Donald Trump delivers speech at RNC for first time since assassination attempt
Donald Trump makes surprise appearance at Republican National Convention, moves audience to tears.
Former US President Donald Trump climbs up the Republican National Convention on its last day. He will be giving a speech for the first time since the assassination attempt.
The 78-year-old former president, typically known for his bold and aggressive rhetoric, began his acceptance speech with a softer, deeply personal message drawn directly from his recent brush with death.
Trump stated, “If I had not moved my head at that very last instant, the assassin’s bullet would have perfectly hit its mark.”
“I'm not supposed to be here tonight,” he said. The crowd emcee said, “Yes, you are.”
“I stand before you this arena only by the grace of Almighty God,” Trump continued. Some of the audience even got emotional and started crying.
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Trump made history with longest convention speech
Trump’s address was the longest convention speech in modern history, and it was just under 93 minutes. “The discord and division in our society must be healed. We must heal it quickly. As Americans, we are bound together by a single fate and a shared destiny. We rise together. Or we fall apart,” Trump said, wearing a large white bandage on his right ear to cover a wound from the Saturday shooting.
“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.”
While his tone was gentler than at his usual rallies, Trump outlined an agenda featuring what he promised would be the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. He repeatedly accused people crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally of staging an “invasion.” He also hinted at new tariffs on trade and an "America first" foreign policy.
Trump reiterated false claims that Democrats cheated during the 2020 election he lost, despite numerous federal and state investigations proving no systemic fraud. He suggested, “we must not criminalize dissent or demonize political disagreement,” even though he has long called for prosecutions of his opponents.
He did not address abortion rights, Nor did he mention the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when Trump supporters tried to stop the certification of his loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
The former POTUS barely mentioned Biden, often referring only to the “current administration.”
