By The opinion
17 Jul 2024, 19:01 PM EDT
After the attack that Donald Trump was a victim of, The former president’s campaign offered suggestions and directly edited convention speakers’ closing speeches in an effort to tone down political rhetoric in the wake of the shooting. and focus on political contrasts with President Joe Biden.
According to NBC News, Trump even rewrote his own acceptance speech for the Republican presidential nomination before Thursday night after surviving an assassination attempt, while the Trump campaign has said it now intends to focus on the theme of American unification.
While speakers at this week’s convention have offered plenty of information to the thousands of delegates in attendance, particularly on immigration and crime issues, they have shied away from some of the party’s most divisive issues and talked of seeking retaliation.
During the first two nights of the convention, Speakers avoided phrases such as stolen election; the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol; the investigation of Trump’s political opponents, including Biden; and the investigation by prosecutors who have sought indictments against him, including special prosecutor Jack Smith, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
During the first two nights of the convention, a video was played in which Trump mentioned the baseless threat that Democrats would “cheat” in the upcoming election.
On a marquee night with Donald Trump as a witness, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the former president’s primary opponents in the 2024 Republican presidential primaries, were warmly received by the convention when they spoke Tuesday night, though Haley received some boos.
Until now, Only one speaker, Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, has used the phrase “weaponized government” from the stage.a refrain Trump and his allies frequently use to oppose the criminal charges brought against them. After delivering his speech, Johnson claimed that he had loaded the wrong speech onto the teleprompter.
Meanwhile, Trump’s senior adviser Jason Miller on Wednesday stopped short of saying the campaign had guided convention speakers’ remarks, but he did highlight Trump’s desire to tone down the rhetoric from inside the Milwaukee arena.
“Politically, the country is a tinderbox right now,” Miller said. “We have to find a way to lower the temperature.”
Asked whether Trump or the campaign had pressured speakers to avoid topics such as the Capitol riots, the 2020 election or retaliation against Trump’s enemies, Miller said: “Anybody who watches all of President Trump’s rallies will see that this is exactly what he talks about.”
“These are issues that he is passionate about,” Miller said. “So we’re going to follow his lead. And I think over the first two nights of the convention, the speakers have done a masterful job of echoing those issues, but also saying, quite frankly, why they support him.”
With information from NBC News.
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