Donald Trump, somber and bandaged, accepted the presidential nomination on Thursday, July 18th, 2024 at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, WI, with a speech that described in detail the assassination attempt that could have ended his life just five days earlier, and laid out a sweeping populist agenda in, particularly on immigration.
In a speech that lasted over an hour and a half, Trump closed out an emotionally charged convention with an appeal for the country to heal “discord and division” days after he was injured in an assassination attempt — even as he mocked and attacked his opponents.,
Trump made sweeping promises to end inflation and secure the border, but he didn’t outline any plans and mostly used crowd-pleasing talking points. The most specific he got was promising to roll back Biden administration efforts to combat climate change, redirect infrastructure spending and impose steep tariffs.
During the first four nights of the convention, speakers attempted to give Donald Trump, one of the most divisive politicians in recent U.S. history a makeover, describing him as a loving and caring family man whose near-assassination at a rally on Saturday had changed him.
Early in his speech , as he accepted his party’s presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention, it seemed Trump had bought into the carefully orchestrated effort to repackage him as a humbler, unifying figure, more palatable to swing voters who will be crucial to winning the Nov. 5 election.
He said he wanted to be a president for all Americans, including Democrats, and wanted to heal the divided country. “In an age when our politics too often divide us, now is the time to remember that we are all fellow citizens,” Trump said.That new version of Trump lasted barely half an hour.
Then the Trump more familiar to Americans – the bombastic thrower of insults who revels in demonizing his opponents – re-emerged, trampling over the message of unity so painstakingly choreographed by the Republican National Committee this week.
In a rambling 92-minute address that broke the record for the longest convention speech in history, Trump called Democratic President Joe Biden the worst president in U.S. history and the former Democratic House Speaker “crazy Nancy Pelosi,” and accused Democrats of launching judicial witch hunts against him and creating a “planet of war.”
“The Democrat Party should immediately stop weaponizing the justice system and labeling their political opponent as an enemy of democracy, especially since that is not true,” Trump said. “In fact, I am the one saving democracy for the people of our country,” he said.
Using familiar hyperbolic and divisive language, he said illegal immigration to the United States was “the greatest invasion in history” and was leading to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans every year, though neither claim is supported by any data.
He again promised to curb illegal immigration, vowing the “largest deportation operation in the history of our country”, and said he would “end every single international crisis that the current administration has created”.
Trump also said he would create a version of Israel’s Iron Dome missile defence system, and pledged to restore “peace, stability and harmony all throughout the world” – though he gave few details on how.
He painted a dark picture of a crumbling America, a nation in decline, its cities crime-ridden and economically depressed, a staple image of his stump speech in which he presents himself as the country’s savior.
In his debut speech in the role, that man – 39-year-old Ohio Senator JD Vance – told the convention that he was a “working-class” boy, and insisted that Trump’s policies would help left-behind voters.
Among the others who made notable appearances at the convention were Mr Vance’s wife Usha, as well as Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara and his teenage granddaughter Kai, who gave her first public remarks.
And Trump’s former rivals for the Republican nomination, Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis, came together to voice their support for him.
Their message of party solidarity was echoed in Thursday’s speech by Trump, who also spoke of working for “all of America” if he won back the White House.
The evening concluded with thousands of balloons falling to the stadium floor and with two prominent figures in the Trump family making rare appearances on the campaign trail. Former first lady Melania Trump made her first public appearance alongside her husband in months when she entered the arena ahead of the former president’s remarks. She later joined him on stage at the conclusion of his speech.
Trump had pledged to re-write his address in the wake of the attack, after which he had what he called a “very cordial” conversation with Mr Biden. The finished item was critical of the current president’s policies, although he spoke his adversary’s name only once during his range of attacks.
Observers said his speech was relatively subdued, in spite of the overall bombast of the evening, which included a shower of balloons and a crowd-rallying appearance from wrestling legend Hulk Hogan.
“We had been told this was going to be a different Trump, a softer side,” Mary Anna Mancuso, a Republican strategist and Trump critic, said afterward. “Trump’s speech was not about unifying the nation. It was the same Trump that we’ve seen and there was no difference.”