MILWAUKEE — Former President Donald Trump is a changed man since the assassination attempt and the new atmosphere of unity he has inspired will not fade, Trump’s eldest son said Tuesday, on the second day of the Republican National Convention, as he spoke about his father’s controversial change of heart.
Donald Trump Jr. said at an Axios event that the assassination attempt on his father during a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday was the kind of event that changes people forever.
“You know, I think it’s going to continue,” Donald Trump Jr. said when asked how long the “new Trump” would last. “Some things change you for a few minutes, and some things change you forever. This time it’s Trump, and you’re still going to be reactionary.”
Trump Jr.’s take on his father’s makeover runs counter to the former president’s reputation. The 78-year-old vying to retake the White House is a highly divisive figure known for his fierce and divisive style of politics, and he has long enjoyed mocking and vilifying opponents on the left and right and waging ruthless political battles.
Trump’s term in office was marked by constant turmoil and controversy, and ended with a deadly pandemic. The U.S. House of Representatives also impeached Trump twice, the last time for his role in a deadly riot that sought to overturn the results of an election that he lost. Trump also made history as the first former president to be criminally charged and convicted of a felony.
Trump, a former president and current Republican presidential candidate, will always fight back against criticism, his son said, adding, “He’s always been a fighter and that’s never going to change, but I think he’ll do his best to mitigate it where it’s needed.”
“He’s going to be tough when he needs to be. We’ve seen it, he never changes. But I think things are going to happen. I think these are momentous events that will change people forever,” Trump Jr. said.
After the shooting, President Trump said he was considering rewriting his convention speech to strike a new tone of unity.
Trump Jr. worked with his father to craft the original speech and spent hours reviewing it with his father on Friday.
“That was heated,” Trump Jr. said of the original speech. “And, by the way, I think that’s probably what it should have been then. But again, when you get shot in the face, that changes a lot of things.”
But even as he spoke of setting a new tone, Trump Jr. repeatedly criticized President Joe Biden during a rally on Tuesday, including bragging that his father draws bigger crowds to his rallies.
“Obviously, he’s a big draw,” Trump Jr. said of the need for security for his father. “It draws a lot of people. It’s a little different than a Biden rally.”
The audience laughed.
“I mean, if you fact-check it, it’s true,” Trump Jr. responded.
Trump’s message of unity has been weakened by his selection of Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate, former New Jersey governor and Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie said in a New York Times op-ed on Tuesday. Trump “could steer his party and its leadership in a new direction in the wake of the assassination attempt,” but “early signs are not encouraging,” Christie wrote.
“Vance’s initial response to the assassination attempt on Trump was to confront head-on the wrong way we currently operate – demonizing the other side and shifting the blame onto Democrats as if they pulled the trigger,” Christie wrote, referring to social media posts by Vance.
Trump’s attack on “radical left Democrats” in a social media post on Tuesday in response to reports that Biden was considering overhauling the U.S. Supreme Court could also raise questions about whether he has truly changed.
“The reason the Communists are so disheartened is because their illegal witch hunts are failing everywhere,” Trump wrote.
“I just want to have the power of veto.”
A relentless campaigner and strong political voice, Trump Jr. has sparked speculation about how much power he might wield in a second Trump administration if his father wins. He was heavily involved in the selection of Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio as his father’s running mate and opposed some of the other candidates.
Trump Jr. said he would not pick the Cabinet members of a second Trump administration, but would act as a gatekeeper to prevent people he doesn’t like from getting a White House job. “I just want to have veto power,” he said.
“I don’t want to single out any one person in power,” he said. “All I want to do is block the people who are causing havoc. I want to block the liars. I want to block the people who are pretending to be with you.”
“I just want to stop bad actors. I just want to be a stopper,” he added. “That’s it. I want the veto power to remove every single one of those people.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is not included in Trump Jr.’s veto targets. The independent presidential candidate met with Trump after the assassination attempt. When asked if his father could get Kennedy’s support, Trump Jr. said, “We’ll have to see what happens… I’d be happy if that happened.”
“I think his family history, obviously, is tied to assassination, and it may be one of those moments that brings people together,” Trump Jr. said of the candidate, the nephew of assassinated President John F. Kennedy.
“There may be a position somewhere in the administration that would be a good fit for him… He obviously comes from a very left wing background, and that’s fine. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t great roles that he could successfully fulfill or prosecute in Washington, D.C.,” Trump Jr. added.
