MILWAUKEE — Republican delegates capped the opening night of their national convention by erupting with a thunderous ovation when a bandaged Donald Trump appeared just two days after the former president survived a would-be assassin’s bullets.
Trump wore a white bandage on his right ear to cover the damage done when a 20-year-old man opened fire during a Saturday campaign rally in Butler, Pa., and nearly killed the GOP standard bearer. Trump joined his family members and supporters in a red box just above the convention floor and flanked by Secret Service personnel. Pumping his fist and waving to thousands of loyalists, Trump took his spot in the arena as country music singer Lee Greenwood belted out his rally walk-out song, “God Bless The U.S.A.”
In their first appearance together, he stood beside Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, the 39-year-old retired Marine whom he announced earlier Monday as his running mate. The crowd erupted in a chant of, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” That echoed Trump’s message Saturday as his Secret Service detail whisked him off stage, blood running down his face.
The audience chanted, “We want Trump,” but their expected nominee is not scheduled to speak until Thursday evening.
Republicans opened their quadrennial confab by accusing President Joe Biden of crushing the American dream.
Lawmakers and delegates here predicted a softer tone and messaging during this week’s Republican National Convention. Still, Monday’s roster of speakers found ways to criticize the economy under Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, mostly without dubbing them threats to the country — something Biden and Trump have contended about one another.
“Joe Biden and Kamala Harris came around, and now our lives are much more difficult and way more expensive,” said Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., who jabbed at the 81-year-old president’s age. “So many American families have to live with so much less.”
“And we know the current president is not capable of turning things around. His weakness is costing us our opportunity, our prosperity, our security, our safety — each diminished, all in decline. Just like the man in the Oval Office.”
One exception to overall softer rhetoric came from Wisconsin’s own Sen. Ron Johnson, who told the attendees that the policies of Biden, Harris and other Democrats present a “clear and present danger.”
Johnson later told PBS that intended to change that statement, but an old version of his speech was in the teleprompter.
“That speech was written last week. They literally loaded the wrong speech,” Johnson said.
But while the night was mostly free of what Democrats’ long have described as violent rhetoric from Republicans, that’s not to say the message — delivered in between blaring classic rock tunes via a live band — was upbeat. Nor was it awash in policy prescriptions for how Trump would bring down costs. There was virtually no mention of actual policy proposals, opting mostly for general claims that things would be better under Trump than Biden.
In between speakers, organizers played videos decrying the price of gas and food prices under the Biden administration. Those quoted in the videos, echoed by lawmakers who spoke, described a country suffering and an “American dream” they contended had died under Biden’s term. To be sure, pocketbook issues reigned supreme Monday night.
On the convention floor, signs piled up under delegates’ chairs and squeezed in between seats. Some held up stacks of two or three at a time, alternating messages between speakers from “Make America Wealthy Again” — the evening’s theme — to “Lower Prices Now!” and “Trump = Prosperity, Biden = Inflation.”
The specter of Biden’s age and fitness for office — topics that drew a media firestorm over the two weeks following his poor presidential debate performance — loomed over parts of the evening. One video opened with footage of Biden stumbling up the steps of Air Force One and speakers joked about the president’s bedtime and working hours.
While those onstage knocked Biden for his economic policy, they largely sought to project a unifying message, as they spoke of working together to overcome what Republicans see as the failings of the current administration.
“The disastrous results of the Biden-Harris agenda transcend race, religion or income, but under President Trump, all of this will change,” said Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., who came onstage to chants of “Byron! Byron.”
“If there was ever a time in our nation to come together, that time is now,” he added.
Delegates during the day’s afternoon session had already formally nominated Trump as their presidential candidate for a third consecutive election cycle before doing the same for Vance via acclamation after he entered the vast arena high-fiving delegates, some of whom said they were lightly surprised he beat out Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.
As the audience settled in at the home of the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks, country music singer Chris Janson extolled the virtues of being viewed as “redneck and white trash” as the Texas delegation — most wearing white cowboy hats — clapped or waved their signs. “We can get rowdier than that,” Janson said, egging on the delegates and guests. “It’s 2024, and we’re here to party.”
The convention’s opening night sets up a week of programming centering on red-meat issues for Republicans: crime, border security and American military might.
The party setting inside the Fiserv Forum came as multiple polls show Trump leading Biden, and occurred just two days after Trump said his emergency room doctor in Pennsylvania told him he came within millimeters of losing his life.
The speaker who perhaps received the warmest welcome was Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C. Delegates jumped to their feet as he took the stage, asking them if they were “ready for four more years of Donald J. Trump?” They voiced their collective approval. Scott, who was in total command of the crowd after being passed over as Trump’s No. 2, later took a swipe at Biden, saying: “Joe Biden is asleep at the wheel and we’re headed over the cliff.”
But one of the night’s biggest applause lines came as Scott brought up the gunman’s attempt to assassinate Trump.
“If you didn’t believe in miracles before Saturday, you better be believing today,” Scott said. ‘And an American lion got back up on his feet and he roared!” Those inside the arena roared, some pumping their fists — just like a bloodied Trump did as his Secret Service whisked him away.
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