Trump surrounded by towering bodyguards as he appears in wild scenes after shooting
Days after he was almost assassinated Donald Trump has appeared at a massive event sending the MAGA crowd into a frenzy.
World
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Donald Trump has been given a hero’s welcome as he appeared at the Republican National Convention after he was shot days earlier.
He turned up to the convention (RNC) with a bandage on his ear, where a bullet had hit him.
The crowd at the Fiserve Forum stadium in Milwaukee, where the convention is taking place, had been eagerly awaiting Mr Trump’s arrival after he flew into the Wisconsin city on Sunday night.
He wasn’t due to speak until Thursday evening, US time, but on Monday night – on the big screen – an image flashed up of Mr Trump backstage.
It sent the crowd into a frenzy. Chants of “fight, fight, fight,” went up echoing his words just after he was shot in Pennsylvania, where one man tragically died.
He could be seen with an prominent bandage on his ear where he was shot on Sunday.
Entering the stadium, Mr Trump greeted supporters and took to the seating area on the stage.
The six-foot-three former President was conspicuously surrounded by a security detail of at least half a dozen equally tall, burly men – following widespread criticism of his Secret Service protection on Saturday.
“The night diversity and inclusion died,” quipped Sky News Australia host Rowan Dean. “Not a single DEI pick amongst Trump’s new bodyguards.”
But much to the frustration of the crowd, potentially numbering 50,000, Mr Trump didn’t speak.
When the next speaker came on, he couldn’t start while the crowd roared “we want Trump, we want Trump”.
When President of the Teamsters union Sean O’Brien he said “over the last couple of days, Donald Trump has proved to be a tough SOB,” Mr Trump could be seen smiling and saying thank you.
Mr Trump stood next to his new running mate, announced earlier that days, Ohio Senator JD Vance.
The man who could be the next Vice President was once a proud “Never Trumper” and said he was “dangerous”.
But like many in the Republican Party, the views of JD Vance have had a dramatic turnaround when it comes to Mr Trump.
On Monday afternoon Mr Trump took to social media to announce that Mr Vance will become Vice President if the Republican is returned to the White House.
“After lengthy deliberation and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator JD Vance of the Great State of Ohio”.
Democrats have labelled Mr Vance, 39, as extreme.
The RNC is where both the Republican candidates for President and Vice President are officially crowned.
Soon after Mr Vance was announced as the VP pick, Mr Trump himself was confirmed as the Republican nominee for President.
House speaker Mike Johnson took to the stage to announce that – in the convoluted process to get to a nominee – 2387 delegates had voted for Mr Trump.
Picking VP like The Apprentice
With several contenders vying to be his running mate Mr Trump said it was like a “highly sophisticated version of The Apprentice”, the reality TV show that catapulted him to fame across the US.
The main candidates had also included Florida Senator Marco Rubio and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, with several other names given an outside chance.
JD Vance is expected to give a speech at the convention while Mr Trump will speak on Thursday evening (Friday morning, Australia time) on why he should become President.
Mr Vance, born James David Bowman, had been a strong contender for the VP position for some time.
He was born in Middletown, north of Cincinnati. It’s an area of the country known as the Midwest where families faced hardship as heavy industry foundered.
Mr Vance joined the Marines and served in Iraq.
He later attended Ohio State University and then went to the elite Yale Law School.
‘Hitler’: Vance’s past comments on Trump
In the run up to the 2016 election, Mr Vance was a huge critic of Mr Trump.
Then a self-described “never Trumper,” he called Mr Trump “dangerous” and “unfit” for office.
Publicly, he called the Republican presidential candidate an “idiot” and said he was “reprehensible.”
“I’m a never-Trump guy, I never liked him,” Vance said during an October 2016 interview with Charlie Rose. Trump was, by Vance’s estimation at the time, a “terrible candidate”.
He even wondered aloud, in texts to a former roommate, whether Trump was more of “a cynical asshole like Nixon”, or worse, “America’s Hitler”.
Mr Vance gained notoriety for his hugely successful 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy that focused on his early life and how that affected his politics.
The book was a favourite of Donald Trump Jr, which put him on Mr Trump's radar.
In 2021, Vance and Trump met and buried their differences. Mr Vance said President Trump had proved himself in office.
Mr Vance is a leading conservative voice and favours a more isolationist America and had called for strong restrictions on abortion. However, like Mr Trump, he appears to have softened his stance on abortion after Republicans began losing political battles on the issue.
Picking Mr Vance as VP is a nod to the battleground states in the Midwest including Ohio but also Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, where his nomination may go down well. Mr Trump will hope Mr Vance will connect with these white, working class voters.
Other VP contenders
Marco Rubio’s name has cropped up across many election cycles in the US.
He was a possible running mate for Republican candidate Mitt Romney in 2012 and stood for the Republican presidential nominee himself in 2016. Mr Trump dismissed him at the time as “little Marco” due to his smaller height.
North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, 67, is closer in age to Mr Trump, although still a decade his junior.
He once ran for president himself and had been critical of Mr Trump remarking he wouldn’t do business with him because “you’re judged by the company you keep”.
Like many others, Mr Burgum has also had a road to Damascus experience and now fervently backs the nominee.
Another name bandied around was Senator Tim Scott from South Carolina, who stood against Mr Trump in an attempt to win the nomination.
Not shy to praise Mr Trump, Mr Scott said at one rally “I just love you”.
Originally published as Trump surrounded by towering bodyguards as he appears in wild scenes after shooting
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