Former President Donald Trump has completely overhauled his convention speech following Saturday's assassination attempt. In an exclusive interview with the Washington Examiner, Trump, who was millimeters away from being killed, will now call for a renewed effort at national unity during his speech on Thursday. Trump expressed his desire to seize this historic moment to unite the country.
“The speech I was going to give on Thursday was going to be a humdinger,” he told Salena Zito of the Washington Examiner. “Had this not happened, this would’ve been one of the most incredible speeches,” hitting at the policies of Joe Biden. “Honestly, it’s going to be a whole different speech now.”
He said he shifted his focus from energizing his voter base to demonstrating his belief that the attack at a Pennsylvania rally had fundamentally altered the election campaign. Indeed, Republicans and Democrats have recognized this change following Saturday's shocking incident. In fact, Democratic strategists who spoke with NBC News on Sunday said that the failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump most certainly was the true end of Biden's hopes of getting reelected.
"The presidential contest ended last night," one veteran Democratic strategist said. "Now it's time to focus on keeping the Senate and trying to pick up the House. The only silver lining for Democrats is that we're no longer talking about Joe Biden's age today."
In his interview, Trump shared that people from all walks of life and political backgrounds have reached out to him. He noted that he was saved from death because he turned away from the crowd to look at a screen displaying data for his speech.
"That reality is just setting in," he said. "I rarely look away from the crowd. Had I not done that in that moment, well, we would not be talking today, would we?"
Talking as he boarded his plane in Bedminster, New Jersey, for Milwaukee, where the Republican National Convention starts Monday and lasts through Thursday, Trump said his speech will meet the moment that history demands. “It is a chance to bring the country together. I was given that chance.”
Early Sunday morning, Trump posted on Truth social that it was “God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening” and that he would “fear not.” Again, in talking to the Washington Examiner, he invoked “God” for his deliverance.
“This is a chance to bring the whole country, even the whole world, together. The speech will be a lot different, a lot different than it would’ve been two days ago,” he said.
The Washington Examiner’s interview with Trump had been due to take place on his airplane on the return flight from the rally to Bedminster. That arrangement put this reporter just feet from Trump when he was shot.
As for the moment he was shot and the immediate aftermath, which generated some of the most iconic photographs in recent history, Trump said he knew in that moment he had to make sure the people in the crowd knew he was okay.
“The energy coming from the people there in that moment, they just stood there; it’s hard to describe what that felt like, but I knew the world was looking. I knew that history would judge this, and I knew I had to let them know we are OK.”
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