Donald Trump enters Republican convention hall with bandaged ear, receives hero’s welcome

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Two days after surviving an assassination attempt, former President Donald Trump triumphantly appeared at the opening night of the Republican National Convention with a bandage over his right ear, the latest compelling scene in a presidential campaign already defined by dramatic turns.

Republican delegates cheered enthusiastically as Trump appeared on screen backstage and then appeared in the arena, visibly moved, as musician Lee Greenwood sang “God Bless the USA.” It was hours after the convention formally nominated the former president to lead the Republican ticket in November against President Joe Biden.

Trump, flanked by a wall of Secret Service agents, did not speak in the room — his acceptance speech is scheduled for Thursday — but he smiled silently and waved occasionally as Greenwood sang. He eventually joined his newly announced running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, to listen to the evening’s other speeches, often with a muted expression and muted reactions uncharacteristic of this brash showman.

The warm reception underscored the depth of the crowd’s affection for the man who won the 2016 nomination as an outsider, at odds with the party establishment, but who has defeated all his Republican rivals, silenced most conservative critics and now commands loyalty across the party’s ranks.

“We must come together as a party and as a nation,” Republican Party Chairman Michael Whatley, Trump’s pick for party leader, said at the opening of Monday’s national convention session. “We must demonstrate the same strength and resilience that President Trump has and lead this nation into a brighter future.”

But Whatley and other Republican leaders made clear that their calls for harmony did not extend to Biden and Democrats, who still find themselves torn by concerns that the 81-year-old issue is not up to the task of defeating Trump.

“Their policies pose a clear and present danger to America, to our institutions, our values ​​and our people,” Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson said, welcoming the party to his key swing state, which Trump won in 2016 but lost to Biden four years ago.

Saturday’s shooting at a rally in Pennsylvania, in which Trump was wounded and one man died, was clearly fresh in the memory, but the protest’s proceedings were celebratory, in stark contrast to the anger and anxiety that had marked the days before. Some delegates chanted “fight, fight, fight” — the same words Trump shouted at the crowd Saturday as the Secret Service marched him offstage, his fist raised and his face bloodied.

“We should all be grateful now that we can vote for President Donald J. Trump after what happened on Saturday,” New Jersey state Sen. Michael Testa said as he announced his state’s 12 delegates for Trump.

When Trump won the required number of delegates, video screens in the arena flashed “OVER THE TOP” as the song “Celebration” played and delegates danced and waved Trump signs. Throughout the vote, delegates holding “Make America Great Again” signs cheered as state after state voted for a second Trump term.

Several speakers invoked religious imagery to discuss Trump and the assassination attempt.

“The devil came to Pennsylvania with a gun in his hand,” said Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina. “But an American lion rose up!”

Wyoming delegate Sheryl Foland was among those who adopted the “Fight” chant after seeing Trump survive Saturday in what she called “monumental photos and videos.”

“We knew then that we were going to embrace this song,” added Foland, a mental health counselor who specializes in childhood trauma. “Not just because we wanted him to fight, but because God was fighting for him. We thought, ‘Isn’t it our duty to accept this challenge and fight for our country?’”

“This is bigger than Trump,” Foland said. “This is a mantra for our country.”

Another timely development brightened the mood on the floor of Congress Monday: The federal judge presiding over the Trump classified documents case dismissed the charges over concerns about the appointment of the prosecutor who brought the case, handing the former president a major legal victory.

The convention is designed to reach people outside the GOP base

Trump’s campaign leaders designed the convention to deliver a softer, more optimistic message, focusing on themes that would help a divisive leader expand his appeal among moderate voters and people of color.

At an evening devoted to the economy, delegates and a national television audience heard from speakers the Trump campaign billed as “everyday Americans” — a single mother talking about inflation, a union member who identified himself as a longtime Democrat who now supports Trump, a small business owner, among others.

Speakers also included black Republicans who have been at the forefront of the Trump campaign’s efforts to win more votes from a core Democratic constituency.

U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt of Texas said rising food and energy prices are hurting Americans’ wallets and cited Ronald Reagan who called inflation “the cruelest tax on the poor.” Hunt argued that Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris don’t seem to understand the problem.

“We can solve this disaster,” Hunt said, by electing Trump and sending him “right back where he belongs, the White House.”

Scott, perhaps the party’s best-known black lawmaker, said: “America is not a racist country.”

Republicans hailed Vance’s selection as a key step toward a winning coalition in November.

Donald Trump announced his running mate choice Monday as delegates voted on the former president’s nomination. The junior senator from Ohio first rose to national prominence with his bestselling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” which chronicled his upbringing in Appalachia and was hailed as a window into the working-class regions of America that helped propel Trump.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who had been considered a potential vice presidential pick, said in a message on X that Vance’s “small-town roots and service to his country make him a powerful voice for the America First agenda.”

Yet despite the calls for harmony, two of the first speakers in Monday night’s session — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson — are known as some of the party’s most incendiary figures.

In a recent speech at a church service in North Carolina, Robinson spoke of the “bad guys” he said threaten American Christianity. “Some people deserve to be killed,” he said, while avoiding making such remarks on the convention stage.

Opening night was also not without references to the 2020 election and Trump’s repeated lies that it was stolen from him.

The campaign continues

Trump’s nomination came the same day Biden gave another nationally televised interview, as the president sought to demonstrate his ability to serve another four years despite lingering concerns within his own party.

Biden told ABC News that he recently made a mistake by telling Democratic donors that the party should stop questioning his fitness for office and instead make Trump the target. Republicans have aggressively circulated that comment since Saturday’s assassination attempt, with some openly accusing Biden of inciting the attempt on Trump’s life.

The president’s admission follows a call he made Sunday from the Oval Office for all Americans to moderate their political discourse. But Biden insisted Monday that distancing himself from Trump, who uses harsh and accusatory language, is a legitimate part of a presidential campaign.

In the Milwaukee arena, Republicans did not tone down their attacks on Biden, at one point releasing a video mocking the president’s physical stamina and mental acuity.

They have often referred to the “Biden-Harris administration” and have regularly taken jabs at Vice President Kamala Harris — a not-so-subtle hint that Biden might step aside in favor of his runner-up.