Republican convention to focus on immigration a day after a bandaged Trump makes triumphant entrance
MILWAUKEE — Two days after surviving an attempted murderformer president Donald Trump emerged triumphantly on the opening night of the Republican Party convention with a bandage over his right ear, the latest dramatic display in a presidential campaign that has already been marked by dramatic twists and turns.
GOP delegates cheered wildly as Trump appeared on screen backstage and then entered the arena, visibly emotional, as musician Lee Greenwood sang “God Bless the USA.” That was hours after the convention formally nominated the former president to lead the Republican ticket against President Joe Biden.
Congress resumes Tuesday with immigration as the theme, a central theme to Trump’s political image that made him popular with Republican Party supporters when he first launched his campaign in 2015.
Trump, accompanied by a wall of Secret Service agents on Monday, did not address the crowd — his acceptance speech is scheduled for Thursday — but smiled silently and waved occasionally as Greenwood sang. He eventually joined his newly announced running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohioto listen to the evening’s remaining speeches, often with a subdued look and muted responses uncharacteristic of the shameless showman.
The jubilant welcome underscored the audience’s deep affection for the man who won the nomination in 2016 as an outsider, standing in direct opposition to the party establishment, but who has defeated all Republican rivals, silenced most conservative critics and now commands loyalties across the party.
“We must unite as a party, and we must unite as a nation,” Republican Party Chairman Michael Whatley, Trump’s hand-picked party leader, said as he opened the prime-time national convention session on Monday. “We must show the same strength and resilience as President Trump and lead this nation to a better future.”
But Whatley and other Republican leaders made clear that their calls for harmony did not extend to Biden and Democrats. They remain concerned that the 81-year-old issue is not a viable means of defeating Trump.
“Their policies are a clear and present danger to America, to our institutions, our values and our people,” said Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, welcoming the party to his swing state, which Trump won in 2016 but lost to Biden four years ago.
Trump’s campaign managers designed the convention to deliver a softer, more optimistic message, focusing on themes that would help a divided leader broaden his popular appeal. moderate voters And people of color.
On Monday, an evening devoted to the economy, delegates and a national TV audience heard speakers who presented the Trump campaign as “ordinary Americans” — a single mother talking about inflation, a union member identifying herself as a lifelong Democrat who now supports Trump, a small business owner, and many more.
The speakers also included black Republicans who are at the forefront of Trump’s campaign to win more votes from a key Democratic base.
According to U.S. Representative Wesley Hunt of Texas, rising grocery and energy prices are bad for Americans’ wallets.
“We can solve this disaster,” Hunt said, by electing Trump and “sending him back where he belongs, the White House.”