A renewed, more moderate Donald Trump was expected, but despite his calm tone and initial call for unity, he soon turned to his most famous speech.
“I’m running to be president of all of America, not half of America, because there is no victory in winning for half of America,” he said Thursday night as he stepped onto the stage at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, officially accept his candidacy for the presidential elections on November 5 and close the Republican National Convention.
He thus honored the spirit of the last four days, in which the Republican Party has bowed to its leader, in contrast to A Democratic Party divided over Joe Biden’s candidacy.
There is no longer any trace of the rejection shown by some after his role during the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, nor of the doubts of others about his pending accounts with the Justice Department.
Everyone who took the microphone this week at the event they paid homage to him and they painted him as someone who loves his country and cares about its citizens, a politician with a tough appearance but with a very human side little known to the general public.
This was echoed by several members of his family, some of the most extreme congressmen, such as Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene, his former adviser Pete Navarro, recently released from prison, the former Fox News journalist Tucker Carlson, and even his staunchest rival in the race for the nomination, Nikki Haley.
There was a moment on Thursday when Trump appeared vulnerable, as he recounted the attack he suffered on Sunday during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
It was perhaps the only thing that was new, apart from his slow, sometimes whispering speech, and that soon gave way to the ideas he has been defending for years.
In a speech that lasted more than 90 minutes and in which he mentioned Biden only once, he defined undocumented immigration as “invasion” and promised to finish building the wall on the border with Mexico, in addition to announcing that, if he returns to the White House, he will lower taxes and promote oil exploitation in the country.
Below are some of the most notable quotes from the night in which Trump spoke not only as the Republican Party candidate, but as the protagonist of a story that his rivals had given up on too soon, someone convinced that he has a clear path to lead the nation again.
1. “I am running to be president of all of the United States, not half of it.”
“We need to heal the discord and division in society,” Trump began, thereby honoring the unifying spirit displayed by all the speakers during these four days of the Republican National Convention.
“As Americans, we are united by a common fate, a shared destiny. We rise together or we fall apart“Trump said along the same lines.
“I want to be president of all of America, not half of it.”
There was no room for discord at the Fiserv Forum this week. It could only be heard outside the venue and in the mouths of representatives of the Democratic Party, such as Vice President Kamala Harris, who on Thursday argued that unity cannot be in words.
“Unity does not imply an agenda that deprives entire groups of Americans of the most basic freedoms, opportunities and dignity.“.
2. “If I had not moved my head at the last moment, the assassin’s bullet would have hit the target perfectly and I would not be with you tonight.”
His account of the attack he suffered on Sunday was perhaps the most emotional moment of the day.
“I’ll tell it only once, because it’s too painful,” he said.
“I’m not supposed to be here tonight. I am here before you only by the grace of Almighty God. Many people say it was a providential moment.” he continued, magnanimously.
This was followed by a detailed description of the events and what he felt, and he was profuse in his thanks.
The first went to those present at Butler’s rally, “because there was no stampede, they didn’t move an inch.”
But most of all he thanked Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old volunteer firefighter who tried to protect his family members. lunging at them upon hearing the gunshots.
“He lost his life acting selflessly as a human shield to save them,” he stressed. “We will not forget him.”
She asked for a minute of silence for him and kissed his firefighter’s uniform that had been brought to the stage.
4. “I will reduce inflation, lower taxes and we will drill and drill”
The theme he returned to again and again was inflation and his economic plans to “make America great again.”
“Inflation is eating them up,” he exclaimed at one point.
“Under this administration, food prices have gone up 50%, gasoline prices have gone up 60-70%, mortgage rates have quadrupled. There is no way to get money,” he said.
In fact, since Biden took office in January 2021, prices have risen by about 20% overall.
To remedy this, Trump partly promised tax cuts.
Besides, ““We will build factories, we will recover manufacturing.”he continued, and “let’s drill, girl, let’s drill,” he added, referring to his idea of promoting oil exploitation in the country like never before.
He also pledged to curb policies that favor electric vehicles if he is re-elected president.
And in conclusion, he referred to a topic that has been conspicuous by its absence during the Republican National Convention: climate change.
Trump referred to the progressive plan known as the “green new deal” (Green New Deal) as “the new green scam” (Green New Scam), thereby making clear the denialist line of his movement.
5. “We will stop the invasion on the southern border, the largest in history. I will seal the border from day one.”
“We have to stop the invasion of our country that is killing hundreds of thousands of people a year.”
That was the phrase that brought Trump back to the Fiserv Forum stage in 2016, when he campaigned on the idea that the U.S. was being “inundated with criminals” entering the country through the border with Mexico among undocumented immigrants.
“They are coming from everywhere, not just from South America. They are coming from Asia, from Africa. They are coming from asylums, from mental hospitals, from prisons,” he said during his speech on Thursday.
“We have become the world’s garbage dump, which laughs at us”he stressed.
“We should hold the next convention in Venezuela because it will soon be a very safe place.”
If he returns to the White House, Trump promised to close the border with Mexico “from day one.”
“And I will finish the wall, which I have already largely built,” he said.
Trump had already pledged in 2016 to build a 2,000-km-long concrete barrier between the US and Mexico, but the plan was stalled by opposition in Congress and a flood of lawsuits.
According to a report by the US Customs and Border Protection Office, only about 600 km of the barriers were cleared from January 2017 until Trump left office.
And Biden suspended construction when he took office, though his administration last year allowed a section to be built in South Texas.
If re-elected, Trump said he would also carry out “the largest deportation operation in the history of this country”.
6. “I will end all international crises. There would be no war if I were president.”
Immigration was followed by foreign policy.
“Our rivals inherited a world at peace and turned it into a planet at war”the now Republican presidential candidate told those cheering him on in the hall and the millions of spectators following the convention from their homes.
First, he referred to the “chaotic withdrawal” of US troops from Afghanistan in 2021 and the immediate seizure of power by the Taliban.
“Emboldened by that disaster, Russia invaded Ukraine. Israel suffered the worst attack in its history. Now China is surrounding Taiwan.“Trump continued, attempting to draw a link between disparate foreign conflicts.
He assured that, if he had been president, none of those wars would have taken place.
If he returns to the head of the government, “I will end all international crises,” he concluded.
And so, he took the opportunity to ask for votes. “Whether you supported me or not in the past, I ask you to do so now,” he asked.
“I promise to bring back the American dream”.
“With great humility, I ask you to have hope for the future of our country,” he concluded.
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