Former President Donald Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination Thursday with an emotional speech at the party’s national convention that marked his first dramatic public appearance since surviving an assassination attempt.
Standing next to firefighting gear that belonged to slain Trump rallygoer Corey Comperatore, Trump claimed divine intervention saved him from also being killed in the attack at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania last weekend.
“As you already know, the assassin’s bullet nearly killed me,” Trump said. “I felt something hit me very, very hard. It was a bullet, [and] “My head was covered in blood.”
“But I felt very safe because I had God on my side,” he said.
“I stand before you in this arena only by the grace of Almighty God,” he added.
The former president basked in the adoring cheers of thousands of stunned Republican delegates in Milwaukee as he called for unity behind his efforts to return to the White House after the attack.
“Our resolve remains intact and our goal remains unchanged: to build a government that serves the American people better than ever before,” Trump said.
Despite the sharp shift from his usual pugnacious tone, Trump suggested he was also ready to take the political fight to President Biden and the embattled Democratic ticket.
“With all the energy and fight in my heart and soul, I pledge to the nation tonight: We are going to change the course of our country,” he said. “This election should be about the problems facing our country and how we can make America prosperous, safe, wealthy and great again.”
He made an unusual call for all parties to moderate their political acrimony and pleaded for support for their political rivals.
“Whether you supported me in the past or not, I hope you will support me in the future, because I will bring back the American dream,” he said. “With great humility, I ask you to be excited about the future of our country.”
Trump said he has launched plans for a scathing political attack on Biden, whom he blames for mismanaging the economy and allowing an “invasion” of migrants across the southern border.
He had vowed not to even mention Biden, but he deviated from the script and named his longtime foe twice.
It was a sharp departure from his usual campaign rhetoric, which has been peppered with scathing retorts against Biden. But he still launched attacks on what he calls four years of decline under Democratic rule.
“To all the men and women who have been forgotten, neglected, abandoned and left behind, you will not be forgotten anymore,” he said. “We will continue to move forward and together we will prevail.”
Former first lady Melania Trump made a rare appearance at the convention to cheer on her husband as he launches a third consecutive presidential campaign as the GOP nominee.
New vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance applauded approvingly a day after he also took the stage.
Trump’s coronation at the convention was nothing short of a spectacular comeback. Many sidelined him after he encouraged a mob of his extremist supporters to storm the Capitol on January 6, 2021, in a failed attempt to overturn his 2020 defeat.
He rebuilt his iron grip on the Republican Party by attacking its right-wing base and easily won the GOP primary.
Trump ignored four criminal indictments and even his conviction on 34 counts in the recent Manhattan hush trial.
The former president’s messianic aura of invincibility among his supporters was only reinforced when he narrowly avoided being killed by a would-be assassin at the rally in western Pennsylvania.
He suffered a minor ear injury and now wears an oversized bandage, although his campaign declines to release his medical records or details of his treatment.
Trump emerges from the RNC as the clear favorite to beat Biden, with polls showing him leading in all the key battleground states that will likely determine the winner of their White House rematch.
Biden, meanwhile, is sidelined by COVID-19 and faces growing calls from Democratic leaders to drop out of the race after stunning voters with an often inconsistent performance in a debate with Trump last month.
If Biden, 81, steps down, Vice President Kamala Harris would be the overwhelming favorite to take over the campaign and become the first Black woman to lead a major party presidential ticket.
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