The top of the Republicans’ presidential ticket came together on Monday, as Donald Trump swept a majority of votes from national convention delegates and announced Ohio Senator JD Vance as his vice presidential running mate.
After receiving the votes of enough delegates to clinch the nomination, former president Trump will lead the Republican party in a third consecutive election.
The winner in 2016, he lost to current President Joe Biden in 2020. He will face Mr Biden again in November.
Mr Trump has been the presumptive nominee for months. But it was the vote of Republican National Convention delegates in Milwaukee that made it official on Monday.
He hit the necessary threshold with votes from his home state of Florida, announced by his son Eric.
Inside the convention hall, delegates flanked by Make America Great Again signs cheered wildly as state after state voted their support for Mr Trump’s second term.
His campaign chiefs designed the Republican convention opening this week to feature a softer and more optimistic message, focusing on themes that would help a divisive leader expand his appeal among moderate voters and people of colour.
Then came the shooting that rattled the foundation of American politics.
Suddenly, the Democrats’ turmoil after the debate, the party’s potential governing agenda and even Mr Trump’s criminal convictions became secondary to concerns about political violence and the country’s stability.
Mr Trump and his allies will face the country during their four-day convention in Milwaukee unquestionably united and ready to “fight”, as a bloodied Mr Trump cried out on Saturday while Secret Service agents at his Pennsylvania rally rushed him to safety.
Anger and anxiety are coursing through the party, even as many top Republicans call for calm and a lowering of tensions.
On Monday, hours before the first convention session, some well-timed good news for Mr Trump got the day off to a positive start for him and his party.
The federal judge presiding over his classified documents case dismissed the prosecution because of concerns over the appointment of the prosecutor who brought the case, handing the former president a major court victory.
Mr Trump posted on his Truth Social platform to call for the dismissal of his other legal cases.
“As we move forward in Uniting our Nation after the horrific events on Saturday, this dismissal of the Lawless Indictment in Florida should be just the first step, followed quickly by the dismissal of ALL the Witch Hunts,” he wrote, listing several cases.
Also on Monday, US president Joe Biden told NBC News that it was a “mistake” to say he wanted to put a “bull’s-eye” on Republican nominee Donald Trump, but argued that the rhetoric coming from his opponent was more incendiary while warning that Mr Trump remained a threat to democratic institutions.
Those remarks from Mr Biden came during a private call with donors last week as the Democrat had been scrambling to shore up his imperilled candidacy with key party constituencies.
During that conversation, Mr Biden declared that he was “done” talking about his poor debate performance and that it was “time to put Trump in the bull’s-eye,” saying Mr Trump has had far too little scrutiny on his stances, rhetoric and lack of campaigning.
Insisting “there was very little focus on Trump’s agenda,” Mr Biden told NBC anchor Lester Holt that while he acknowledged his “mistake”, he nonetheless is “not the guy who said I wanted to be a dictator on day one” and that he wanted the focus to be on what Mr Trump was saying.
It is Trump, not Biden, who engages in that kind of rhetoric, Mr Biden said, referring to Mr Trump’s past comments about a “bloodbath” if the Republican loses to Mr Biden in November.
“Look, how do you talk about the threat to democracy, which is real, when a president says things like he says?” Mr Biden said. “Do you just not say anything because it may incite somebody?”
