Former President Donald Trump recounted the assassination attempt that nearly killed him during his Republican National Convention acceptance speech in Milwaukee on Thursday night.
“I’m not supposed to be here tonight,” said a somber Trump, with a bandage covering his right ear, which was nicked by a bullet. “As you already know, the assassin’s bullet came within a quarter of an inch of taking my life.”
“I stand before you by the grace of almighty God,” Trump told the said before approaching and kissing the fire chief’s helmet of Corey Comperatore, who was killed in the shooting in Butler Township, Pennsylvania, during a campaign rally Saturday.
“As Americans, we are bound together by a single fate and a shared destiny. We rise together. Or we fall apart,” said Trump on the eve of the eighth anniversary of his first nomination for the presidency.
“Despite such a heinous attack, we unite this evening more determined than ever. Our resolve is unbroken, and our purpose is unchanged — to deliver a government that serves the American people,” Trump said.
Trump also expressed his “gratitude to the American people for your outpouring of love and support following the assassination attempt.”
Former US President and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump kisses a helmet and firefighter’s jacket that belonged to Corey Comperatore, who was fatally shot at a rally where Trump survived an assassination attempt, as he accepts his party’s nomination on the last day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 18, 2024.
Kamil Krzaczynski | AFP | Getty Images
“I am here tonight to lay out a vision for the whole nation,” Trump said. “To every citizen, whether you are young or old, man or woman, Democrat, Republican, or Independent, black or white, Asian or Hispanic, I extend to you a hand of loyalty and friendship.”
Throughout the speech, Trump did not once mention President Joe Biden by name — a striking, deliberate omission.
As of late Thursday, Biden remained the presumptive Democratic nominee. But the omission of Biden’s name underscored the very real possibility that Biden might not be on the ballot in November.
Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks on Day 4 of the Republican National Convention (RNC), at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S., July 18, 2024.
Brian Snyder | Reuters
Biden is under strong pressure by leading Democrats and rank-and-file members of Congress to drop out of the election contest due to his dismal performance against Trump in a debate last month, and increasing concerns that he is less mentally sharp than even several years ago.
Despite not mentioning Biden’s name, Trump blasted the president’s performance over the past three-and-a-half years, particularly when it came to Biden’s border policy.
“Less than four years ago, I handed this administration the strongest border in American history,” Trump said. “The current administration terminated every single one of those great Trump policies that I put in place to seal the border.”
“The greatest invasion in history is taking place right here in our country — they are coming in from every corner of the earth, not just from South America, but from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East — they’re coming from everywhere, and this administration does nothing to stop them,” Trump said.
Former US First Lady Melania Trump waves as she arrives and US Senator from Ohio and 2024 Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance applauds during the last day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 18, 2024.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images
He said the United States has “an inflation crisis that is making life unaffordable, ravaging the incomes of working and low-income families.”
Trump promised the RNC that if elected “the United States will be respected again.”
“No nation will question our power. No enemy will doubt our might.”
Trump’s call for national unity and an end to “discord and division” come nearly four years after he refused to accept the results of the 2020 election, which he lost as a one-term incumbent to President Joe Biden, falsely claiming he was the victim of widespread ballot fraud.
Trump, who has demonized Democrats and other opponents as fascists and communists, led a rally on Jan. 6, 2021, where he urged followers to march on the U.S. Capitol to oppose the certification of Biden’s victory.
Trump’s followers then stormed the Capitol, invading the halls of Congress, injuring more than 100 police officers as they delayed for hours the confirmation of his defeat by Biden. Trump’s vice president Mike Pence, who presided over the joint session of Congress that day, hid from the mob that Trump for hours refused to call off.
In his speech Thursday, Trump relied on an apocalyptic vision of the world, as he has done for years.
“Here is an international crisis the likes of which the world has seldom seen,” Trump said. “War is now raging in Europe and the Middle East, a growing specter of conflict hangs over Taiwan, Korea, the Philippines, and all of Asia, and our planet is teetering on the edge of World War Three, and this will be a war like no other.”
“It is time for a change,” Trump said. “We simply cannot sustain four more years of this administration.”