Trump shooting ‘changes everything’ ahead of Republican National Convention

This week was shaping up to be one of the biggest of Trump’s election campaign with some difficult moments. Now, all bets are off.

The suspected assassination attempt on Donald Trump has potentially up-ended the entire US election campaign.

The image of a bloodied Trump, one fist in the air, is already iconic.

Tragically, one person died, not including the shooter, at the rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, US time.

Online, people are uttering “this changes everything”.

It’s hard to know what actual effect this could have on an election which is still four months away.

But one event that’s it’s almost certain to have a huge effect on the Republican National Convention (RNC), which is due to start on Monday in Milwaukee.

It could, in parts, have been an awkward meeting with the Make America Great Again (MAGA) faithful.

Secret Service tend to republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump onstage after he was grazed by a bullet. Picture: Anna Moneymaker /Getty Images

If it still goes ahead after such a brazen attack, Trump, with a bona fide battle scare, will be the star guest at the RNC – a week-long jamboree in his honour.

He will officially become the Republican candidate for President and the party’s nominee for Vice President is also likely to be announced.

He is due to give a key note speech on Thursday, US time.

The shooting north of Pittsburgh, in which Trump was injured, will likely make his reception even more raucous.

Next week, Milwaukee will host one the biggest events of the US election campaign. Picture: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

One word

It may brush away concerns that he could have been met with some unhappy faces even among the true MAGA believers.

That looming frustration was down to a single word in a 5400 word document – “abortion”.

It’s not the word that’s the issue – is that it appears just a single time.

It is contained in the Republican Party Platform, a document that was published just days ago and sets out the party’s goals in office.

While abortion appears once, “invasion” is mentioned six times, “immigration” 10, and the “border” 27 times.

The inference is clear. The Republicans believe immigration is an election-winning issue. Restricting abortion? Not so much.

The platform reiterates that abortion policy should be left to the states and merely adds that the party “will oppose late term abortion”.

Many Republicans have been seething.

A bust of Donald Trump is on display before the start of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Picture: Scott Olson/Getty Images

“The RNC platform is a profound disappointment to the millions of pro-life Republicans,” thundered former Vice President in the Trump administration Mike Pence on X.

“I urge delegates to restore language to our party’s platform recognising the sanctity of human life and affirming that the unborn child has a fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed,” he wrote.

President of the Family Research Council Tony Perkins was more muted but the sentiment was the same.

“The 2024 platform is a decent statement of campaign priorities, but not necessarily the enduring principles of a party,” Mr Perkins said.

But allowing abortion does appear to be an enduring principle of Americans as a whole.

Polling by the Pew Research Centre found 63 per cent of US adults think abortion should be legal in all or most cases – almost the highest it has been since 1995.

In the 2022 midterm elections, the Republican’s somewhat lukewarm success was put down by some due to fears over abortion rights.

There are other omissions from the GOP Platform.

LGBT people, nor same-sex marriage, gets a mention despite the fact many on the extreme right would like to wind back gay rights.

Again, the calculus appears to be that overall Americans are less exorcised by gay people and their relationships.

Donald Trump speaks during his campaign rally at the Trump National Doral Golf Club on July 09, 2024 in Doral, Florida. Picture: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Project 2025

But the document is not set in stone. During the RNC, it could be tinkered with.

And one sign at Milwaukee’s airport suggests there will be a push for exactly that to happen.

“Heritage welcomes you to the RNC Convention in MKE,” the banner declares.

Heritage is the Heritage Foundation, a very influential conservative think tank and staunch backer of Mr Trump.

It has penned a hugely controversial document that sets out its alternative vision of a Trump presidency.

It’s called “Project 2025” and if you were going to dream up a banal yet ominous sounding name for a plan to reshape the state it would likely be just that.

The 900 page document is subtitled a “presidential transition project”.

A Heritage Foundation welcome sign for the Republican National Convention is seen at the Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport. Picture: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

It advocates for giving a future president Trump more power over the executive which critics say could see a slide into the authoritarianism.

Project 2025 advocates being tougher on China but argues for winding back US intervention against Russia.

It rails against the so-called “bullying LGBTQ+ agenda” and calls for a “biblically based” definition of marriage and family.

It wants pornography to be banned. But there are concerns the way it defines porn is so wide that librarians could be jailed simply for stocking a book with, say, a trans character.

And, unsurprisingly, it wants heavier restrictions on abortion.

Government watchdog Accountable. US outside of The Heritage Foundation on March 01, 2024 in Washington, DC. Picture: Paul Morigi/Getty Images

‘I know nothing about Project 2025’

Trump has hastily pushed back.

“I know nothing about Project 2025,” he said last week.

“I have no idea who is behind it. I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal.”

But CNN claimed that no fewer than 140 people associated with the Trump campaign were linked with Project 2025.

Essayist and abortion advocate Judith Levine said she fully expected the party’s moderate platform to be scrapped if Mr Trump gains the presidency.

“If a Republican Congress handed a President Trump a federal ban, does anyone think he’d veto it?” she wrote in The Guardian.

The very fact that Mr Trump has survived what looked like a blatant attempt on his life may mean his word, even more than ever, goes.

In Thursday’s speech expect just as few mentions of the word “abortion” on stage as there are on the party’s platform.

MAGA are locked in – it’s millions of other Americans who now need to be persuaded.

But Saturday’s tragedy at a Trump rally – and his triumph after injury – may now be all that’s needed for the former president to become the next president.