Image source, Getty Images
- author, Madeline Halpert
- role, BBC News, New York
Americans may see a “different version” of Donald Trump when he addresses the nation for the first time since the shootings, his daughter-in-law Lara Trump said.
Trump is due to take center stage at the Republican National Convention on Thursday night, delivering a speech and formally accepting the party’s presidential nomination.
Lara Trump told the BBC’s US news partner CBS that Trump had been affected by a “near-death experience” and that this would be reflected in his speech.
The party said the former president is also expected to lay out his vision for “ushering in a new Gilded Age for America” on the final day of its convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Thursday’s Republican National Convention will have the theme “Make America Great Again” and will cap a week of speeches by GOP politicians, President Trump’s former primary rivals, delegates and governors.
Trump told the Washington Examiner on Sunday that he decided to rewrite his prime-time speech in the wake of the assassination attempt, shifting it from attacks on President Joe Biden’s policies to a message of unity.
“This speech is going to be very different,” he said.
“This is a chance to bring the whole country and even the whole world together. The speech will be completely different from what it was two days ago,” he added.
Gunfire on Saturday left one rally attendee dead and two seriously injured, including Trump, who was shot in the ear.
The message of unity from Trump would be a departure from the hardline rhetoric he often used during the campaign against “communists, Marxists, fascists and far-left thugs.”
Trump is also likely to continue to criticize President Biden and his record, as his running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, did on Wednesday night.
In his speech, Vance blasted “career politicians” like Biden.
Lara Trump said one of the former president’s goals with the prime-time speech was to connect with the broader American electorate, not just the party members gathered at the convention.
“You may be seeing a little bit of a different version of Donald Trump tonight, maybe a little bit of a gentler version than some of the country has seen before,” Lara Trump, who is married to the former president’s son, Eric, told CBS Morning on Thursday.
“And maybe that will help them understand what he’s actually saying.”
Trump’s comments follow a speech by Vance on Wednesday night, in which he vowed to fight for working-class Americans who he says have been “abandoned and forgotten” by the Democratic Party.
Several other people scheduled to take the stage include the former president’s son, Eric Trump, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and Trump’s former Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo.
Trump will be introduced by his friend, Dana White, president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Wrestler Hulk Hogan is also scheduled to speak before Trump formally accepts the Republican nomination.
President Trump’s wife, Melania, and daughter, Ivanka, are also scheduled to attend the convention for the first time.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden was forced to halt a campaign event in Las Vegas, Nevada, after testing positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday. The White House said Biden was experiencing mild symptoms.
Biden is facing growing pressure to resign after reports emerged on Wednesday that both Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries privately urged him to end his reelection campaign.
Polls show the two candidates in a close race, with Biden lagging the former president in several battleground states.
Trump has been praised this week by Republican attendees, some of whom greeted him with tears in their eyes at the convention center and some of whom wore fake earmuffs in a show of solidarity following the shooting.
The final day of the Republican Convention is expected to begin at around 17:45 CST (23:45 BST), with President Trump’s speech likely to last until 22:30 CST.
