Former President Donald Trump emerged triumphantly at the Republican National Convention’s opening night with a bandage over his right ear, two days after surviving an attempted assassination, in the latest captivating spectacle in a presidential campaign marked by dramatic events.
GOP delegates erupted in applause as Trump appeared screened backstage and then emerged in the arena, deeply moved, as singer Lee Greenwood sang “God Bless the USA.” That came hours after the convention formally nominated the former president to lead the Republican ticket in November against President Joe Biden.
The convention resumes Tuesday, when the focus shifts to immigration, an issue central to Trump’s political brand that helped endear him to the GOP base when he began his first campaign in 2015.
Trump, accompanied by a wall of Secret Service agents Monday, did not address the hall — with his acceptance speech scheduled for Thursday — but smiled silently and occasionally waved as Greenwood sang. He eventually joined his newly announced running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, to listen to the night’s remaining speeches, often with a subdued expression and muted reactions uncharacteristic for the unabashed showman.
“We must unite as a party, and we must unite as a nation,” said Republican Party Chairman Michael Whatley, Trump’s handpicked party leader, as he opened Monday’s prime-time national convention session. “We must show the same strength and resilience as President Trump and lead this nation to a greater future.
But Whatley and other Republican leaders made clear that their calls for harmony did not extend to Biden and Democrats, who find themselves still riven by worries that the 81-year-old question is not up to the job of defeating Trump.
“Their policies are a clear and present danger to America, to our institutions, our values and our people,” said Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, welcoming the party to his battleground state, which Trump won in 2016 but lost to Biden four years ago.
Trump’s campaign chiefs designed the convention to feature a softer and more optimistic message, focusing on themes that would help a divisive leader expand his appeal among moderate voters and people of color.
