Former President Donald Trump, in an interview with the Washington Examiner, has announced that he will be completely rewriting his keynote speech at the Republican National Convention this week - and, honestly, after the events of Saturday, he could scarcely do otherwise.
Former President Donald Trump has completely rewritten his convention speech in light of the assassination attempt against him on Saturday and will call on Thursday for a new effort at national unity.
In an exclusive interview with the Washington Examiner a day after being hit by a sniper’s bullet, Trump said he wanted to take advantage of a historic moment and draw the country together.
“The speech I was going to give on Thursday was going to be a humdinger,” he said, “Had this not happened, this would’ve been one of the most incredible speeches” aimed mostly at the policies of President Joe Biden. “Honestly, it’s going to be a whole different speech now.”
The former President, in this interview, gave us at least one insight as to how that new speech might look.
“This is a chance to bring the whole country, even the whole world, together. The speech will be a lot different, a lot different than it would’ve been two days ago,” he said.
So what themes might he hit?
He says he will aim to bring the whole country together. That's to be expected after an event like this; he will try to bring down the temperature in the room some. Donald Trump also understands marketing and the importance of symbolism, and that means knowing how to appeal to people not only on an intellectual level but also on an emotional level; I would expect to see a lot of patriotic imagery, with rather less mention of partisan politics.
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He will also certainly acknowledge the actions of his Secret Service detail. Oh, yes, mistakes were made, or the incident wouldn't have happened, but this is neither the time nor the place to get into that; not with the theme the former president says he is aiming at.
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But the real change is this: Last Saturday's events have completely changed the tenor of this presidential election. Barring some unimaginably game-changing event, Donald Trump will be the next President of the United States, matching a feat only attained by Grover Cleveland: Two non-consecutive terms. He doesn't have to go at Joe Biden hammer and tongs anymore; at least, not at the convention. There will be plenty of time to point out Joe Biden's policy failures and his mental and physical failures after the convention. The Democrats seem to have already given up on finding a new candidate to challenge Donald Trump because, after the assassination attempt, it would likely be futile.
Yes, former (and future) President Trump will be changing up his speech. The assassination attempt made whatever he had planned to say irrelevant. He will be changing his "humdinger" because nothing could hum more dingily than what happened on Saturday. Everything changed after that, and Donald Trump is savvy enough to recognize that - and bet on him knowing just what to do to use it to his best advantage.
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