Milwaukee
Donald Trump will be given red carpet treatment on Thursday after accepting the Republican nomination for the US presidential election in a highly-anticipated speech that concludes a historic party convention marked by a weekend assassination attempt.
The 78-year-old former president is likely to be hailed as a hero when he addresses a nation still reeling from a lone gunman’s assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally on the final day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
Saturday’s attack left one person dead and Trump’s ear bloodied, but it became a hot topic at the party convention, with Republican lawmakers praising the former president’s bravery.
While some Republicans blamed the attacks on Democrats’ anti-Trump rhetoric, the billionaire said he had scrapped a more aggressive version of his keynote speech and replaced it with one he hopes will “unite our country.”
“We’re grateful to hear from him. We believe it’s a miracle that he survived and truly an act of God,” Teena Horlacher, a 50-year-old representative from Utah, told AFP.
“I’d like him to tell me how he felt about what happened on Saturday.”
Buoyed by praise from his Democratic base, Trump has expanded his lead in the polls since President Joe Biden’s disastrous performance in last month’s televised debate threw the Democratic Party into an existential crisis.
The Biden campaign is touting possible wins in Democratic strongholds such as Minnesota and Virginia, which could block Biden from using money and personnel to defend his “blue wall” in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
‘Golden age’
Trump’s keynote address on Thursday will be watched by millions on television and is expected to conclude the convention by ushering in a “new Gilded Age for America,” his campaign said.
This brings to a close four days of speeches by elected officials, entertainers, industry figures and ordinary Americans mingling with some 50,000 Republicans from across the country.
The convention kicked off on Monday, when “delegates” – politicians and grassroots activists gathered in a packed arena – voted to endorse Trump as their candidate, after he won nearly every state’s primaries.
The 2024 Milwaukee convention will be the first to be fully led by a former president after the 2016 convention was marred by partisan divisions and the 2020 convention was limited by the coronavirus pandemic.
The schedule heavily reflects the former president’s image, with each day’s theme based on his slogan, “Make America Great Again.”
After announcing right-wing Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate on the opening day, Trump set the tone for a triumphant convention by entering the Fiserv Forum emotional and with his ear heavily bandaged.
The 39-year-old author of the best-selling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” about his experiences growing up poor in rural, working-class America, was once a harsh critic but is now one of Trump’s most ardent supporters.
“Contrast”
Trump has grown increasingly confident of a surprise return to the White House despite multiple legal challenges and two impeachments clouding his first term, while Biden is rattled by weak polls and Democrats’ concerns about his health.
The 81-year-old has faced growing calls from his own camp to withdraw from the race over concerns about his age, and his week has hit a low point after he was diagnosed with COVID-19 on Wednesday.
Trump himself has faded from view after his 2020 election defeat and the subsequent riot at the Capitol by his supporters, but he has spent much of the past four years reshaping Republican politics.
The mercurial billionaire installed allies, including his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, at the top of the Republican National Committee, effectively quashing dissent within his party.
“There’s clearly a big difference between how strong President Trump is and how weak President Biden is,” Mississippi representative Clifton Carroll told AFP.
“And I think he’s going to expand on that and really send a message that all of America can get behind it, whether they’re Republican, Democrat or independent.”