Donald Trump gave a nearly two-hour speech to conclude the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Thursday evening.
Introduced by Hulk Hogan, the former president formally accepted the Republican presidential nomination and reflected solemnly on surviving Saturday’s assassination attempt during his record-breaking address, before balloons fell from the Fiserv Forum ceiling at its conclusion amid thunderous applause.
His wife Melania Trump, the former first lady, also joined him on stage for a kiss at the conclusion, having sat with vice presidential candidate JD Vance to hear his keynote speech.
Trump began by describing his brush with death in Pennsylvania five days ago, remarking: “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.”
He also kissed the helmet of retired fire chief Corey Comperatore, who was killed at the Butler rally.
Throughout the speech, Trump peddled many of his oft-repeated arguments, including the baseless claim that the 2020 election was stolen and that the world is on the brink of “World War III” but only mentioned Joe Biden by name twice, denoucing his record in office.
Key Points
- Trump recounts assassination attempt in great detail during record-breaking RNC speech
- Key moments from Trump’s RNC speech as he formally accepts presidential nomination
- Melania Trump takes to convention floor in rare appearance alongside family
- Hulk Hogan rips off shirt in wild RNC address
Trump shares ‘painful’ story of assassination attempt in mammoth RNC speech
11:30
Oliver O'Connell
Five days after a .22 calibre bullet came within inches of ending his life, Donald Trump recounted his brush with death, and cast himself as a triumphant hero, as he accepted his party’s presidential nomination for the third consecutive election cycle on the final day of the Republican National Convention.
The ex-president, who wore a bandage on the ear that was grazed during the attempt on his life, told the crowd of delegates and supporters on Thursday that he was “not supposed to be here” and credited his presence on the stage in Wisconsin to “the grace of almighty God.”
Eric Garcia and Andrew Feinberg report.
Hulk Hogan rips off his shirt in wild RNC speech
10:30
Oliver O'Connell
Probably the most memorable part of the night — or of any convention(?) — Hulk Hogan hamming it up for the cameras, doing his thing, and ripping open his shirt.
Read Trump’s 93-minute address to Republican party delegates
09:30
Oliver O'Connell
Just kidding.
Here’s John Bowden with the highlights.
Alina Habba’s tearful tribute to ‘my friend’ Donald Trump
08:30
Oliver O'Connell
Attorney Alina Habba gave a tearful tribute to her ‘friend’ former President Donald Trump during her appearance at the Republican National Convention on Thursday night.
“I know you’re all used to hearing me shouting outside a courthouse, but tonight I want to take you behind the law and behind the headlines and share with you a side of President Trump that reveals his character, his kindness, and his commitment to saving this great country,” she said.
Gustaf Kilander reports.
07:30
Oliver O'Connell
How the Trump family made its mark on the Republican convention
06:30
Oliver O'Connell
John Bowden filed this report from on the ground at the RNC in Milwaukee.
Glitter hats, golden sneakers and bandaged ears
04:30
Oliver O'Connell
Speaking of fashion...
Here’s Michelle Del Rey with some of the highlights of Milwaukee Fashion Week... sorry, the MAGA Republican National Convention.
Trump supporters are wearing bandages on their ears after Trump shooting
03:30
Oliver O'Connell
Republican National Convention attendees have found a somewhat creative way to show their support for Donald Trump following the assassination attempt over the weekend.
On Tuesday, several convention delegates were seen sporting ear bandages in a nod to the former president’s current look after he was struck in the right ear by a bullet in the attack.
One Republican delegate even went as far as to describe the ear bandage as “the newest fashion trend.”
Rachel Sharp reports.
02:30
Oliver O'Connell
Kari Lake is schooled by reporter at RNC over JD Vance’s Trump is ‘Hitler’ comment
01:30
Oliver O'Connell
Failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake appeared caught off guard when questioned about Donald Trump‘s running mate pick JD Vance likening the former president to Adolf Hitler.
Kelly Rissman reports.
With focus on Trump’s mental health, George Conway launches ‘Anti-Psychopath PAC’
Saturday 20 July 2024 00:30
Oliver O'Connell
For weeks, reports have abounded about President Joe Biden’s cognitive condition in the wake of his terrible performance at last month’s CNN presidential debate, with some Democrats going so far as to call for him to quit the presidential race.
But not nearly as much ink has been spilt on the mental condition of Donald Trump.
Andrew Feinberg reports from Milwaukee.
Firefighters pay tribute to chief killed by Trump shooter at funeral
Saturday 20 July 2024 00:00
Oliver O'Connell
Hundreds of people in the small town of Cabot, Pennsylvania gathered on Friday to pay tribute to Corey Comperatore, the retired volunteer fire chief who was shot and killed by a gunman at a Trump rally last weekend.
Firefighters honored Comperatore, loading his casket – draped with an American flag – onto a firetruck to be driven from Cabot Methodist Church.
Members of the community lined the streets waving American flags and holding posters, mourning the loss of a local hero.
Ariana Baio reports.
Analysis: If you’re a ‘Real American’, you’re in with Trump. What does that really mean?
Friday 19 July 2024 23:30
Oliver O'Connell
When Hulk Hogan took the stage at the Fiserv Forum for the final night of the Republican National Convention, he said the vibe was so electric that he felt like he was back in his WWE days, wrestling Andre the Giant.
Eric Garcia was there.
Final search of wannabe Trump assassin was for porn
Friday 19 July 2024 23:00
Oliver O'Connell
The final internet search of wannabe Trump assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks was for porn, a law enforcement official has told The Daily Beast.
The FBI’s Operational Technology Division in Quantico, Virginia finally accessed the gunman’s encrypted Samsung phone after it was flown on an FBI plane from the Pittsburgh field office where attempts to access its contents failed.
A law enforcement official told the outlet that the only other recent activity on the gunman’s phone was texts from his parents, asking about his whereabouts. The texts from Crooks’ parents started at about 1pm and continued during the afternoon, according to the report.
Gustaf Kilander reports.
America wants to know!
Friday 19 July 2024 22:45
Oliver O'Connell
Jessica: What is the obsession with Hannibal Lecter? Can someone explain to me.. It’s so weird. pic.twitter.com/F2FgZvRr1k
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 19, 2024
RNC was ‘executed well’ but Donald is an ‘empty soul’, says ex-Trump White House lawyer
Friday 19 July 2024 22:30
Oliver O'Connell
To attorney Ty Cobb, who served as Donald Trump’s White House counsel during the ex-president’s first year in office, this week’s four-day GOP nominating pageant was, for the party’s purposes, “executed well.” Republicans have never appeared more unified, and their messaging is clear, Cobb said Friday morning.
“Sadly though, and obviously, it is mostly theater,” Cobb told The Independent. “Trump is an empty soul. He doesn’t stand for anything but pure ambition. There is no principle at all.”
Justin Rohrlich reports.
Republicans already shaping their message around Kamala Harris
Friday 19 July 2024 22:00
Oliver O'Connell
Throughout the four days of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, GOP officials and lawmakers seemed to sense that Joe Biden might be on the out and that Kamala Harris might replace him at the top of the ticket.
And they were already preparing the talking points, as Eric Garcia reports.
Trump shooter may have scoped out rally site SIX days before attack
Friday 19 July 2024 21:30
Oliver O'Connell
Donald Trump’s would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks appears to have scoped out the site of the former president’s campaign rally six days before he went to the Butler, Pennsylania, event and opened fire, according to a report.
The FBI provided an update on the shooting investigation to Senate and House lawmakers on Wednesday, revealing new details about the 20-year-old gunman’s actions prior to the shooting.
Sources told CNN that Crooks’ online search history revealed he had looked up information on Ethan Crumbley, the school shooter who killed four students at Oxford High School in Michigan in 2021. A screenshot of Crumbley’s arrest photo was also found on Crooks’ personal cellphone, the outlet reported.
Graig Graziosi reports.
Secret Service blasts ‘disgusting’ right-wing attacks on female agents after Trump rally shooting
Friday 19 July 2024 21:00
Oliver O'Connell
The Secret Service said it was “appalled” by “disparaging” and “disgusting” attacks on women who serve as agents in response to the string of sexist comments from people online criticizing the agency’s failure to prevent the Trump rally shooting.
In the week after a gunman opened fire at a Trump rally in Pennslyvania, killing one person and injuring three others including the former president, some notable right-wingers have accused women in the Secret Service of failing to do their job.
Ariana Baio has the story.
Trump’s rambling, over-long speech at the Republican convention was taxing even for delegates
Friday 19 July 2024 20:30
Oliver O'Connell
Donald Trump’s campaign spent the better part of four days promising a changed Trump — a more solemn, thoughtful man, whose politics were forever altered by a would-be assassin’s bullet.
That image was shattered over 93 minutes on Thursday night.
John Bowden filed this report from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
Why did some of the UK’s worst political rejects like Johnson and Truss spend the week parading about the RNC?
Friday 19 July 2024 20:00
Oliver O'Connell
Mike Bedigan writes:
Napoleon had the island of Saint Helena, Leon Trotsky had various spots across Turkey, Norway, and Mexico. These days political exiles from the UK all appear to end up in a far more desolate place: The Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Among the crowds of US political bigwigs, state delegates, and zealous supporters of Donald Trump, several familiar British faces have appeared – usually with the prefix “former” before their job title – to rub shoulders with the GOP elite.
At the 2024 convention, where Trump officially accepted the Republican presidential nomination and selected JD Vance as his running mate, a roll call of infamous names from across the pond dropped by to pay their respects.
Read on...
COMMENT: Donald Trump’s message is loud and clear – and it isn’t one of unity, no matter what he says
Friday 19 July 2024 19:30
Oliver O'Connell
On Donald Trump’s convention speech, Jon Sopel writes:
The political unity that he is offering is very much on his terms: you can have political unity and America will come together – but only if you stop persecuting me; if you stop the prosecutions. It will only happen once you realise that I am the true champion of democracy, not its destroyer. In other words, can we all forget about 6 January, please?
Continue reading...
Trump’s RNC speech is ‘first good thing to happen to Democrats in weeks’, says Obama official
Friday 19 July 2024 19:00
Oliver O'Connell
An ex-senior adviser to former President Barack Obama praised Donald Trump’s lengthy, rambling speech at the Republican National Convention as being “good” for Democrats.
“This is the first good thing that‘s happened to Democrats in the last three weeks,” David Axelrod said on CNN. “This really reminded everyone why Donald Trump is fundamentally unpopular outside this room.”
Kelly Rissman reports.
Friday 19 July 2024 18:45
Oliver O'Connell
Bag of the guy next to me on the plane. pic.twitter.com/8nwSM9k5Pf
— Edward Luce (@EdwardGLuce) July 19, 2024
In break of tradition, Melania Trump ‘repeatedly turned down’ requests to speak at RNC
Friday 19 July 2024 18:30
Oliver O'Connell
Melania Trump reportedly declined multiple requests to speak at the 2024 Republican National Convention breaking with the modern tradition of a candidate’s spouse addressing a crowd of delegates and potential voters.
This year, the ever-elusive former first lady chose not to speak about her husband’s personality, his record or his hopes for the country, instead offering her silent presence on Thursday evening when Trump accepted his party’s official nomination.
Ariana Baio reports.
Hundreds of firefighters gather for funeral of former chief killed in Trump rally shooting
Friday 19 July 2024 18:22
AP
A fire truck carried Corey Comperatore’s flag-draped casket to a Pennsylvania church on Friday for the funeral of the former fire chief, who was shot and killed when a gunman tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump last weekend.
Hundreds of firefighters arrived at the church in a procession of over 100 trucks in a show of support for Comperatore’s grieving relatives and friends. Outside the church, a massive American flag hung from the ladder of a fire truck.
A sharpshooter team mounted on a nearby rooftop served as a reminder of last weekend’s bloodshed. Officials have said that Comperatore spent his final moments shielding his wife and daughter from gunfire at Trump’s rally last Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Trump, who suffered an ear injury in the shooting but was not seriously hurt, is not going to the funeral because of Secret Service concerns, according to a person familiar with the situation who was not authorized to speak publicly.
‘Everyday Americans’ (and Trump golf club employees) praise his game
Friday 19 July 2024 18:00
Oliver O'Connell
Among the high-profile speakers lavishing praise on Trump at the RNC on Thursday were a number of “everyday Americans,” two of whom had something in common: Theyboth work for the former president at his golf courses.
As well as extolling the virtues of the GOP presidential nominee, one took pains to note that Trump was “one hell of a golfer”, an important skill for a serious politician intent on resolving the problems of an ever-more complex and fractured world.
Sigh.
Here’s Mike Bedigan.
Five days after Republican convention, Kamala Harris to visit Milwaukee
Friday 19 July 2024 17:47
Oliver O'Connell
Vice President Kamala Harris is scheduled to travel to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for a campaign event on Tuesday, July 23, five days after the Republican National Convention was held in the city.
It is her fifth visit to the Badger State this year.
Friday 19 July 2024 17:30
Oliver O'Connell
Stephen Colbert has an idea for why Trump’s RNC address was so long: ‘He thought four more years meant of this speech’
Friday 19 July 2024 17:00
Joe Sommerlad
The late-night host roasted Trump last night for delivering the longest-ever convention acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, questioning whether the former president had mistaken the meaning behind his supporters’ chants.
“We are live, but after watching that speech, I’m dead inside,” Colbert said on his show on Thursday night.
“Tonight, this is true… Trump gave the longest convention address of all time. Apparently, when they were chanting ‘four more years,’ he thought they meant of this speech.”
Ivanka Trump returns to politics as she joins father Donald on stage after rambling RNC speech
Friday 19 July 2024 16:30
Joe Sommerlad
The former president’s favourite daughter made her return to politics and her old man’s campaign trail on Thursday night as she joined her family on stage to close out the Republican National Convention.
Ivanka worked as a senior adviser in the Trump administration but — following his exit from the White House in January 2021 in the wake of the January 6 Capitol riot — has distanced herself from his re-election goals and the world of politics altogether.
After leaving Washington DC, Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner moved to Miami with their three children.
And when, in November 2022, Trump announced that he would run for the White House for a third time, she made it clear she did not want to return to politics.
“I love my father very much,” she wrote in a statement at the time. “This time around, I am choosing to prioritize my young children and the private life we are creating as a family. I do not plan to be involved in politics.”
Rachel Sharp has more on her surprise return.
'Direct, powerful, tremendous': Republicans react to Trump's convention speech
Friday 19 July 2024 16:00
Joe Sommerlad
Vance’s Silicon Valley connections run deep. So do Trump’s
Friday 19 July 2024 15:30
Joe Sommerlad
Elon Musk and Peter Thiel are key figures in a rising network of pro-Trump techies who are channelling tens of millions of dollars towards Republican campaigns.
And Thiel is the one who reportedly introduced Vance to Trump in the first place.
For Indy Premium, Io Dodds reports on the GOP’s increasingly cosy relationship with Big Tech.
Here’s who JD Vance is following on X
Friday 19 July 2024 15:00
Oliver O'Connell
Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance follows several accounts on X that espouse far-right and white nationalist views, according to an analysis by Richard Hall and Isaac Lozano for The Independent.
Glitter hats, golden sneakers and bandaged ears: The weird and wonderful fashions of the RNC
Friday 19 July 2024 14:30
Joe Sommerlad
There were plenty of colorful twists on traditional outfits at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this week and, in the wake of Trump’s wounding in an assassination attempt, an unusual new one, writes Michelle Del Rey.
JD Vance’s populism finds a rude awakening in the union-busting GOP
Friday 19 July 2024 14:00
Joe Sommerlad
The ascension of JD Vance, first to the Senate and now as Donald Trump’s running mate, is a story that’s as much about what the Republican Party does not represent as it is a story about the GOP’s evolution.
Wednesday night at the RNC was wholly oriented around Trump’s vice president.
In Vance, Trump has chosed a self-proclaimed economic populist as his partner — a strategic pick aimed at shoring up support in key areas of the Rust Belt and other communities where manufacturing and energy are critical.
Vance, a one-term senator from Ohio, has been in the upper chamber of Congress for just a year and a half.
In that time, he staked out his position as a clear outlier from the conservative mainstream with actions including an appearance on a United Autoworkers picket line and support for a railworkers union’s bargaining efforts over paid sick leave.
Now, as Trump’s prospective vice president, Vance could be about to face a rude awakening, as this clip from last night neatly illustrates.
Trump: The United Auto Workers should be ashamed for allowing this to happen and the leader should be fired pic.twitter.com/3ZJ0pFF3Xz
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 19, 2024
John Bowden has more.
From ‘Kai Trump 2040’ to kingmaker Don Jr: The Trump family at the RNC
Friday 19 July 2024 13:30
Joe Sommerlad
It was around the time when one of the delegates to the RNC yelled “Kai Trump 2040!” when the scope of the Trump takeover of the Republican Party was suddenly laid very bare.
Major party conventions often feature family members and friends close to the person at the top of the ticket. It’s nothing new.
But the Trumpification of the GOP, which was on full display this week, took that trend to the extreme — and made clear that the continued strength of the MAGA movement would not only persist through 2024 but well into the future.
John Bowden reports.
Alina Habba’s tearful tribute to ‘my friend’ Trump
Friday 19 July 2024 13:00
Joe Sommerlad
The really rather ineffective but nevertheless popular MAGA lawyer got emotional praising her most prominent client on stage last night, uttering the truly ghastly line, perhaps the most bowel-tremoring of the whole convention, when she declared: “The only crime President Trump has committed is loving America.”
Gustaf Kilander has this one.
Trump’s RNC address in full: Read the former president’s 93-minute address to Republican delegates
Friday 19 July 2024 12:30
Joe Sommerlad
You can read the former’s president’s entire nomination acceptance speech for yourself below.
If you do so, imitating his voice as preposterously as possible is strongly recommended.
Analysis: Trump's rambling 93-minute speech reveals the US is set to be dragged back to 2016
Friday 19 July 2024 12:00
Joe Sommerlad
Trump’s campaign spent the better part of four days promising a changed man – a more thoughtful candidate, forever changed by a would-be assassin’s bullet.
But that image was shattered over 93 minutes on Thursday.
The nominee’s speech, which trailed off the prepared remarks on the teleprompter at multiple points, was in turn monotonous as he waffled on the call for “unity” and angry about the current state of American life, for which he is as responsible as anyone else, if not much more so.
Here’s John Bowden’s assessment from Milwaukee.
