Donald Trump Appears At Convention With Bandaged Ear After Shooting

Donald Trump received a hero’s welcome Monday when he entered the Republican National Convention venue with a bandaged right ear, his first public appearance since being wounded in a weekend assassination attempt.

Hours after receiving the formal Republican presidential nomination and announcing right-wing Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate, Trump marched into Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum, flanked by aides, and waved at supporters on the first day of what is expected to be a triumphant rally.

Trump, who is scheduled to deliver a formal acceptance speech on Thursday, took his seat to the music of country artist Lee Greenwood’s patriotic anthem “God Bless the USA” without saying anything, but he appeared deeply moved by the rapt ovation he received from a crowded audience.

“It was absolutely amazing. I mean, just thinking what he’s been through, and to come here today because he really cares,” Illinois delegate Susan Sweeney told AFP on the convention floor.

It was the second big moment of the day for the Republican throng, which had cheered earlier when Trump named Vance, 39, as his vice presidential pick, honoring a former harsh critic who has become one of his most steadfast followers.

While Trump, 78, is growing optimistic of a surprise return to the White House despite several legal issues and two impeachments during his first term, President Joe Biden is dealing with low poll numbers and Democratic fears about his health.

Vance, the standard-bearer for a new type of populism that has emerged under Trump, is also one of the least experienced vice presidential nominees in recent history.

However, he supports the former president’s isolationist, anti-immigrant America First movement and is even more conservative than his new employer on several topics, such as abortion, where he supports federal action.

Strong polling

He first gained recognition with the 2016 memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” a best-selling chronicle of his Appalachian family and modest Rust Belt upbringing that gave voice to rural, working-class angst in left-behind America.

Turning his back on earlier Republican opposition to Trump, whom he once called “America’s Hitler,” Vance rebuilt himself and eventually secured the former president’s backing in the 2022 Ohio Senate race, commencing his stratospheric rise.

50,000 Republicans gathered on the shores of Lake Michigan for the four-day convention, four months before the election.

The meeting comes as the country is recovering from a failed attempt by a shooter to assassinate Trump at a rally in Butler, western Pennsylvania, on Saturday.

The attack, which killed one bystander and left Trump with a damaged ear requiring a bandage, was anticipated to dominate proceedings.

Despite being convicted in his hush-money criminal case in New York, Trump is confidently leading many surveys.

Meanwhile, Biden, 81, is under pressure from his own party to drop out of the race due to age concerns.

His campaign issued a statement claiming that the Trump-Vance platform will “take away Americans’ rights, hurt the middle class, and make life more expensive — all while benefiting the ultra-rich and greedy corporations.”

Message of unity

Trump told the New York Post that he had “prepared an extremely tough speech” against Biden’s “horrible administration” to give at the convention.

As some Republicans, including Vance, attempted to blame the attack on Democrats’ anti-Trump rhetoric, Trump said he had rejected that narrative in favor of one that he thinks will “unite our country.”

Still, he must control his propensity to settle scores, as evidenced by his call for supporters to “fight” in the seconds following Saturday’s attack.

Trump, a reduced figure from his 2020 election loss and the accompanying riot by his fans at the Capitol, has spent most of the last four years changing Republican politics.

The tycoon has essentially crushed dissent within the Republican National Committee by putting loyalists, including his daughter-in-law Lara Trump, in charge.

He won another success Monday when a court rejected one of the criminal cases against him, which involved allegations that he jeopardized national security by keeping top secret materials after leaving the White House.

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