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“I’m not supposed to be here,” Donald Trump told rousing crowds on Monday during his first speech since the assassination attempt on his life.
“Yes you are, yes you are,” was the response from the thousands gathered at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, to which the former US President replied: “Thank you, but I’m not. And I’ll tell you, I stand before you in this arena only by the grace of Almighty God.”
During the 90-minute-long keynote speech in which the presidential hopeful officially accepted the Republican nomination, Trump asked the audience to observe a moment of silence for Corey Compertore, the firefighter who lost his life in Saturday’s shooting. Mr Compertore’s uniform and helmet was displayed onstage, with Mr Trump kissing the deceased’s helmets moments before the arena fell silent for a moment’s silence.
During Thursday night’s convention, Trump relayed in extensive detail the story of almost losing his life, adding that he would never tell the story again because it would be too painful.
He expressed thanks for the “outpouring of love and support” from the American people in the wake of the attack at Saturday’s rally in what was the longest-ever convention acceptance address.
“As you already know, the assassin’s bullet came within a quarter of an inch of taking my life,” he said. “So many people have asked me, ‘What happened? Tell us what happened, please,’ and therefore I will tell you exactly what happened. And you’ll never hear it from me a second time because it’s actually too painful to tell.”
‘I HEARD A LOUD WHIZZING SOUND – AND FELT SOMETHING HIT ME’
Retelling the incident in detail, he told crowds: “It was a warm, beautiful day in the early evening in Butler in the great commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Music was loudly playing and the campaign was doing very well. I went to the stage and the crowd was cheering wildly. Everybody was happy. I began speaking very strongly, powerfully, and happily, because I was discussing the great job my administration did on immigration at the southern border. We were very proud of it.
“Behind me, and to the right, was a large screen that was displaying a chart of border crossings under my leadership – the numbers were absolutely amazing. In order to see the chart i started to – like this (tilting head) – turn to my right, and was ready to begin a little bit further turn, which I’m very lucky I didn’t do, when I heard a loud whizzing sound, and felt something hit me really, really hard on my right ear,” a the sombre and bandaged Republican nominee 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, just absolutely blood all over the place. I immediately knew that it was very serious, that we were under attack. And in one movement, proceeded to drop to the ground. Bullets were continuing to fly, as very brave secret service agents rushed to the stage – and they really did, they rushed to the stage.These are great people. And at great risk, I will tell you. [They] pounced on top of me so that I would be protected. There was blood pouring everywhere and yet, in a certain way, I felt very safe because I had God on my side. I felt that.”
During the marathon speech, Trump went on to describe as “incredible” the fact that the crowd in Pennsylvania remained calm, and did not run for the exits. This, he claimed, saved “many lives.”
“The amazing thing is that, prior to the shot, if I had not moved my head at that very last instant, the assassin’s bullet would have perfectly hit its mark. And I would not be here tonight. We would not be together. The most incredible aspect of what took place on that terrible evening in the fading sun was actually seen later. In almost all cases, as you probably know, and even when a single bullet is fired – just a single bullet – and we had many bullets that were being fired, crowds run for the exits or stampede. But not in this case. It was very unusual,” Trump said.
Standing in front of an image of the White House and a photograph of himself seconds after the shooting, Trump claimed that the crowd thought he was dead – as he recounted waving his clenched fist in the air to show them he was ok.
“This massive crowd of tens of thousands of people stood by and didn’t move an inch. In fact, many of them bravely, but automatically, stood up, looking for where the sniper could be. They knew immediately it was a sniper. And then began pointing at him – you can see that looking at the group behind me. That was just a small group compared to what was in front.
“Nobody ran, and by not stampeding, many lives were saved. But that isn’t the reason that they didn’t move. The reason is that they knew that I was in very serious trouble. They saw it, they saw me go down, they saw the blood and thought, actually most did, that I was dead. They knew it was a shot to the head – they saw the blood.
“This beautiful crowd, they didn’t want to leave me. They knew I was in trouble. They didn’t want to leave me, and you can see that love written all over their faces. They’re incredible people. Bullets were flying over us yet I felt serene. But now the secret service agents were putting themselves in peril. They were in very dangerous territory – bullets were flying all over them, missing them by a very small amount of inches. And then it all stopped. Our secret service sniper, from a much greater distance, and with only one bullet used, took the assassin’s life – took him out.”
After telling his supporters that he was “not supposed to be” at the convention, and that his life had only been saved by the grace of God, Mr Trump went on to reference how many people who had been watching the news reports said that his survival was “a providential moment.”
“It probably was,” he said. “When I rose, surrounded by secret service, the crowd was confused because they thought I was dead. And there was great, great sorrow on their faces. I could see that as I looked down.They didn’t know I was looking down. They thought it was over but I could see it. I was looking down;I wanted to do something to let them know I was ok. I raised my right arm and looked at the thousands and thousands of people that were breathlessly waiting and started shouting, ‘Fight, fight, fight.”
“Once my clenched fist went up and it was high into the air – you’ve all seen that – the crowd realised I was ok and roared with pride for our country like no crowd I have ever heard before. I’ve never heard anything like it. 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.”
Later on in the address, Mr Trump insisted that “the world was at peace when I was in office.” He said that Joe Biden had “inherited a world of peace and turned it into a climate of war” with conflict in Ukraine, Gaza and the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“Look at what’s happening with Ukraine. The cities are just bombed out,” he said. “How can people live like that?”
Urging for unity, he argued that “as long as our energies are spent fighting each other, our destiny will remain out of reach”. When the speech finished, the Trump family, including Mr Trump’s wife Melania, joined him on stage, with red, white and blue balloons cascading from the ceiling as the convention drew to an official end.
Trump’s lengthy and hotly anticipated address comes as speculation continues to mount over the future of Joe Biden’s campaign, with various reports speculating that the US President could withdraw from the presidential race as soon as this weekend.
The 81-year-old is under pressure to quite the race, following weeks of criticism from members of his own party about his mental agility. The New York Times has reported that a largely defiant Biden is becoming more “receptive” to calls for him to stand aside. Many democrats believe it is impossible for the president to catch up with Trump’s lead in swing states, while battling criticisms and questions about his health.
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