Two days after surviving an attempted assassination, former President Donald Trump appeared triumphantly at the Republican National Convention’s opening night with a bandage over his right ear, the latest compelling scene in a presidential campaign already defined by dramatic turns.

GOP delegates cheered wildly when Mr. Trump appeared onscreen backstage and then emerged in the arena, visibly emotional, as musician Lee Greenwood sang “God Bless the USA.” That was hours after the convention had formally nominated the former president to head the Republican ticket in November against President Joe Biden.

Also read | Trump assassination bid derails Biden’s counter-polarisation strategy

Trump did not address the hall — with his acceptance speech scheduled for Thursday — but smiled silently and occasionally waved as Greenwood sang. He eventually joined his newly announced running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, to listen to the night’s remaining speeches, often with a subdued expression and muted reactions uncharacteristic for the unabashed showman

The raucous welcome underscored the depth of the crowd’s affection for the man who won the 2016 nomination as an outsider, at odds with the party establishment, but now has vanquished all Republican rivals, silenced most GOP critics and commands loyalty up and down the party ranks.

“We must unite as a party, and we must unite as a nation,” said Republican Party Chairman Michael Whatley, Trump’s handpicked party leader, as he opened Monday’s primetime national convention session. “We must show the same strength and resilience as President Trump and lead this nation to a greater future.”

But Whatley and other Republican leaders made clear that their calls for harmony did not extend to Biden and Democrats, who find themselves still riven by worries that the 81-year-old question is not up to the job of defeating Trump.

“Their policies are a clear and present danger to America, to our institutions, our values and our people,” said Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, welcoming the party to his battleground state, which Trump won in 2016 but lost to Biden four years ago.

Saturday’s shooting at a Pennsylvania rally, where Trump was injured and one man died, were clearly in mind, but the proceedings were celebratory — a stark contrast to the anger and anxiety that had marked the previous few days. Some delegates chanted “fight, fight, fight” — the same words that Trump was seen shouting to the crowd as the Secret Service ushered him off the stage, his fist raised and face bloodied.

“We should all be thankful right now that we are able to cast our votes for President Donald J. Trump after what took place on Saturday,” said New Jersey state Sen. Michael Testa as he announced all of his state’s 12 delegates for Trump.

When Trump cleared the necessary number of delegates, video screens in the arena read “OVER THE TOP” while the song “Celebration” played and delegates danced and waved Trump signs. Throughout the voting, delegates flanked by “Make America Great Again” signs applauded as state after state voted their support for a second Trump term.

Multiple speakers invoked religious imagery to discuss Trump and the assassination attempt.

“The devil came to Pennsylvania holding a rifle,” said Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina. “But an American lion got back up on his feet!”

Wyoming delegate Sheryl Foland was among those who adopted the “fight” chant after seeing Trump survive Saturday in what she called “monumental photos and video.”

“We knew then we were going to adopt that as our chant,” added Foland, a child trauma mental health counselor. “Not just because we wanted him to fight, and that God was fighting for him. We thought, isn’t it our job to accept that challenge and fight for our country?”

“It’s bigger than Trump,” Foland said. “It’s a mantra for our country.”

Another well-timed development boosted the mood on the convention floor Monday: The federal judge presiding over Trump’s classified documents case dismissed the prosecution because of concerns over the appointment of the prosecutor who brought the case, handing the former president a major court victory.

Trump’s campaign chiefs designed the convention to feature a softer and more optimistic message, focusing on themes that would help a divisive leader expand his appeal among moderate voters and people of color.

On a night devoted to the economy, delegates and a national TV audience heard from speakers the Trump campaign pitched as “everyday Americans” — a single mother talking about inflation, a union member who identified himself as a lifelong Democrat now backing Trump, a small business owner, among others.

Featured speakers also included Black Republicans who have been at the forefront of the Trump campaign’s effort to win more votes from a core Democratic constituency.

U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt of Texas said rising grocery and energy prices were hurting Americans’ wallets and quoted Ronald Reagan in calling inflation “the cruelest tax on the poor.” Hunt argued Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris didn’t seem to understand the problem.

“We can fix this disaster,” Hunt said, by electing Trump and sending “him right back to where he belongs, the White House.”

Scott, perhaps the party’s most well-known Black lawmaker, declared: “America is not a racist country.”

Republicans hailed Vance’s selection as a key step toward a winning coalition in November.

Trump announced his choice of his running mate as delegates were voting on the former president’s nomination Monday. The young Ohio senator first rose to national attention with his best-selling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” which told of his Appalachian upbringing and was hailed as a window into the parts of working-class America that helped propel Trump.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who had been considered a potential vice presidential pick, said in a post on X that Vance’s “small town roots and service to country make him a powerful voice for the America First Agenda.”

Yet despite calls for harmony, two of the opening speakers at Monday’s evening session — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and North Carolina gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson — are known as some of the party’s most incendiary figures.

Robinson, speaking recently during a church service in North Carolina, discussed “evil” people who he said threatened American Christianity. “Some folks need killing,” he said then, though he steered clear of such rhetoric at the convention stage.

Trump’s nomination came on the same day that Biden sat for another national TV interview the president sought to demonstrate his capacity to serve another four years despite continued worries within his own party.

Biden told ABC News that he made a mistake recently when he told Democratic donors the party must stop questioning his fitness for office and instead put Trump in a “bullseye.” Republicans have circulated the comment aggressively since Saturday’s assassination attempt, with some openly blaming Biden for inciting the attack on Trump’s life.

The president’s admission was in line with his call Sunday from the Oval Office for all Americans to ratchet down political rhetoric. But Biden maintained Monday that drawing contrasts with Trump, who employs harsh and accusatory language, is a legitimate part of a presidential contest.

Inside the arena in Milwaukee, Republicans did not dial back their attacks on Biden, at one point playing a video that mocked the president’s physical stamina and mental acuity.

They alluded often to the “Biden-Harris administration” and took regular digs at Vice President Kamala Harris — a not-so-subtle allusion to the notion that Biden could step aside in favor of his second-in-command.

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is helped off the stage by U.S. Secret Service agents at a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

At a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on July 13, former U.S. President Donald Trump became the target of an assassination attempt. The Associated Press (AP) learnt from his campaign representatives that the former U.S. President was doing “fine”. Trump had earlier taken to his social media website to enumerate that a bullet pierced his upper part of the right ear. “I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. Much bleeding took place,” he wrote.

Trump rally shooting live updates

Law enforcement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have identified the shooter as Thomas Matthew Crooks (20) of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. Further, the U.S. Secret Service informed about the shooter having been “neutralised” and is dead. They also informed that one spectator was killed and two were critically injured.  

July 13 was not the first time that the 78-year-old‘s life was under threat. Similar attempts have been made as far as back as in 2016 when he ran for President for the first time.  

2016: An attempt and a scare 

In November 2016, a youth was arrested when he tried to wrestle a gun from a police officer at a Trump rally in Las Vegas. He later told investigators about wanting to steal the gun in order to kill the then Presidential candidate. Identified as Micheal Steven Sandford, the 19-year-old British national was immediately arrested. News agency Reuters learnt from court filings that the teenager had been attempting to kill the Presidential candidate for a year. Furthermore, he decided to act upon it now because he “finally felt confident about trying it.” The UK-teen was sentenced to a year in prison.  

A month later, Trump again found himself in a situation albeit this time it was a scare. He had to be rushed off the stage by U.S. Secret Service during a rally in Reno, Nevada after someone in the crowd yelled “gun”. However, the federal agency could not find a weapon. Trump came out later amid loud cheers, stating, “Nobody said it was going to be easy for us, but we will never be stopped, never ever be stopped.” 

The Ricin attempts in 2018 and 2020

Attempts at causing harm to Trump were also prevalent during his stay at the Oval Office. The modus operandi this time around was ricin. As described by the U.S. Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, it is a poisonous substance found naturally in castor beans. If the beans are chewed and swallowed, they release ricin and can cause injury or poison them.  

In 2018, William Clyde Allen III, a former enlisted sailor in the U.S. Navy confessed to have sent letters containing castor beans to then President Trump, FBI Director Chris Wray, Secretary of Defence James Mattis and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson. North America-based news houseCNN learnt from people investigating the occurrence that letters contained “messy handwriting on the envelopes” with one of them containing an index card that read “Jack the missile bean” and “stock powder”.  

Another such attempt was made in 2020. This time around, it involved a dual citizen of Canada and France. Pascale Cecile Ferrier, 55, admitted having sent threatening letter containing the poisonous substance to the White House and to eight Texas State law enforcement officials. According to court documents, Ferrier had made ricin at her home in Quebec, Canada.

Earlier in September 2020, the Canadian resident had also proposed on social media that someone “please shoot Trump in the face”. Before the convicted act, she had driven from Canada to the border crossing in New York where she was intercepted for carrying firearms and ammunition. Having been in custody since then, Ferrier was later sentenced to 22 years in prison.

2023: Email threats 

A Chicago woman by the name, Tracy Marie Fiorenza (41) was arrested in August 2023 for sending then former President Donald Trump threats that entailed shooting him and his youngest son Barron Trump. According to CBS, she was charged with sending mails threatening to shoot the former President “straight in the face at any opportunity that I get”. In another such email earlier, Fiorenza had allegedly written, “I am going to slam a bullet in Baron (sic) Trump’s head with his father in self-defence.” According to The Guardian, the earlier email was sent to an unidentified head of an educational institution in southern Florida where Trump has his primary residence.  

According to CBS, a Facebook page linked to Fiorenza contained several anti-Trump posts, including an image of an effigy of the former President hanged on a tree. The page introduced her as a former social studies teacher a Chicago public school until she was fired in August 2020. However, the publication could not confirm if she was actually a teacher.  

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is rushed offstage during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

As Europe woke up to the news of the attempted assassination of former U.S. President Donald Trump, its leaders took to social media to condemn the attack.

Trump rally shooting live updates

The U.K.’s new Prime Minister, Keir Starmer said he was “appalled” by the attack.

“Political violence in any form has no place in our societies and my thoughts are with all the victims of this attack,” Mr Starmer wrote on social media site X.

“My thoughts are with President Donald Trump, the victim of an assassination attempt,” French President Emmanuel Macron wrote. “ It is a tragedy for our democracies. France shares the shock and indignation of the American people,” he said.

Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz called the attack “despicable”.

“Political violence has no place in a democracy,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

“My thoughts and prayers are with President Donald Trump in these dark hours, “ Hungarian Prime Minister and Trump ally, Viktor Orban said.