MILWAUKEE.- The Republican National Convention resumes Tuesday with a focus on immigration, a central theme to former President Donald Trump’s image that helped popularize him when he launched his first presidential campaign in 2015.
Two days after surviving an assassination attempt, Trump appeared triumphant on the opening night of the convention with his right ear bandaged, the latest shocking image in an election campaign already marked by dramatic reversals.
Delegates cheered and cheered loudly as Trump appeared first on screen and then in person on stage, visibly emotional as musician Lee Greenwood sang “God Bless the USA.” That was hours after the convention formally nominated the former president as its candidate to challenge President Joe Biden in the November election.
Trump, escorted by a phalanx of Secret Service agents on Monday, did not speak on stage — his speech is scheduled for Thursday — but smiled quietly and occasionally waved as Greenwood sang.He eventually joined his newly chosen running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, for the evening’s speeches, his expression quiet and his reactions sparse, uncharacteristic of the expressive showman.
The enthusiastic welcome reflected the depth of the crowd’s affection for the man who won the nomination in 2016 as a political neophyte, at odds with the party’s more traditional strands, but who has now defeated all his internal rivals, silenced conservative critics and now enjoys unconditional loyalty at every level of the party.
“We must come together as a party, and we must come together as a nation,” said Trump’s hand-picked party chairman Michael Whatley as he opened the convention Monday night. “We must show the same strength and resilience that President Trump demonstrated and lead this nation into a greater future.”
But Whatley and other Republican leaders made clear that their calls for harmony do not extend to Biden and Democrats, who remain divided over whether the 81-year-old president is capable of defeating Trump.
“Your politicians are a clear and present danger to America, to our institutions, to our values, to our people,” said Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, welcoming the convention to his state, which Trump won in 2016 and lost in 2020.
Source: With information from AP/EDITORIAL