By MILWAUKEE — Donald Trump accepted his third straight Republican nomination on Thursday by wrapping a fresh gesture toward unity around the same dark view of American decline and loathing for his political opponents and immigrants that have defined his nine-year political career and transformed the GOP.
The former president dramatically recounted the experience of narrowly missing a would-be assassin’s bullet five days ago, and he opened and concluded with calls for Americans to set aside the rancorous partisan divisions he has played no small role in stoking.
In between, he rehearsed his usual themes of framing this election in catastrophic terms, characterizing the current state of affairs with doom and destruction. Trump also used the banner of unity to return to form in assailing the criminal cases against him, saying the prosecutors should drop the charges and Democrats should stop calling him a threat to democracy.
He invited Democrats, independents and minorities to join his cause, positioning the entire citizenry as shared victims of failed leadership and foreigners. He returned to his refrain of vilifying undocumented immigrants as dangerous, describing them without evidence as criminals and mentally ill. Within half an hour, the speech started resembling a typical rally, with ad-libbed shout-outs to VIPs and railing against subpoenas and former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
Pointedly, he named President Biden only once — reflecting the uncertainty surrounding who his opponent will be, as sagging polls and fundraising concerns lead Democrats to escalate pressure on Biden to step aside.
Aides and advisers said beforehand that Trump’s speech would showcase a newly heartfelt, personal and conciliatory tone, using the opportunity to reintroduce himself and redefine the race for a prime-time audience of millions. The former president said he tore up an earlier draft by campaign policy adviser Vince Haley and former White House adviser Stephen Miller to reflect a new message after the assassination attempt.
Investigators have not identified a moment or indicated they have found any evidence of a political or ideological motive to the shooting, which was carried out by a registered Republican and killed one rallygoer and injured two others.
Trump wrote much of the speech on his own, dictating his thoughts to speechwriters, advisers said. Still, he improvised significantly during the delivery. He added a reference to his false insistence that the 2020 election was stolen, a subject advisers have tried to limit and that was not in his scripted remarks.
Trump dramatically recounted his experience of the assassination attempt at the start of his speech, saying he would tell the story this one time only because it was “too painful to tell.”
“There was blood pouring everywhere, and yet in a certain way I felt very safe because I had God on my side,” Trump said. “I’m not supposed to be here tonight,” he added, prompting chants of “Yes you are!” Trump responded, “Thank you, but I’m not.”
Trump interrupted his speech to walk over and kiss the firefighter’s uniform and helmet of Corey Comperatore, the rallygoer who was killed while covering his family to protect them from the gunshots. He asked for a moment of silence.
Trump said he raised his fist to signal to the crowd that he was okay, prompting his supporters in the arena to chant the word they already knew he’d used: “Fight!” That chant, along with the image of Trump with his fist raised and blood on his face, became the signature icons of this convention. The images surrounded Trump as he spoke, and the “Fight” refrain made it into an adaptation of “American Bad Ass” performed by Kid Rock shortly before Trump took the stage.
Introductory speeches from Tucker Carlson, Trump’s son Eric and entertainer Hulk Hogan echoed the dark and divisive messages of many Trump events. Carlson said the assassination attempt transformed Trump from a nominee or future president into “the leader of a nation.” Hogan called the cheering crowd “real Americans” who would adopt the nickname “Trumpites” and would be “running wild for four years” when Trump is president again.
Eric Trump responded to concerns about Trump’s authoritarian instincts by countering, “He is not a threat to democracy, he is a threat to those who despise our republic, many whom are bought and sold, bribed and coerced people who have never signed the front of a check and who have been dependent on the government their entire adult lives.”
The roaring arena here had the feel of an Ultimate Fighting Championship match for much of the night, including Trump’s introduction by UFC president Dana White. The speech capped a week-long showcase of his fully transformed and consolidated Republican Party, culminating a stunning comeback for a former president who left the White House a twice-impeached pariah who tried to overturn his election defeat and was widely blamed for weighing down his party during the disappointing 2022 midterms.
The convention also studiously de-emphasized themes of Trump’s other speeches, such as defending his supporters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021; Trump’s role in reversing Roe vs. Wade; his criminal felony convictions in New York; and the repeated false claims of election fraud that have dominated Trump’s stump speeches but have remained scarce in Milwaukee this week.
Democrats were also quick to move past their détente in the immediate aftermath of the assassination attempt. The Biden campaign resumed airing attack ads, running mobile billboards around Milwaukee and holding daily news conferences responding to messaging at the Republican National Convention.
“Nothing says uniting like leading ‘fight’ chants from the main stage,” Biden campaign spokesman Quentin Fulks said Thursday morning. “That sure doesn’t seem like a party that’s unifying the country to me.”
Trump spoke wearing a white bandage over his injured right ear, which inspired some delegates in the arena to wear paper ear flaps in a show of solidarity.
Trump spent the week staying in his hotel suite, meeting with some donors, former British prime minister Boris Johnson and supporters; and attending parts of each evening’s programming. His expression as he entered the arena on Monday showed visible sensitivity to the crowd’s ovation, in contrast to his typical trademark scowl or grin.
A few hours before the speech on Thursday, Trump visited the Florida delegation, telling them his running mate Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) was a “superstar” and important to his future, according to people present, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment. He also said that during the debate, he was repeatedly surprised because he could not understand what Biden was saying, they said.
Advisers said Trump has been pleased with the week’s speeches, particularly praise from former rivals such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley. Trump decided to invite Haley last weekend after initially planning to exclude her.
The prime-time programming emphasized spotlighting “everyday Americans” with personal experiences to illustrate the nightly themes, coming at the expense of speaking slots for elected officials and party leaders. The speeches were consistent to the point of becoming repetitive, with no memorable performances that energized the audiences or elevated rising stars the way that Democrat Barack Obama did in 2004 or Republican Sarah Palin did in 2008.
That may have been as much by design as accident, keeping Trump as the singular focus of the speakers’ and the delegates’ adulation and building suspense for his grand finale.
The convention also served to showcase Trump’s transformation of the party, in policy and personality. His campaign rewrote the platform to shift from free trade to tariffs and from supporting a constitutional amendment banning abortion to letting states set their own rules, including total abortion bans. The nightly show has included a supercut of Trump dancing to “YMCA” and a hip-hop parody track titled “Trump Trump Baby.”
“The convention this far has been executed pretty flawlessly, from the message discipline to the visuals,” Trump senior adviser Chris LaCivita said at an event Thursday hosted by Politico.
Trump’s wife, Melania, attended Thursday night, after early plans showed she would not be at the convention. She has been largely absent from the campaign trail since the launch in November 2022. Trump advisers wanted Melania Trump to speak at the convention but she wasn’t interested, advisers said.
Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, and her husband, Jared Kushner, who served in his administration but have not been involved in the current campaign also attended Thursday.