Donald Trump has told Americans to be wary of stifling political disagreement, only days after a 20-year-old gunman attempted to assassinate the US presidential hopeful at a campaign rally.
In his first public speech since the attempt on his life, Mr Trump told the crowds at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee that his campaign should focus on “the issues facing our country and how to make America successful, safe, free and great again.”
“In an age when our politics too often divide us, now is the time to remember that we are all fellow citizens,” he said.
“We must not criminalise, dissent or demonise political disagreement, which is what’s been happening in our country lately at a level that nobody has ever seen before.”
He began his speech by giving his account of the failed assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.
“I will tell you exactly what happened, and you’ll never hear it from me a second time because it’s actually too painful to tell,” he said.
“If I had not moved my head at that very last instant at the assassin’s bullet would have perfectly hit its mark and I would not be here tonight. We would not be together.”
He then explained what was going through his mind moments after the shots rang out on Saturday after he fell to the stage as a bullet struck his ear.
Mr Trump continued his account of the assassination attempt by saying: “I wanted to do something to let (the crowd) know I was OK. I raised my right arm, looked at the thousands and thousands of people that were breathlessly waiting and started shouting ‘Fight, fight, fight’.
“For the rest of my life, I will be grateful for the love shown by that giant audience of patriots that stood bravely on that fateful evening in Pennsylvania.”
The former president added that he had spoken to the family of Corey Comperatore who died in the shooting, calling him an “unbelievable person” with a firefighter’s jacket and helmet bearing his name on the stage.
“He lost his life selflessly acting as a human shield to protect them from flying bullets,” he said. “He went right over the top of them and was hit.”
He also praised David Dutch and James Copenhaver who were injured and called for a moment’s silence for Mr Comperatore.
Mr Trump went on to tell his audience that he is “saving democracy for the people of our country.”,
He referenced his classified documents case, which was dropped by the courts, labelling his prosecution for the removal of top secret documents from the White House in the wake of his presidency a “witch hunt.”
He criticised the Democrats for the legal challenges against him and his family, while also praising his sons for having more subpoenas levied against them than “any people probably in the history of the United States”.
“We have to work on making America great again, not on beating people, and we won,” he said. “We beat ’em. We beat ’em on the impeachments, we beat ’em on indictments,” the former president said.
“The time that you have to spend, if they would devote that genius to helping our country we’d have a much stronger and better country.”
He said he was presenting “a vision for the whole nation”.
“To every citizen, whether you are young or old, man or woman, Democrat, Republican or independent, black or white, Asian or Hispanic, I extend to you a hand of loyalty and of friendship,” he said.
“Together we will leave America to great height of greatness, like the world is never seen before.”
He assured the Republican crowd that the party would have an “incredible victory” come election time as he accepted the Republican party’s presidential nomination.
“Whether you have supported me in the past or not, I hope you will support me in the future because I will bring back the American dream, that is what we’re going to do,” he said. “You do not even hear about the dream anymore.
“The entire Republican Party has formally adopted an agenda for America’s renewal. It is a series of bold promises that we will swiftly implement when you give us a Republican House.
“Under our leadership, the United States will be respected again, no nation will question our power, no enemy will doubt our might, our borders will be totally secure, our economy will soar.”
He continued: “We will return law and order to our streets, patriotism to our schools and more importantly we will restore peace, stability and harmony all throughout the world.
“But to achieve this future, we must first rescue our nation… this will be the most important election in the history of our country, under the current administration we are indeed a nation in decline”
“Tonight I make this pledge to the great people of America, I will end the devastating inflation crisis immediately, bring down interest rates and lower the cost of energy. We will drill, baby, drill.”
He said he would end the illegal immigration crisis and close the border with Mexico by finishing the wall.
Mr Trump reiterated his claim that the two wars waging in Europe and the Middle East would have “never happened” if he was president, but made no mention of how he would stop either of those conflicts.
