Former President Donald Trump recounted Saturday’s assassination attempt in his acceptance speech on Thursday at the Republican National Convention, as he called for unity and laid out his vision for America.
The crowd roared and jumped to its feet as Trump took the stage with Lee Greenwood singing, God Bless the USA, in the background. The standing ovation went on for several minutes.
“I had God on my side,” Trump said. “I’m not supposed to be here tonight.”
The crowd chanted back to Trump, “Yes, you are.”
“As Americans, we are bound together by a single fate and a shared destiny. We rise together. Or we fall apart.”
“Despite such a heinous attack, we unite this evening more determined than ever. Our resolve is unbroken, and our purpose is unchanged — to deliver a government that serves the American people,” Trump said.
He expressed “gratitude to the American people for your outpouring of love and support following the assassination attempt.”
Trump then described in detail what happened on Saturday, noting, “You’ll never hear it from me a second time, because it’s too painful to tell.”
After describing the attempt on his life, he discussed the other victims of the shooting.
“For the rest of my life, I will be grateful for the love shown by that giant audience of patriots that stood bravely on that fateful evening in Pennsylvania. Tragically, the shooter claimed the life of one of our fellow Americans, Corey Comperatore — unbelievable person, everyone tells me — and seriously wounded, two other great warriors. Spoke to them today. David Dutch and James Copenhaver, two great people.”
“I also spoke to all three families of these tremendous people, are love and prayers are with them,” he added.
Trump said that $6.3 million has been raised thus far for all of the families that were affected by the shooting. Trump asked for a moment of silence in honor of Comperatore.
He then spoke about his record against the Democrats.
“We beat them on the impeachments. We beat them on indictments,” Trump said.
He thanked Milwaukee for hosting the Republican National Convention this week, noting that over $250 million was spent on it, which helped create jobs and further economic development.
“I hope that you will remember this in November and give us your vote,” he said. “I promise we will make Wisconsin great again.”
“I am here tonight to lay out a vision for the whole nation. To every citizen, whether you’re young or old, man or woman, Democrat, Republican, Independent, black or white, Asian, or Hispanic, I extend to you a hand of loyalty and of friendship. Together, we will lead America to new heights of greatness like the world has never seen before,” Trump said.
Trump said he would focus on law and order, peace, lowering taxes, energy independence, tackling inflation, ending foreign conflicts, and securing the southern border.
In one of his few references to his opponent, Trump called President Joe Biden’s leadership “incompetent.”
“We have an inflation crisis that is making life unaffordable, ravaging the incomes of working and low-income families and crushing, just simply crushing our people,” Trump said. “I will end the devastating inflation crisis immediately, bring down interest rates, and lower the cost of energy. We will drill, baby, drill.”
Trump slammed the illegal alien “invasion” at the southern border, calling it an “immigration crisis” and pledging to put a stop to it.
“Less than four years ago, I handed this administration the strongest border in American history,” Trump said. “The current administration terminated every single one of those great Trump policies that I put in place to seal the border.”
“The greatest invasion in history is taking place right here in our country — they are coming in from every corner of the earth, not just from South America, but from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East — they’re coming from everywhere, and this administration does nothing to stop them,” Trump said.
He talked about unfair trade agreements.
“We’ve long been taken advantage of by other countries,” Trump said, pointing to his accomplishments in the area of trade agreements, including renegotiating NAFTA into the USMCA.
“We will not let countries come in, take our jobs, and plunder our nation,” he said. “I will bring back the American Dream.”
Trump promised, “The United States will be respected again. No nation will question our power. No enemy will doubt our might.”
“It is time for a change,” Trump said. “We simply cannot sustain four more years of this administration.”
Trump ended the speech with a promise to make America great again.