Trump said this in his first public speech following the failed attempt on his life.
“I stand before you this evening with a message of confidence, strength, and hope,” Trump told an ecstatic crowd in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
“Four months from now, we will have an incredible victory, and we will begin the four greatest years in the history of our country.”
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“Together, we will launch a new era of safety, prosperity and freedom for citizens of every race, religion, colour and creed,” Trump said.
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.
Trump, 78, formally accepted his party’s nomination as the presidential candidate for the Nov. 5 elections, where he is set to face off against incumbent Joe Biden.
He is set to run together with vice presidential candidate JD Vance, a senator from Ohio who is some 40 years younger than Trump.
Vance, a rising star within the Republican Party and a former fierce critic who has since wholeheartedly embraced Trump.
Trump’s official nomination as the Republican presidential candidate came just two days after the failed attempt on his life.
During a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, a shooter was able to climb to an elevated position with an assault rifle and fire a number of shots at Trump, wounding him in the ear while one spectator was killed.
Trump, left bleeding, struck a defiant tone as he pumped his fist while being whisked off the stage.
Wearing a white bandage on his right ear, Trump has joined the four-day party conference in person every night to standing ovations.
The shooting upended what had already been a tumultuous campaign season, dominated by Trump’s criminal trials and concerns about the candidates’ age.
Accepting the nomination
AP reports that Donald Trump, somber and bandaged, accepted the GOP presidential nomination on Thursday at the Republican National Convention in a speech that described in detail the assassination attempt that could have ended his life just five days earlier before laying out a sweeping populist agenda, particularly on immigration.
The 78-year-old former president, known best for his bombast and aggressive rhetoric, began his acceptance speech with a softer and deeply personal message that drew directly from his brush with death. Moment by moment, the crowd listening in silence, Trump described standing onstage in Butler, Pennsylvania, with his head turned to look at a chart on display when he felt something hit his ear. He raised his hand to his head and saw immediately that it was covered in blood.
“If I had not moved my head at that very last instant, the assassin’s bullet would have perfectly hit its mark,” Trump said. “And I would not be here tonight. We would not be together.
Trump’s address, the longest convention speech in modern history at just under 93 minutes, marked the climax and conclusion of a massive four-day Republican pep rally that drew thousands of conservative activists and elected officials to swing-state Wisconsin as voters weigh an election that currently features two deeply unpopular candidates. Sensing political opportunity in the wake of his near-death experience, the often bombastic Republican leader embraced a new tone he hopes will help generate even more momentum in an election that appears to be shifting in his favor.
