MILWAUKEE — Five days after an assassination attempt, former President Donald Trump on Thursday accepted the Republican nomination and recounted the harrowing moments at a Pennsylvania rally when “bullets were flying over us.”
“I’m not supposed to be here tonight,” Trump said to raucous applause at the finale of the Republican National Convention in downtown Milwaukee. “I stand before you in this arena only by the grace of almighty God.”
In uncharacteristically hushed tones during a speech that later pivoted to his populist agenda, Trump gave an account of the shooting which he said “you will never hear from me a second time because it’s actually too painful to tell.”
“I heard a loud sound and felt something hit me really, really hard on my right ear. I said to myself, ‘Wow, what was that?’ It could only be a bullet,” he said to a stone silent arena. “There was blood pouring everywhere, and yet in a certain way, I felt very safe because I had God on my side.”
“Bullets were flying over us, yet I felt serene. Now, the Secret Service agents were putting themselves in peril. They were in very dangerous territory,” before the alleged assassin was killed, Trump said.
He hailed a crowd of Pennsylvania supporters who “thought I was dead,” and rather than stampeding out of the rally, “automatically stood up looking for where the sniper would be,” according to Trump.
And when he raised a fist and they realized he was alive, they “roared with pride for our country like no crowd I have ever heard,” Trump said.
On the Milwaukee stage, two men wheeled out a firefighter’s jacket that belonged to Corey Comperatore, who was killed while shielding his family at the Pennsylvania rally. Trump stooped down to kiss his helmet.
A night of carefully crafted speeches featured the candidate’s son Eric Trump, UFC president Dana White and pro wrestler Hulk Hogan. Trump frequently went off script in a 92-minute speech.
He talked directly to Democrats, saying “they should drop these partisan witch hunts, which I’ve been going through for approximately eight years.”
“And they should do that without delay and allow an election to proceed that is worthy of our people,” Trump said. “We’re going to win it anyway.”
He mentioned President Joe Biden’s name just once 45 minutes into his address, with no mention of “Crooked Joe,” a trademark moniker. It was a sign of the more subdued nature of his revamped speech. Trump told the Washington Examiner that he rewrote his speech after the assassination attempt, with a focus on unity.
The usually bombastic former reality star tried to reach out to voters in the middle, saying “tonight, whether you’ve supported me in the past or not I hope you support me in the future, because I will bring back the American dream.”
There were second administration claims, like vowing to bring down inflation on day one, and ending all international crises, including the wars in Gaza and Ukraine.
And there were divisive claims, including that he would launch the largest deportation plan in American history. He said there is an “invasion” of migrants who “are coming from prisons, they’re coming from jails, they’re coming from mental institutions and asylums” — despite no evidence that countries are sending criminals and the mentally ill.
“We will not have men playing women sports,” Trump said — a frequent phrase heard during the four-day convention. He urged the crowd to chant “drill baby drill” and “close the border.”
Trump told his vice presidential pick JD Vance, “you’re going to do this for a long time” — a crystal clear sign that Trump sees Vance as the future of the Republican Party.
Lighter moments — and more bizarre ones — took place earlier in a final convention program that saw Illinois delegates singing along to Hogan’s “Real American” entrance song, and pumping fists to Kid Rock’s chants of “fight, fight, fight.”
“I’ve been in the ring with some of the biggest, some of the baddest dudes on the planet,” Hogan said. “But let me tell you something, brother: Donald Trump is the toughest of them all.”
