Former President Donald Trump on Thursday delivered a prime-time address in Milwaukee before the audience of the Republican National Convention — his first speech since his assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally over the weekend.
Trump, who at the start of his speech struck a more somber tone, speaking about the shooting and how he planned to govern for all Americans, then reverted to his old, divisive talking points, dispelling any suggestion that he was a changed man following his near-death experience.
Trump attacked top Democrats, including President Joe Biden and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, repeated his false claims that the 2020 election result was illegitimate and spewed anti-immigrant rhetoric.
Read more on the highlights of his over 92-minute speech below.
Trump Recounted His Assassination Attempt
Shortly after accepting the Republican nomination, Trump spoke about the shooting at his Butler, Pennsylvania, rally on Saturday, saying this would be the last time he would recount the experience “because it’s actually too painful to tell.”
Trump has worn a bandage throughout the convention on his right ear, which was wounded during the assassination attempt.
“I heard a loud whizzing sound and felt something hit me really, really hard on my right ear,” he said. “I said to myself, ‘Wow, what was that? It can only be a bullet,’ and moved my right hand to my ear, brought it down. My hand was covered with blood.”
He also praised the Secret Service agents who rushed to the stage in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.
“The Secret Service agents were putting themselves in peril, they were in very dangerous territory, bullets flying over them missing them by a small amount of inches,” he said.
The former president paid tribute to Corey Comperatore, the firefighter who was killed at the rally when he tried to shield his family from the gunman.
“There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for others,” Trump said.
He briefly stepped away from the podium to pose with Comperatore’s firefighter suit and kiss the late man’s helmet.
He Attacked Democrats, Singling Out Biden And Pelosi
Trump turned to his sons, Eric and Donald Trump Jr., praising them for the speeches they delivered at the convention, before claiming that the two men “got subpoenaed more than any people probably in the history of the United States,” and putting the blame for that on Pelosi.
“Every week they get another subpoena from the Democrats, crazy Nancy Pelosi,” Trump said. “They’ve got to stop that because they’re destroying our country.”
He then went on call out Biden, who is recovering from Covid-19 at his home in Delaware, accusing him of doing “unthinkable” damage to the country.
“If you took the 10 worst presidents in the history of the United States,” Trump said, “they will not have done the damage that Biden has done.”
Biden has had a tough week as pressure continues to build on him to drop out of the presidential race over concerns about his age and mental acuity following his poor performance at the CNN debate late last month.
Trump Repeated His 2020 Election Lies
Trump, who has baselessly claimed the 2020 election was stolen from him, repeated the lie before the crowd Thursday evening.
“We had that horrible, horrible result that we’ll never let happen again,” he said. “The election result, we’re never going to let that happen again.”
He then appeared to suggest that Democrats “used Covid to cheat” in the election despite no evidence of widespread fraud in the presidential race.
Trump was impeached and criminally charged for his efforts to undo Biden’s win in 2020.
He Leaned Into Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric
The Republican presidential nominee leaned into his anti-immigrant rhetoric, claiming the “greatest invasion in history is taking place right here in our country,” as he blamed the Biden administration for the condition of the US Southern border.
“They are coming in from every corner of the earth,” he said. “They’re coming at levels that we’ve never seen before. It is an invasion indeed and this administration does absolutely nothing to stop them.”
The former president then cited the movie Silence of the Lambs, and the “late, great Hannibal Lecter,” in an attempt to frame asylum-seekers in the US as criminals from mental health facilities.
He also accused undocumented immigrants of taking jobs away from Americans, including from the Black and Hispanic population.
“Americans are being squeezed out of the labour force and their jobs are taken,” he said.
“And you know who’s being hurt the most from the millions of people pouring into our country?” he asked. “The Black population and the Hispanic population.”
Trump Claimed He’s ‘The One Saving Democracy’
The former president, who is accused of trying to overthrow the result of a legitimate election, claimed he’s saving US democracy.
The Democratic Party should “immediately stop weaponizing the justice system and labelling their political opponent as an enemy of democracy, especially since that is not true,” Trump said. “In fact, I am the one saving democracy for the people of our country.”
He made special mention of Aileen Cannon, the Florida judge who dismissed the classified documents case against him, calling her “highly respected.”
Trump celebrated the development, blasting the case as “fake,” as he accused Democrats of orchestrating his legal troubles.
“If Democrats want to unify our country, they should drop these partisan witch hunts, which I have been going through for approximately eight years, and they should do that without delay and allow an election to proceed that is worthy of our people.”
“We’re going to win it anyway,” he added.