Donald Trump Accepts Republican Nomination, Details Assassination Attempt: ‘I Had God on My Side’

Former President Donald Trump accepted the Republican nomination for president Thursday night, striking a softer tone that he has in the past on the heels of his near-death experience five days ago when he narrowly missed an assassin’s bullet at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa.

Trump took the stage at Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum with theatrical flair and in front of a giant bank of light bulbs that spelled out “Trump.”

“I stand before you this evening with a message of confidence, strength and hope. Four months from now, we will have an incredible victory, and we will begin the four greatest years in the history of our country,” he said. “The discord and division in our society must be healed and must heal it quickly. As Americans, we are bound together by a single fate and a shared destiny. We rise together, or we fall apart. I am running to be president for all of America, not half of America, because there is no victory in winning for half of America.”

Trump told the crowd he would give them a detailed description of his harrowing experience on Saturday amid the shooting.

“In a certain way, I felt very safe, because I had God on my side. I really felt that,” Trump said. When he told the crowd, “I really shouldn’t be here,” the crowd responded with “Yes you should.” Later, the chant shifted to “We want Trump.”

Trump described surviving the shooting as “a providential experience,” invoking the sentiment of divine intervention that many others have since the July 13 incident.

“I stand here before you in this arena by the grace of almighty God,” he said. As he detailed his experience, his remarks were interrupted by chants of “fight, fight, fight” — a reference to the word that Trump shouted with his raised fist as Secret Service officers rushed him off the stage amid the chaos.

Although Trump is known for his pugnacious approach to campaigning, he largely refrained from mudslinging at President Joe Biden and other Democratic opponents.

“This election should be about the issues facing our country and how to make America successful, safe, free and great again,” he said. “In an age when our politics too often divide us, now is the time to remember that we are all fellow citizens.”

More to come