Trump arrives at the Republican Party convention to a frenzy after narrowly surviving an assassination attempt.
Donald Trump received a hero’s welcome at the Republican Party Convention, the former president’s first public appearance since narrowly surviving an assassination attempt.
Trump was greeted with great enthusiasm at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Monday, two days after he was shot in the ear by a potential assassin during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Republican delegates stood and cheered as Trump, a thick bandage over his right ear, entered the stadium to the sound of country music star Lee Greenwood singing “God Bless the USA.”
Trump, who appeared visibly moved, did not give a speech at the convention but smiled and waved to the crowd as supporters chanted “Fight! Fight! Fight” and pumped their fists — a reference to the former president’s defiant response in the moments after he was shot.
After surveying the crowd, Trump took a seat in a VIP box with several of his children and his recently announced running mate for vice president, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio.
Several speakers addressed Saturday’s attack on Trump, who credited God with saving his life, some using religious imagery.
“Our God still saves, He still delivers, and He still delivers,” South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott told the crowd.
“For on Saturday the devil came to Pennsylvania with a gun in his hand – but an American lion arose and roared.”
Other speakers focused on the economy, the official theme of the evening, including Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who said Trump would restore a “booming economy that lifts all Americans.”
Trump, who scored a major legal victory hours before his appearance when a Florida judge dismissed one of three pending criminal cases against him, is expected to formally accept the Republican nomination on Thursday, setting up a rematch of the 2020 battle against Democratic President Joe Biden in November.
Trump has indicated that unity will be a major theme during the four-day event. In a newspaper interview on Sunday, he said he would deliver a “very different speech” than the one he had originally planned.
The attack on Trump has led to widespread calls to rethink the hostile policies in the US. Both Trump and Biden are calling on Americans to put aside political divisions and come together.
However, Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher, reporting from Milwaukee, said Monday’s RNC program contained many messages that were “strident, very powerful and, some would say, in places angry.”
“There were a few speeches on stage, such as [that of] Ron Johnson, the Republican senator from Wisconsin, describes the Democrats as a clear and present danger,” Fisher said.
“That’s the kind of language we were told people would try to avoid.”
Johnson later told PBS Newshour that he had delivered the wrong speech after an earlier version of the text was loaded into the teleprompter.
Some leading Republicans, including Vance, accuse Biden and Democrats of inspiring the attack with fiery rhetoric portraying Trump as an existential threat to democracy.
In his first television interview since the attempted assassination, Biden said Monday it had been a mistake to tell donors to put Trump “in the crosshairs,” but defended his portrayal of his Republican rival as a threat to democracy.
“Look, how do you talk about the threat to democracy, which is real, when a president says the things he says? Do you just say nothing because it might incite someone?” Biden told NBC News.
While the impact of the attack on Trump on the race is not yet clear, some political analysts have suggested it will boost his chances of winning, especially since it came in a key swing state considered critical to Biden’s election chances.
Trump is already ahead of Biden in most opinion polls, both nationwide and in key states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.
An average of polls from the website 538 shows Trump with a 2.2 percent lead nationally.
Trump’s lead has increased by 2 percentage points since Biden’s weak performance at last month’s debate, with the 81-year-old Democrat stumbling over his words and losing his train of thought.