Trump: ‘The discord and division in our society must be healed’

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Donald Trump, somber and bandaged, accepted the GOP presidential nomination on Thursday at the Republican National Convention in a speech describing in detail the assassination attempt that could have ended his life just five days earlier.

“I’m not supposed to be here tonight,” Trump told the packed convention hall as thousands of people listened in silence. “There was blood pouring everywhere, yet, in a certain way I felt very safe because I had God on my side.”

The 78-year-old former president, known best for his bombast and aggressive rhetoric, began his acceptance speech with a softer and deeply personal message that drew directly from his brush with death. Later, he returned to a tone closer to his typical campaign message, outlining his priorities on immigration and the economy but also referencing false theories of election fraud and the indictments against him.

“The discord and division in our society must be healed. We must heal it quickly. As Americans, we are bound together by a single fate and a shared destiny. We rise together. Or we fall apart,” Trump said, wearing a large white bandage on his right ear, as he has all week, to cover a wound he sustained in the Saturday shooting. “I am running to be president for all of America, not half of America, because there is no victory in winning for half of America.”

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Later in the speech, he falsely suggested Democrats had cheated during the 2020 election he lost — despite a raft of federal and state investigations proving there was no systemic fraud — and suggested “we must not criminalize dissent or demonize political disagreement,” even as he has long called for prosecutions of his opponents. He indirectly called the Biden administration “incompetent.”

A CNN fact-checker said Trump told 22 falsehoods in the speech.

Trump’s address marked the climax and conclusion of a massive four-day Republican pep rally that drew thousands of conservative activists and elected officials to swing-state Wisconsin as voters weigh an election that currently features two deeply unpopular candidates. Sensing political opportunity in the wake of his near-death experience, the often bombastic Republican leader embraced a new tone he hopes will help generate even more momentum in an election that appears to be shifting in his favor.

Trump’s appearance comes as 81-year-old Democrat Biden clings to his party’s nomination in the face of unrelenting pressure from key congressional allies, donors and even former President Barack Obama, who fear he may be unable to win reelection after his disastrous debate.

Long pressed by allies to campaign more vigorously, Biden is instead in isolation at his beach home in Delaware after having been diagnosed with COVID-19.

With the stage to himself, Trump praised the many supporters who witnessed his assassination attempt and asked for a moment of silence for Corey Comperatore, the retired fire chief slain at the rally. Comperatore’s firefighter’s jacket and helmet were placed on stage as Trump spoke.

Trump walked over to the uniform and kissed Comperatore’s helmet during the moment of silence.

While Trump offered a gentler tone than usual on Thursday night, the crowded speaking program of the convention’s final day was also designed to project strength in an implicit rebuke of Biden. It was decidedly more masculine than it has been for much of the week.

Hogan drew a raucous response when standing on the main stage, he ripped off his shirt to reveal a red Trump-Vance “Make America Great Again” shirt.

“As an entertainer, I try to stay out of politics,” Hogan said as he briefly broke character. “I can no longer stay silent.”

“I think it changed him,” Carlson said of the shooting, praising Trump for not lashing out in anger afterward.

Contributing: Bill Kaczaraba