Donald Trump was greeted with chants of ‘fight, fight, fight,’ as he strode into the Republican convention on Saturday barely two days after surviving an assassination attempt.
The former president wore a bandage on his right ear where the bullet fired by Thomas Matthew Crooks ripped through his skin.
It could have been his wake, but after officially securing his nomination and anointing Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate, Trump arrived for a celebration.
He walked to the ‘family suite’ of oversized armchairs, surrounded by the royal family of MAGA: Vance, his sons Eric and Don Jr. (who had tears in his eyes), daughter Tiffany, former Fox news anchor Tucker Carlson and other senior Republicans.
‘FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT’
And his supporters echoed the defiant words he used on Saturday when he picked himself up from the ground, his face bloodied. ‘Fight, fight, fight,’ echoed through the arena.
He was not on the speaking schedule but stayed to watch the final speeches of the night. ‘They wanted tonight to be his funeral,’ said Angie Wong, a delegate from Florida, as the strains of ‘God Bless the USA’ died away.
‘Instead they got the Super Bowl of politics: A nomination and a VP pick.’
WHAT NEXT FOR TRUMP?
Trump earlier said he was intent on continuing with his planned schedule, refusing to let a crazed gunman throw his schedule off track.
But he looked overawed as he raised his fist in salute to the crowd.
And, for a man who sees a stony face as the sign of a president, he showed real flashes of vulnerability and gratitude at the adoration on display.
His audience’s noisy reaction was a reminder of the way Trump has upended the norms of American politics. This was not a reception for a politician but a reception reserved for a rock star or a fundamentalist preacher or someone who had rolled the rock aside himself.
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As Sen. Tim Scott put it earlier in the day: ‘If you didn’t believe in miracles before Saturday—you better be believing right now…Because on Saturday, the devil came to Pennsylvania holding a rifle—but an AMERICAN LION got back up on his feet, and he ROARRRRRRRRED…’
By the time Trump made his unscheduled appearance the crowd was primed and ready. He didn’t even need to speak—that comes Thursday—to hold the crowd rapt.
Donald Trump became the official Republican presidential nominee on Monday.
