Donald Trump stole the spotlight at the Republican National Convention on Monday night (15), in his first public appearance since surviving an assassination attempt last Saturday.
With a bandaged ear, the Republican presidential candidate appeared alongside his running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance.
What happened of significance on the first night of the Convention?
Trump Chooses Vance as Vice President
Trump called Vance just 20 minutes before publicly announcing his choice for vice president on Truth Social, a source told CNN. The choice reflects Trump’s belief that Vance is an effective communicator who can sell his populist agenda. However, before running for his Senate seat in 2022, Vance was a vocal critic of Trump.
The Out-of-the-Ordinary Speech of the Night
Two days after the shooting that attempted to kill the former president, many Republican speakers delivered a cooler rhetoric than usual, perhaps trying to lower the tone at a delicate moment in American politics – except for Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, who called Democratic policies “a clear and present danger to the country.”
Johnson’s spokesperson said that his speech was a mistake and that the senator delivered an old version of his speech, which was mistakenly put on the teleprompter instead of a new version appealing for unity.
The Strangest Speech
Unions have long overwhelmingly supported Democrats – and fought against anti-union policies backed by Republicans, especially in Wisconsin.
But Sean O’Brien, head of a union with 1.3 million members, said he refuses “to keep doing the same thing my predecessors did.”
“Today, the Teamsters are here to say that we owe nothing to anyone or any party,” he said.
“The American people are not stupid. They know the system is broken. We all know how Washington is run. Workers have no chance of winning this fight,” O’Brien said.
The speech was a loud warning to Biden, whose path to a second term depends on strong support from unionized workers in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
Trump is scheduled to speak on Thursday night (18), the last day of the convention.
Source: CNN