By Gram Slattery, Alexandra Ulmer and Nathan Layne
MILWAUKEE (Reuters) -Donald Trump made a triumphant entrance during the first night of the Republican National Convention on Monday, receiving a raucous ovation from the party faithful two days after a would-be assassin’s bullet grazed his right ear.
Trump walked into the Fiserv Forum in downtown Milwaukee with a thick bandage over the ear as the crowd chanted “Fight! Fight! Fight” and pumped their fists, a reference to his reaction in the moments after he was wounded.
The former president mouthed the words “Thank you” and settled into a box with some of his children and U.S. Senator J.D. Vance, Trump’s choice for running mate announced earlier in the day.
Trump is due to formally accept the party’s nomination in a prime-time speech on Thursday and will face Democratic President Joe Biden in the Nov. 5 election.
The four-day convention began less than 48 hours after a gunman opened fire at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, killing one supporter. The gunman was shot dead and his motive remains unclear.
During Monday’s session, the party gave speaking slots to six everyday Americans who highlighted the impact inflation has had on lower and middle-income families, while Republican leaders assailed the Biden administration as being out of touch.
Senator Tim Scott, who briefly ran against Trump for the nomination, said divine intervention spared Trump’s life.
“Our God still saves,” Scott said. “He still delivers and he still sets free. Because on Saturday the devil came to Pennsylvania holding a rifle, but an American lion got back up on his feet and he roared!”
Vance, 39, was a fierce Trump critic in 2016 but has since become one of the former president’s staunchest defenders, embracing his false claims that the 2020 election was marred by widespread fraud.
Vance is deeply popular with Trump’s core supporters, but it remains to be seen whether he can broaden the ticket’s appeal. He shares Trump’s aggressive approach to politics, and his conservative statements on issues such as abortion could turn off moderate voters.
Soon after Trump’s afternoon announcement, Vance emerged on the convention floor with his wife Usha, shaking hands with and hugging delegates who swarmed the couple. He is scheduled to address the convention on Wednesday.
REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS AT ISSUE
Biden told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland that Vance is “a clone of Trump on the issues,” while other Democrats criticized Vance’s record on reproductive rights.
In an interview on Fox News on Monday night, Vance said he backed Trump’s position that each state should decide for itself whether to permit abortion.
Opinion polls show a close race between Trump, 78, and Biden, 81, though Trump leads in several swing states that are likely to decide the election. Trump has not committed to accepting the results of the election if he loses.
The head of the main fundraising super PAC supporting Trump’s campaign, Taylor Budowich, said on X that MAGA Inc had raised more than $50 million on Monday.
Billionaire Elon Musk is planning to donate around $45 million a month to a new pro-Trump super PAC, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with his intentions. Musk endorsed Trump after the assassination attempt on Saturday.
Following the shooting, Trump said he was revising his acceptance speech to emphasize national unity, rather than highlight his differences with Biden.
“The speech will be a lot different, a lot different than it would’ve been two days ago,” Trump told the Washington Examiner.
The day began with yet another in a string of recent legal victories for Trump, when U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon threw out federal charges accusing him of retaining classified documents after leaving the White House.
Trump is due to be sentenced in New York in September for trying to cover up a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels in the weeks before his 2016 election victory.
But his other two indictments on federal charges in Washington and state charges in Georgia – both related to his efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat – are mired in delays and could be significantly limited after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in July that he had immunity for many of his official acts as president.
“This dismissal of the Lawless Indictment in Florida should be just the first step, followed quickly by the dismissal of ALL the Witch Hunts,” Trump said on Truth Social on Monday, also referencing the prosecutions of hundreds of his supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
NO PLACE FOR VIOLENCE
The shooting attempt on Trump’s life immediately altered the dynamics of the presidential campaign, which had been focused on whether Biden should drop out due to concerns about his age and acuity following a halting June 27 debate performance.
Nearly two dozen of Biden’s fellow Democrats in Congress have called on him to end his reelection bid and allow the party to pick another standard bearer.
The focus this week will be squarely on Trump.
Having consolidated party control, Trump could seize on the opportunity to deliver a unifying message or paint a dark portrait of a nation under siege by a corrupt leftist elite, as he has done at times on the campaign trail.
Trump has frequently turned to violent rhetoric in campaign speeches, labeling his perceived enemies as “vermin” and “fascists.”
Biden has cast Trump as a threat to U.S. democracy, comments that some Republicans say helped foster an atmosphere that prompted the shooting even though authorities have yet to determine the motive for the assassination attempt.
Following Saturday’s shooting, Biden sought to lower the temperature after months of heated political rhetoric.
“There is no place in America for this kind of violence,” Biden said in an address from the White House on Sunday.
In an interview with NBC News on Monday, Biden said it was a “mistake” to tell donors last week it was “time to put Trump in the bullseye” but noted that Trump has often used incendiary words.
Biden ordered an independent review of how the gunman could have come so close to killing Trump. Congressional investigators also sought to question the head of the U.S. Secret Service, which is responsible for protecting the former president.
(Reporting by Gram Slattery, Alexandra Ulmer and Nathan Layne in Milwaukee, additional reporting by Tim Reid and Helen Coster in Milwaukee and Andrew Goudsward, Sarah N. Lynch, Steve Holland and David Morgan in Washington; Writing by Andy Sullivan and Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone, Alistair Bell and Howard Goller)
