Former President Donald Trump accepted the Republican nomination for president on Thursday night, striking a softer tone than in the past following a near-death experience five days ago when he narrowly escaped an assassin's bullet at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Trump took the stage at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee in a theatrical style, in front of a massive array of large light bulbs bearing the name “Trump.”
“I stand before you tonight with a message of confidence, strength and hope. Four months from now, we will have an incredible victory, and we will begin the greatest four years in the history of our country,” he said. “The divisions and discord in our society must be addressed, and they must be addressed quickly. As Americans, we are bound together by a common destiny and a shared fate. We either rise together, or we fall. I am running to be a president for all of America, not half of America, because there is no victory in winning for half of America.”
Trump told the crowd he would give them a detailed account of his horrific experience Saturday amid the shooting.
“I felt safe in a way, because God was on my side. I really felt it,” Trump said. When he told the crowd, “I shouldn’t be here tonight,” the crowd responded, “Yes, you are.” Later, the chant turned to, “We want Trump.”
Trump described surviving the shooting as a “divine experience,” evoking feelings of divine intervention that many others have felt since the July 13 incident.
“I stand here before you in this arena by the grace of God,” Trump said. As he explained his experience, chants of “killer, killer, killer” interrupted his remarks — a reference to the word Trump shouted with his raised fist as Secret Service officers rushed him off the stage amid the chaos.
Trump, known for his aggressive campaigning, has largely refrained from denigrating President Joe Biden and other Democratic opponents. He said the nation is currently suffering from “totally incompetent leadership” and referred to “crazy Nancy Pelosi” in an attack on the former Democratic House speaker. “The damage he has done to this country is unimaginable,” he said, vowing to mention Biden’s name only once during the speech.
“This election must address the issues facing our country and how we can make America successful, safe, free and great again,” Trump said. “In an age when our politics often divide us, now is a time to remember that we are all citizens.”
More than 30 minutes into his speech, Trump returned to his usual turf of silly boasts about his record and cheap attacks on his rivals. He asserted that if he were president, he would have avoided the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza. He also took some digs at the mainstream media, including insulting CBS News’s venerable Sunday public affairs program “Face the Nation” by calling it a “smear of the nation.”
“I will end every international crisis created by this administration, including the terrible war with Russia and Ukraine, which would never have happened if I were president, and the war caused by the attack on Israel, which would never have happened if I were president,” Trump said.
However, compared to previous political speeches, Trump was in a more gentle mode, pledging to be a president “for all of America,” in a nod to the bitter partisan rancor that has enveloped the country.
“I am here tonight to present a vision for the entire nation, to every citizen, whether you are young or old or woman, Democrat or Republican or independent, black or white, Asian or Latino, I extend to you the hand of loyalty and friendship,” Trump said. “Together, we will lead America to new heights of greatness the world has never seen before.
“With the right leadership, every disaster we have now will be fixed, and it will be fixed very quickly,” Trump said. “So tonight, whether you supported me in the past or not, I hope you will support me in the future, because I will restore the American dream.”
More is coming
