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Donald Trump took the stage on Thursday night at the Republican National Convention like a conquering hero. He had cheated death. His Democratic opponents were tearing themselves apart.<\/b><\/p>\n
His loyalists, who now fill the ranks of his party, packed the Milwaukee arena and cheered enthusiastically throughout his hour-and-a-half speech.<\/p>\n
He pledged to serve all Americans if elected then recounted, in a subdued, but almost messianic tone, his brush with a spray of bullets. Some delegates even wore bandages over their right ears like their injured political idol in tribute to him.<\/p>\n
“I stand before you in this arena only by the grace of almighty God,\u201d he said. \u201cOver the last few days, many people have said it was a providential moment.\u201d He spoke of dropping to the ground as bullets flew past him and how his supporters had \u201cgreat sorrow on their faces\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I rose, surrounded by Secret Service, the crowd was confused because they thought I was dead,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The unity message and its powerful delivery made for a unique convention speech and a remarkable Trump one. But the rest of his speech was more traditional convention fare.<\/p>\n
Although he called for ending the \u201cpartisan witch hunts\u201d against him, he avoided the extended forays into 2020 election denial that have at times dominated his rally speeches, and he mostly replaced his normal pointed attacks on individual opponents with calls for unity.<\/p>\n
There was classic Trump in there too – dark and false claims, sometimes during extended improvisations.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s performance hinted that for all the talk of a changed man after the attempt on his life and for all the more organised, focused operation behind him, the former president is still inclined to veer off-script, even in the most momentous of occasions.<\/p>\n
The question many Americans could be wondering now is which version of Trump will lead the country should he beat Democrat Joe Biden in November. Looking back at the last four days offers some clues.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nDonald Trump received a warm welcome as he entered the convention<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n\n
The address, weakly delivered though it may have been, still represented the culmination of a remarkable stretch for the former president, starting with President Joe Biden\u2019s disastrous presidential debate performance in Atlanta three weeks ago that prompted an uprising in his Democratic Party.<\/p>\n
Since then, the US Supreme Court ruled that Trump had broad immunity from criminal prosecution, a judge delayed sentencing for his New York conviction in a hush-money case and another judge entirely dismissed the case against him for mishandling national security documents.<\/p>\n
Then he was nearly assassinated. The attempt on his life by a 20-year-old gunman left Trump\u2019s face bloodied and provided the iconic image that was emblazoned on T-shirts and signs at the convention.<\/p>\n
All of this meant he and his supporters converged on Milwaukee with a sense that their time had come.<\/p>\n
For four slickly produced and relentlessly on-message evenings, the Republican party positioned itself as a welcoming place for all Americans and the former president as a uniting force who would return the nation to greatness.<\/p>\n
While there were still partisan speakers throwing red meat to the crowd, they were largely limited to the early-evening slots, when fewer Americans were tuned in to the proceedings.<\/p>\n
As the final hour each night arrived, the focus softened and a string of speakers described the former president in deeply personal terms.<\/p>\n
It began on Monday, with Trump receiving an exuberant welcome as he entered the convention centre for his first public appearance since the shooting.<\/p>\n
He sat in the VIP section of the building and watched as model and social media influencer Amber Rose defended him against accusations of racism: \u201cDonald Trump and his supporters don’t care if you’re black, white, gay or straight.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders recounted Trump hugging her young son at the White House while Lara Trump painted her father-in-law as \u201can amazing grandfather\u201d.<\/p>\n
Earlier that evening, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who had been one of Trump\u2019s fiercest critics on the 2024 Republican primary campaign trail, was urging voters who didn\u2019t support Trump \u201c100% of the time\u201d to back his re-election.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen times are really tough, when he\u2019s got everything to lose and nothing to gain,\u201d Steve Witkoff, a friend of the former president, told the audience, \u201cDonald Trump shows up, and he\u2019s there for you.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nA Republican official said Trump would be \u201cdifferent, better and more effective\u201d during a second presidential term<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n\n
Trump\u2019s first term in office was marked by sharp political divisions within American society. The day after he was inaugurated, millions marched through the streets of Washington in protest.<\/p>\n
His attempts to ban nationals from a list of Muslim-majority countries caused chaos at American airports early in his presidency and border restrictions implemented later led to an outcry about crying children separated from their parents at detention centres.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s four years in office ended with him refusing to accept his defeat in the presidential election \u2013 denialism that culminated in the 6 January riot at the US Capitol, where thousands of his supporters attempted to block certification of President Biden\u2019s victories.<\/p>\n
He was denounced by many in his own party, and faced a second impeachment by the House of Representatives. Although he was acquitted in a Senate trial, seven Republicans broke ranks and voted for his conviction. After leaving office, the former president was indicted four times, found culpable for sexual assault by a civil court and convicted of fraud.<\/p>\n
That was then, however, and here in Wisconsin \u2013 within the security bubble of the Republican National Convention \u2013 it was decidedly different now.<\/p>\n
The overriding message from the Republicans this week was that those divisions and distractions are things of the past, and that the Trump that America sees today is not the one they might remember from his first White House tenure. <\/p>\n
If the rest of the nation agrees, it would represent a remarkable comeback story or a collective act of political amnesia, depending on one\u2019s perspective.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that we really now are the party of unity and inclusiveness,\u201d said Jennifer McGrath, a delegate from Las Vegas, Nevada. \u201cWe really are the place to be at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n
David Botkins, a member of the Virginian Republican Party\u2019s State Central Committee, said he thought the assassination attempt had changed Trump and that he would be \u201cdifferent, better and more effective\u201d in a second presidential term.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the policies are going to be the same, the conservatism is going to be the same, but there may be a tenderness and a compassion and a gratitude and a respect for divine providence that will inform the tone with which he conducts himself as president for the next four years.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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