Donald Trump received a hero’s welcome on Monday as he entered the Republican National Convention arena with a bandaged right ear, marking his first public appearance since a weekend assassination attempt.
Hours after securing the Republican presidential nomination and announcing right-wing Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate, Trump marched into Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum flanked by aides, waving at supporters on the opening day of what is expected to be a triumphalist gathering.
Trump, who is scheduled to give a formal acceptance speech on Thursday, took his seat to the sound of country singer Lee Greenwood’s patriotic hit “God Bless the USA” without delivering any remarks. He appeared visibly moved by the rapturous ovation from the packed venue.
“It was absolutely amazing. I mean, just thinking what he’s been through, and to come here today because he really cares,” Illinois delegate Susan Sweeney told AFP on the convention floor.
The crowd erupted into cheers earlier as Trump announced Vance, 39, as his vice-presidential pick, rewarding a one-time harsh critic who has become one of his most uncompromising supporters.
While Trump, 78, is increasingly confident of a shock return to the White House — despite multiple legal problems and two impeachments clouding his first term — President Joe Biden is struggling with weak polls and Democratic concerns over his health.
A standard-bearer for a new kind of populism that has emerged under Trump, Vance is also one of the least experienced VP picks in modern history. He embraces the ex-president’s isolationist, anti-immigration America First movement and is even further to the right on some issues, including abortion, where he supports calls for federal legislation.
Initially gaining fame with the 2016 memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” Vance’s best-selling account of his Appalachian family and modest Rust Belt upbringing resonated with rural, working-class Americans. Despite once comparing Trump to “America’s Hitler,” Vance reinvented himself and ultimately won the ex-president’s endorsement in the 2022 Ohio Senate race.
Some 50,000 Republicans have gathered on the shores of Lake Michigan for the four-day convention, four months before the election.
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The convention comes as the country reels from an assassination attempt on Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday. The attack, which killed one bystander and left Trump with a bloodied ear, is expected to dominate proceedings.
Leading in multiple polls despite being convicted in his hush-money criminal case in New York, Trump exudes confidence. At 81, Biden faces calls from his own party to step down over concerns about his age.
Biden’s campaign released a statement criticizing the Trump-Vance agenda, stating it would “take away Americans’ rights, hurt the middle class, and make life more expensive — all while benefiting the ultra-rich and greedy corporations.”
Trump told the New York Post he had “prepared an extremely tough speech” about Biden’s “horrible administration” to deliver at the convention. However, in light of the attack, he expressed a desire to “unite our country” instead.
A diminished figure after his 2020 election loss and the Capitol riot by his supporters, Trump has spent the last four years reshaping Republican politics, installing loyalists, including his daughter-in-law Lara Trump, atop the Republican National Committee, and effectively crushing dissent within the party.
He scored another victory on Monday as a judge dismissed one of the criminal cases against him, concerning accusations he endangered national security by holding on to top-secret documents after leaving the White House.
