MILWAUKEE \u2014 Donald Trump on Thursday night formally accepted the Republican Party\u2019s presidential nomination in a speech heavy with references to the shooting he survived last week and elongated by ad-libbed applause lines and riffs \u2014 capping a long-anticipated moment that came only after a winding and dramatic campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump, now the first major-party presidential nominee who has been convicted of felonies, took the stage days after a 20-year-old gunman nearly assassinated<\/a> him during a rally in Pennsylvania, firing a bullet that clipped his right ear and left it bloodied. He wore a white square bandage over his wounded ear throughout the convention, with some attendees wearing their own in solidarity during the weeklong event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLet me begin this evening by expressing my gratitude to the American people for your outpouring of love and support following the assassination attempt at my rally on Saturday,\u201d Trump said near the start of the 93-minute speech. \u201cAs you already know, the assassin\u2019s bullet came within a quarter of an inch of taking my life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The shooter injured two other people and killed rallygoer Corey Comperatore, a former fire chief from the region. Trump held a moment of silence for him during his speech. Comperatore\u2019s firefighter jacket and helmet were placed on display during his remarks, and Trump called him \u201ca fine man\u201d to cheers, walking over to kiss his gear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While Trump is known for his off-the-cuff public remarks and social media posts, he has given highly planned convention speeches in the past. Thursday\u2019s speech started that way, but he soon detoured to give lengthy thanks to the speakers and attendees and then to engage the crowd with asides, impressions and sometimes hard-to-follow deviations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His speech as written could have come from any number of Republicans, but the way Trump delivered it was similar to his usual patter at his rallies \u2014 an unchanged style after he and allies spoke all week about how the shooting had changed him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, the speechwriting process was upended at the last minute by the assassination attempt, which dominated the opening parts of Trump\u2019s remarks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI said to myself, \u2018Wow, what was that \u2014 it can only be a bullet\u2019 \u2014 and moved my right hand to my ear, brought it down, and my hand was covered with blood,\u201d Trump told a quiet, emotional crowd about the moment the bullet grazed his ear during the rally, as TV cameras zoomed in on attendees wiping tears from their faces. \u201cI immediately knew it was very serious, that we were under attack, and in one movement proceeded to drop to the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump reflected on the turn of his head he made just a moment earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe amazing thing is that prior to the shot, if I had not moved my head at the very last instant, the assassin\u2019s bullet would have perfectly hit its mark,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I would not be with you tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The assassination attempt just days ahead of the Republican convention left organizers and Trump aides figuring out how to host a long-planned party in the wake of near-tragedy. In the hurried 48 hours before the convention began, Trump aides not only rewrote Trump\u2019s speech but also sent a message to other convention speakers to soften some of their remarks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump mentioned President Joe Biden only once, something he did more than 40 times during his 2020 speech accepting the Republican nomination. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The event lent new weight to Trump\u2019s address when it turned to what have been the main points of his campaign after about 20 minutes. \u201cWe unite this evening more determined than ever,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before he turned to policy, Trump defended himself against what had been the dominant theme of the 2024 campaign before Biden\u2019s age and an assassin\u2019s bullet dramatically upended the terms of the race: his legal woes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump had been facing four separate indictments, two federal and two at the state level, but those legal troubles have lessened dramatically in recent weeks, with sentencing delayed following his conviction on charges<\/a> in New York, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling<\/a> on presidential immunity with major ripple effects on two election interference cases he faces in Georgia and Washington, D.C., and the dismissal<\/a> by a Trump-appointed federal judge in Florida of a case related to the handling and retention of classified documents after he left the White House in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump and his supporters, without evidence, have long blamed Biden and Democrats for his legal woes, arguing they are \u201cweaponizing\u201d the justice system. He claimed that his opponents \u201cused Covid to cheat\u201d in the 2020 elections, and he linked his legal cases to widespread calls to lower the temperature of political rhetoric in the wake of the shooting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe must not criminalize dissent or demonize political disagreement,\u201d Trump said in his convention speech. \u201cIn that spirit, the Democrat Party should immediately stop weaponizing the justice system and labeling their political opponents as an enemy of democracy, especially since that is not true. In fact, I am the one saving democracy for the people of our country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump used the second half of his speech to highlight deep policy differences between him and Biden on issues from immigration to energy policy to the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI will end the devastating inflation crisis immediately, bring down interest rates and lower the cost of energy. We will drill, baby, drill, which will lead to a large-scale decline in prices,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump spoke about his policy priorities in sweeping terms without delving into many specifics, but his speech stepped through his top-tier policy priorities for years, including tax cuts, immigration, foreign policy and the economy. He put a special focus on high levels of inflation that have dogged Biden for much of his time in office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe have an inflation crisis that is making life unaffordable, ravaging the income of working and low-income families and crushing, just simply crushing, our people,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In recent months, inflation has cooled, and during Biden\u2019s time in office, 15 million new jobs have been created, more than during the Trump administration. But the rise in prices and other issues mean the economy has remained one of Republicans\u2019 most effective lines of attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump said the nation has an \u201cillegal immigration crisis\u201d and pledged to \u201claunch the largest deportation operation in the history of our country\u201d as he recounted examples of undocumented migrants committing crimes. During his time in office, Trump instituted a \u201cstay in Mexico\u201d policy, which required asylum-seekers to stay in Mexico while waiting for an immigration hearing. After a legal fight, Biden ended the policy, and Trump has said he would bring it back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The former president has also long advocated for a more isolationist foreign policy platform, limiting America\u2019s footprint in other parts of the world. It\u2019s part of what he has dubbed his \u201cAmerica First\u201d agenda, which broadly focuses on more domestic spending and sending fewer taxpayer dollars overseas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWar is now raging in Europe and the Middle East, a growing specter of conflict hags over Taiwan, Korea, the Philippines, and all of Asia, and our planet is teetering on the edge of World War III,\u201d Trump said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Democrats have framed the election as not just another presidential contest but as a fight for the future of democracy. They have argued that, because Trump wants to replace longtime non-political federal workers with his political allies and expand the power of the presidency, that his return to the White House would drastically remake U.S. institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “He failed to mention how he had inflicted pain and cruelty on the women of America by overturning Roe v Wade,” Biden campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a statement. “He failed to mention his plan to take over the civil service and to pardon the January 6th insurrectionists.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n And Trump\u2019s speech came amid a Democratic effort to push aside Biden after a lackluster debate<\/a> performance and several gaffes shined a bright spotlight on the incumbent\u2019s age and abilities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump framed the election as a course correction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWith proper leadership, every disaster we are now enduring will be fixed, and it will be fixed very, very quickly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n