Donald Trump’s voice cracked with emotion on Thursday night as he described the moment an assassin’s bullet sliced through his ear.
‘I’m not supposed to be here,’ he told his supporters at the Republican convention in Milwaukee.
‘Yes you are, yes you are,’ chanted the crowd.
Friends, aides and his family say the experience changed a former president known for his barnstorming rally speeches and punchy language.
In Thursday’s speech he led a moment’s silence for firefighter Corey Comperatore who died in the shooting, described how he survived only by the grace of God and called for a united nation.
Donald Trump expressed gratitude for an outpouring of love after being wounded by an assassin’s bullet when he addressed the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee
‘The discord and division in our society must be healed. As Americans, we are bound together by a single fate and a shared destiny. We rise together. Or we fall apart,’ he said.
‘I am running to be president for all of America, not half of America, because there is no victory in winning for half of America.’
Trump has allowed a more emotional side of himself to be seen this week. And in his convention speech he described the pain he felt in talking about the shooting.
‘Let me begin this evening by expressing my gratitude to the American people for your outpouring of love and support following the assassination attempt at my rally on Saturday,’ he said.
‘As you already know, the assassin’s bullet came within a quarter of an inch of taking my life. So many people have asked me what happened, and therefore, I’ll tell you what happened, and you’ll never hear it from me a second time, because it’s too painful to tell.’
He went on to describe in graphic terms how he realized he was under attack.
‘I heard a loud whizzing sound and felt something hit me really, really hard on my right ear,’ he said in an almost disbelieving tone.
‘I said to myself, Wow, what was that? It can only be a bullet, and moved my right hand to my ear, brought it down. My hand was covered with blood.’
Trump is the master of the big entrance and Thursday was no exception as his name lit up
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
The floor of the arena quieted to silence. Tears streamed down more than one face. Even the exuberant Wisconsin delegation, who found any excuse to wave their Cheesehead hats, were stilled.
‘I felt very safe because I had God on my side,’ he said, thanking the Secret Service agents who put their own bodies on the line as more gunshots sounded.
‘And then it all stopped,’ he continued, marveling at the way the shooter was taken down at distance by a single Secret Service bullet from a sniper’s rifle.
For all the new, softer tone, the evening was still very much a red-blooded Trump occasion.
Hulk Hogan ripped off his shirt, three speakers praised the former president’s golfing prowess, and Kid Rock added a chant of ‘fight, fight’ and a line about ‘No Show Joe;’ to his classic hit ‘American Bad Ass.’
And even in his most somber moment Trump managed to lighten the mood with a fact he learned after being wounded.
‘If something happens with the ears, they bleed more than any other part of the body, for whatever reason, the doctors told me that,’ he said.
‘So we learn something.’
Before Trump spoke, Hulk Hogan electrified the crowd by ripping off his shirt to expose hie Trump-Vance campaign vest
The delegates, organized by state on the arena floor, from Hawaii at one end to Delaware at the other, lapped it up with delight.’
After describing the shooting, Trump transitioned into one of his rally-style speeches, talking up his administration’s achievements, hammering Biden for inflation and promising to deport illegal immigrants.
Once again it provided a stunning split screen view of American politics.
As the 78-year-old former president basked in the adoration of his supporters, his 81-year-old rival Joe Biden was holed up at his Delaware beach home with COVID-19, fighting for his political life as his party tries to move on and find a better candidate for the election.
Once again, Trump holds the Republican Party in the palm of his hand.
Yet that was far from certain when he announced in 2022 that he was running for the White House again.
He had lost the 2020 election and alienated allies by his desperate attempt to hang on to power.
Former first lady Melania Trump joined her husband on Thursday evening as he signed the paperwork to officially accept the Republican nomination
Donald Trump arrived for the final night of the Republican convention in Milwaukee with an iron grip on the party just days after an assassin’s bullet sliced through his ear
Days before he launched his election campaign the Republican Party’s ‘red wave’ had evaporated in the midterms. Strategists blamed the disappointing results on Trump’s hardline policies and role in overturning constitutional protections on abortion rights.
Four sets of criminal charges followed and a conviction in New York court.
Yet his grip on his party is now stronger than Biden’s. And the shooting on Saturday helped bring in even doubters like Nikki Haley, who had called him ‘unhinged’ during their bitter primary contest.
John Fredericks, radio host and Trump confidant, said the party was changing in the wake of the assassination attempt just as its leader had changed.
‘You can’t go through a near-death experience, survive death by a millimeter by turning your head by the hand of God and not change your perspective on a lot of different things,’ he said.
In two weeks, he said, the ‘lock him up’ chants and calls for retribution would be history.
Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump, Lara Trump, Eric Luke Trump, and Carolina Dorothy Trump look on
A supporter wearing an ear bandage in solidarity with former President Donald Trump
Thursday was president’s day. Trump’s fingerprints were all over the program, with three employees and a son on the schedule.
The speakers described as ‘everyday Americans’ included his West Palm Beach golf club chief pro John Nieporte, who praised his ‘perfect swing.’
His lawyer Alina Habba had a slot (‘one heck of a golf swing), had a speaking slot as did his one of his closest friends Steve Witkoff, a real estate mogul.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said Trump was the right man for the times and that his takeover of the party was never in doubt.
‘He’s a strong leader at a dangerous time for the country and we need that kind of leadership,’ he said, as he patrolled the floor of the convention, stopping for selfies. ‘I think that’s what’s energized everyone.
‘After the assassination attempt the emotion behind him and the support is even stronger.’