MILWAUKEE (AP) — Donald Trump takes the stage Thursday at the Republican National Convention to accept his party’s nomination again and give his first speech since he was cut off mid-sentence by a flurry of gunfire in an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania.
Trump’s wife, Melania, is expected to make her first appearance at the convention for the address, which will conclude the four-day convention in Milwaukee. Trump appeared each of the first three days with a white bandage on his ear, covering a wound he sustained in the Saturday shooting.
His moment of survival has shaped the week, even as convention organizers insisted they would continue with their program as planned less than 48 hours after the shooting. Speakers and delegates have repeatedly chanted “Fight, fight, fight!” in homage to Trump’s words as he got to his feet and pumped his fist after Secret Service agents killed the gunman. And some of his supporters have started sporting their own makeshift bandages on the convention floor.
Trump has said the shooting also led him to change his RNC speech, from what was going to be “a humdinger” made up largely of attacks on President Joe Biden to one more focused on bringing the country together.
“Honestly, it’s going to be a whole different speech now,” Trump told the Washington Examiner.
Trump wrote the speech, and it is expected to be more personal than his usual comments, according to two people familiar with the planned remarks who were not authorized to speak publicly. He is also expected to lay out a stark contrast with the Democrats’ policies, according to one of the people.
The evening also will feature appearances and speeches from Trump’s family and friends, including his son Eric Trump. Among the others scheduled to speak are pro wrestler Hulk Hogan, former Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson and lawyer Alina Habba, who has represented Trump in the legal cases against him.
RNC speakers this week have attributed Trump’s survival to divine intervention and paid tribute to victim Corey Comperatore, who died after shielding his wife and daughter from gunfire at the rally.
“Instead of a day of celebration, this could have been a day of heartache and mourning,” Trump’s vice presidential pick, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, said in his speech to the convention on Wednesday.
In his first prime-time speech since becoming the nominee for vice president, Vance spoke of growing up poor in Kentucky and Ohio, his mother addicted to drugs and his father absent, and of how he later joined the military and went on to the highest levels of U.S. politics.
The convention has showcased a Republican Party reshaped by Trump since he shocked the GOP establishment and won the hearts of the party’s grassroots on his way to the party’s 2016 nomination. Rivals Trump has vanquished — including Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — put aside their past criticisms and gave him their unqualified support.
Even Vance, Trump’s pick to carry his movement into the next generation, was once a fierce critic who suggested in a private message since made public that Trump could be “America’s Hitler.”
While Republicans were set to emerge from their convention more united than in recent memory, Democrats are bitterly divided about whether Biden should continue to lead the ticket. Biden, following his disastrous debate performance against Trump last month, has resisted increasing pressure to drop out, with Democrats’ own party convention scheduled for next month in Chicago.
Nearly two-thirds of Democrats nationally say Biden should step aside and let his party nominate a different candidate, according to an AP/NORC poll released Wednesday.
Some national polls do show a close race, though others suggest Trump with a lead. And some state polls have contained warning signs for Biden, too, including a recent New York Times/Siena poll that suggested a competitive race in Virginia, a state Biden won in their 2020 matchup.
The RNC has tried to give voice to the fear and frustration of conservatives while also trying to promote the former president as a symbol of hope for all voters.
Trump Jr. spoke movingly Wednesday about his father’s bravery, saying he showed “for all the world” that “the next American president has the heart of a lion.” But he toggled back and forth between talking about his father as a symbol of national unity and slamming his enemies.
“When he stood up with blood on his face and the flag at his back the world saw a spirit that could never be broken,” Trump Jr. said.
Trump has not spoken in public since the shooting, though he’s given interviews off camera. But he referenced it during a private fundraiser on Wednesday, according to a clip of his remarks recorded on a cellphone and obtained by PBS News.
“I got lucky,” he said. “God was with me.”