In his first speech since the deadly Pennsylvania rally shooting, Donald Trump confirmed his nomination for the Republican Party as its presidential candidate. With a candidate as divisive as Trump, you can imagine that the comments and reactions to his speech varied.
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The former president took the stage to "God Bless The USA" by Lee Greenwood. The former president said he wants to be president for all of America, not "half of America." He said he gladly accepted the nomination. He also addressed what happened on that day during his Pennsylvania rally. Trump described how a sniper bullet erupted the calm of his rally.
"In order to see the chart, I started to turn to my right, and was ready to begin a further turn, which I'm lucky I didn't, when I heard a loud whizzing sound and felt something hit me, really hard, on my right ear," Trump recalled. "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, and my hand was covered with blood, just blood all over the place. I immediately knew it was very serious, that we were under attack, and in one movement, proceeded to drop to the ground."
"There was blood pouring everywhere, and yet, in a certain way I felt very safe, because I had God on my side," Trump continued. "The amazing thing is that prior to the shot, if I had not moved my head at the very last instant, the assassin's bullet would have perfectly hit its mark, and I would not be with you tonight."
Trump Was Thankful For Response
The former president was thankful for his security team as well as first responders. He held a moment of silence for those injured in the deadly shooting that killed a volunteer firefighter. At one point, Trump said he shouldn't be here. In response, the crowd shouted "Yes you are" but Trump stood by that it was a miracle.
"But that isn't the reason they didn't move—the reason is that they knew I was in serious trouble, they saw all of the blood, and thought I was dead, and they just didn't want to leave me, and you can see that love written all over their faces," he said.
"I am not supposed to be here tonight," Trump said, as the crowd shouted back, "Yes you are."
"I stand before you in this arena only by the grace of almighty God," Trump said. "In watching the reports over the last few days, many people say it was a providential moment."
Trump also spoke on themes of unity. His speech drew plenty of reactions.
One person wrote, "You all know how lucky we are to have a man like President Trump, right?"
Another wrote, "Trump is finally speaking, sporting the bandage."
Another wrote, "Trump is the man!!!"
Not everyone was a fan. One wrote, "FIRST BIG LIE by trump: He announced that he's running to be President for ALL of America, not half of America. He is actively campaigning to revoke the rights of at least half of all Americans."
Trump Ripped Up Original Speech
Following his near brush with death, Trump ripped up his original speech. His new speech focused on unity. Of his decision, he questioned if unity was really possible.
"I basically had a speech that was an unbelievable rip-roarer," he said according to The Washington Examiner. "It was brutal — really good, really tough. [Last night] I threw it out. I think it would be very bad if I got up and started going wild about how horrible everybody is, and how corrupt and crooked, even if it's true. Had this not happened, we had a speech that was pretty well set that was extremely tough. Now, we have a speech that is more unifying."
Previously, he said he wanted to try to unite the country.
"I've been fighting a group of people that I considered very bad people for a long time, and they've been fighting me, and we've put up a very good fight," Trump said. "We had a very tough speech, and I threw it out last night, I said I can't say these things after what I've been through."
"I'd love to achieve unity if you could achieve unity, if that's possible," Trump said. "There are many good people on the other side...But there are also people who are very divided. Some people actually want open borders and some people don't want open borders. The question is can those two sides get together? Can sides where you have people who want to see men play in women's sports, and you have a side that doesn't understand even the concept of allowing that to happen [get together]?"
