins reports.

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Geoff Bennett: It is the final night of the Republican National Convention here in Milwaukee. Donald Trump is set to accept his party’s nomination for president, marking his first public speech since the attempt on his life this past weekend.

Amna Nawaz: That speech will wrap up a week messaging a united Republican Party, one that spent days reminding voters about Trump’s strengths and the party’s vision for America.

Meanwhile, Democrats are facing an array of questions about the top of their ticket.

Lisa Desjardins has been following it all — Lisa.

Lisa Desjardins: That’s right.

Tonight is the big night here, of course, at the convention, but it follows the other marquee night of the week, where the vice presidential nominee, J.D. Vance, came out. And throughout the night, we saw rhetoric that swung between talk of strengths to talk of sensitivity to some sharp words.

Overall, where we are today is a Republican Party trying to build momentum for their new presidential ticket.

This morning, a newly minted nominee.

Man: The next vice president of the United States, Senator J.D. Vance.

Lisa Desjardins: V.P. candidate and U.S. Senator J.D. Vance, fresh off his address to the Republican National Convention, made his first stop to a key Trump voter group, Christian conservatives, speaking at a Faith and Freedom Coalition breakfast.

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), Vice Presidential Candidate: There are all of these small little miracles. And if you look for them, you actually see them.

Lisa Desjardins: The night before, Vance brandished his working-class roots.

Sen. J.D. Vance: America’s ruling class wrote the checks. Communities like mine paid the price.

Lisa Desjardins: And told stories of growing up poor in Ohio raised by his grandmother, Mamaw.

Sen. J.D. Vance: Now, my Mamaw died shortly before I left for Iraq in 2005. And when we went through her things, we found 19 loaded handguns. They were…

(Laughter)

Sen. J.D. Vance: And we wondered what was going on. And it occurred to us that, towards the end of her life, Mamaw couldn’t get around so well.

And so this frail old woman made sure that, no matter where she was, she was within arm’s length of whatever she needed to protect her family.

(Cheering)

(Applause)

Sen. J.D. Vance: That’s who we fight for. That’s American spirit.

(Cheering)

Lisa Desjardins: An introduction from his wife, Usha Vance, emphasized their unique story.

Usha Vance, Wife of J.D. Vance: It’s safe to say that neither J. D. nor I expected to find ourselves in this position, but it’s hard to imagine a more powerful example of the American dream.

Lisa Desjardins: The Vance rollout capped a day of sharply contrasting tones on the convention floor. A 98-year-old World War II veteran brought tears to delegates’ eyes appealing to shared love of country.

Sgt. William Pekrul (RET.), World War II Veteran: America is an idea, but I believe America is much more than that. America — America is our home.

Lisa Desjardins: But minutes later, from Donald Trump Jr., a dark message of fear.

Donald Trump Jr., Son of Donald Trump: All hell has broken loose in America, and it’s impossible to hide anymore.

Lisa Desjardins: There were other emotional waves, including an American family whose son was taken hostage after the Hamas attack in Israel.

Orna Neutra, Mother of Israeli-American Hostage Omer Neutra-Orna: Imagine, over nine months not knowing whether your son is alive, waking up every morning praying that he too is still waking up every morning.

Lisa Desjardins: But the crowd may have been most transfixed by a heartbreaking segment with Gold Star families of service members killed in the Afghanistan withdrawal, highly critical of President Biden.

Alicia Lopez, Gold Star Mother: Now we have another son serving in the Army.

(Cheering)

(Applause)

Alicia Lopez: And we do not trust Joe Biden with his life.

Lisa Desjardins: They read and the convention floor repeated the names of the 13 military personnel killed.

Some lifted up. Others threw punches.

Peter Navarro, Director, White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy: Yes indeed, this morning I did walk out of a federal prison in Miami.

(Applause)

Lisa Desjardins: Former Trump administration adviser Peter Navarro served four months over refusing to testify in front of the January 6 congressional committee. He blamed the justice system, but he also raised the temperature against undocumented immigrants, calling them:

Peter Navarro: A whole army of illiterate illegal aliens stealing the jobs of black, brown and blue-collar Americans. They put them right on your front doorstep.

Lisa Desjardins: Migrant flow at the southern border has decreased in recent months. While it remains historically high, PolitiFact and others have debunked the idea that there is any kind of invasion, as well as the idea that there’s a resulting job shortage.

At the convention, members of Trump’s family tried to show his softer side. Donald Trump Jr. turned the mic over to his teenage daughter, Kai, before starting his speech. Trump smiled as his eldest granddaughter told the crowd about her — quote — “normal grandpa.”

Kai Trump, Granddaughter of Donald Trump: A lot of people have put my grandpa through hell, and he’s still standing.

Lisa Desjardins: Yesterday, Trump made his first known comments about the shooting to a private crowd, chanting:

Audience: Fight, fight, fight!

Lisa Desjardins: In video obtained by PBS News, he credited his close call this weekend to divine intervention.

Donald Trump, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: Honestly, I think you appreciate God even more. I really do, because something — something happened.

Lisa Desjardins: But he also talked to political shop about recent poll gains, indicating he wants President Biden as his opponent.

Donald Trump: But the polls, the worst polls are very good. So we don’t want them to be too good, because, if they’re too good, maybe this guy doesn’t run. We want him to run. And I say that, but I’m also willing to take on second and third and fourth.

Lisa Desjardins: And as Trump prepares to take stage tonight, President Biden is off the campaign trail at home in Rehoboth recuperating from his COVID diagnosis.

And back here on the convention floor, the signs show the difference in some of the messaging from yesterday. This one, “Make America Strong Again,” may be part of the unity proposal, but then look at this one that was all over the floor last night, “Mass Deportation Now,” obviously something that some see as vitriolic, very different, sharp, sometimes soft tones we saw on the floor yesterday — Amna, Geoff.

Amna Nawaz: Lisa, you mentioned we heard from Senator Vance speaking a lot about his biography last night. But what do we know about his stances on the issues that matter here?

Lisa Desjardins: That’s right. It’s important.

Let’s take a look at where Senator Vance is on the issues exactly. Obviously, he does not have a long political career, but here’s what we know, especially since he ran for the Senate.

First, on the border, Senator Vance, as with the sign I held up, would launch large-scale deportations on Ukraine. He strongly says he would end U.S. funding for that war. Let’s talk about the 2020 election. He has said that he believes it was stolen. How about January 6?

He has said that he would not have done what Vice President Pence did on that day, and instead he would have blocked the Biden certifications of some slates of electors and added more slates of electors, sending the contest to Congress itself.

Now, let’s talk about abortion. This is something that I want to get into a little more detail on. There’s some positions here that sometimes he’s gone a little back and forth in. But, overall, most recently, we know that Senator Vance would be — would support a national 15-week ban.

He has said that reasonable exceptions should be allowed for that, including the life of the mother. But it’s not exactly clear where he stands on exceptions for rape and incest. He’s sometimes casts doubt on that concept, saying true rights don’t make a wrong when talking about an abortion exception for rape.

And then, finally, he would ban the mailing of abortion pills. This is an area where some conservatives love him. This is a place that wants abortion restrictions in general at the Republican Convention, but this is something that Democrats think could help them in swing areas, especially in the suburbs, where they may not want as tough abortion restrictions as Senator Vance does.

Geoff Bennett: And, Lisa, as we mentioned, Donald Trump is set to accept his party’s nomination tonight.

What should we expect to hear from him tonight?

Lisa Desjardins: Well, we know a lot about how Senator — how the former president speaks on this stump. He can often go off-script.

We understand that maybe he’s going to speak for about an hour, I’m told from sources. Now, that may or may not include Applause lines. I’m also told that he has been revising his script up until today, and that it could go longer or shorter. Some around him think that it would be better for him to go shorter.

This is really the prime-time address and maybe one of the key moments of the campaign. What he says tonight will probably define him and also define the ads that Democrats use against him.

Amna Nawaz: A lot of people here are eager to get their message out, like that gentleman who came behind you to show off his T-shirt. He’s now gone.

But, Lisa, you have been looking at what Republicans have been saying on the stage here, the messages being conveyed. What about the topics that we’re not hearing about? What should we know about those?

Lisa Desjardins: Amna and Geoff, I think it’s notable that we haven’t heard that much about abortion in this Republican Convention. That is unique. That is usually a central core, unifying theme.

Of course, this is in the days after the Dobbs decision, after Roe v. Wade was overturned, which was the goal of many here. But when you talk to delegates here, as a group, they still want a national ban. That’s something that former President Trump has said he doesn’t think is a good idea.

So there is divide in the party here, and they know that it’s a difficult political issue for them as well. It’s something I have heard the least about, and I have certainly never heard less about it at any Republican Convention than this one.

Geoff Bennett: And, Lisa, let’s talk about the Democrats for a moment, because, as we speak, President Biden is facing growing pressure from top Democrats now to exit the race over concerns about the party’s fate come November.

Walk us through the latest news.

Lisa Desjardins: I can report that, in the past few days, in the past week, Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer told President Biden of concerns by other senators that he cannot win and that it could help Democrats in deeper ways.

Now, Schumer’s office has said very clearly no one knows about the conversation, no one can say exactly what Schumer thinks, except Schumer himself. But I can tell you with confidence that he did express the concerns of the Democratic conference.

As Laura has been reporting, our Laura Barron-Lopez, these days right now are very critical, and I will tell you, this convention’s watching right now. They don’t mind the sense of chaos in the Democratic Party as they put in their two new nominees for 2024.

Geoff Bennett: All right, that is Lisa Desjardins.

Lisa, thanks so much.