Donald Trump made a triumphant entrance to cap the first day of the Republican National Convention, receiving a raucous ovation from the party faithful days after surviving an assassination attempt that has reshaped the US presidential contest.
The former president walked into the Fiserv Forum in downtown Milwaukee, his ear heavily bandaged from having been grazed by a bullet, hours after he was officially nominated to be the party’s 2024 standard-bearer.
“Fight! Fight! Fight!” the crowd chanted while pumping their fists, echoing Mr Trump’s response in the moments after he was shot. Uncharacteristically subdued, Mr Trump (78) waved from a box where he sat alongside his newly-anointed running mate US senator JD Vance (39).
The attack on Mr Trump raised fears of a more deeply fractured political landscape ahead of the November 5th election. Mr Biden, who has portrayed Mr Trump as a threat to US democracy, condemned the shooting and urged Americans to rely on the ballot box, not violence, to resolve their differences.
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Authorities were still trying to identify a motive for the shooting, after the gunman was killed by the US Secret Service.
In an NBC interview broadcast opposite the convention on Monday evening US time, Mr Biden said he made a mistake by saying Mr Trump should be put in the “bullseye” politically last week, but added that Mr Trump has frequently employed violent rhetoric on the campaign trail.
Mr Biden has ordered an independent review to determine how the gunman could have come so close to killing Mr Trump despite the Secret Service’s heavy security presence.
[ Trump greeted by protests as Republican faithful gather in MilwaukeeOpens in new window ]
The four-day convention will culminate with Mr Trump’s prime-time address on Thursday, when he formally accepts the party’s nomination to face Mr Biden in a rematch of their 2020 race.
The assassination attempt, followed by the convention, has pushed Mr Biden to the background after weeks of speculation about whether he might drop out of the race following a disastrous debate performance last month raised fresh questions about his age and mental acuity.
Mr Biden again rejected the notion on Monday when on NBC, focusing instead on the myriad falsehoods Mr Trump unleashed during the debate. The president has stepped up his unscripted appearances to try to demonstrate his capability but has yet to assuage some Democrats’ fears about his re-election chances.
Mr Trump’s selection of Mr Vance, the author of the bestselling Hillbilly Elegy, completed the Ohio senator’s transformation from an outspoken Trump critic to one of his most loyal supporters. Mr Vance, who shares Trump’s affinity for political brawling, is likely to energise core Republicans, but it is less clear whether he can broaden the ticket’s appeal to moderate and independent voters wary of another Trump term.
Mr Biden called Mr Vance a Trump “clone” on Monday, and Democrats pounced on Mr Vance’s opposition to abortion rights, an issue that has proven damaging to Republicans. In a Fox News appearance on Monday night Mr Vance said he backed Mr Trump’s position that each state should decide for itself whether to permit abortion.
The race between Mr Trump and Mr Biden remains close, according to public opinion polls, though Mr Trump leads in several swing states is likely to decide the election. President Biden was scheduled to make his first public speech since the assassination attempt on Mr Trump. On Tuesday, he was set to address the convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People civil rights group in Las Vegas, Nevada, a swing state that could prove crucial to both campaigns
Meanwhile, Kamala Harris has formally invited JD Vance, the Ohio senator who Donald Trump yesterday named as his running mate, to debate, the Biden-Harris campaign said.
“Vice-President Harris reached out to Senator Vance and left a message to congratulate him on his selection, welcome him to the race and express her hope that the two can meet in the vice-presidential debate proposed by CBS News,” a campaign official said. It is unclear when the debate will happen
Monday began with the latest in a string of recent legal victories for Mr Trump when US district judge Aileen Cannon threw out federal charges in Florida accusing him of illegally retaining classified documents.
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2024