Technology journalist Kara Swisher criticized former President Trump’s keynote speech at the closing ceremony of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee as “outrageous.”
Swisher Participated in a CNN panel on Saturday to discuss Trump’s speech, his first since the assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally a week ago, during which he formally accepted the Republican presidential nomination.
The president began his speech on a measured note, calling for “unity,” but quickly reverted to old habits, criticizing Democrats and breaking his own record for the longest acceptance speech ever, clocking in at over 90 minutes.
Throughout the convention, various speakers, including Trump’s granddaughter Kai Trump and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R), sought to shed new light on the former president.
“Until he stood up, yeah, it was going well,” Swisher said. “So I thought my granddaughter was charming, I thought she was adorable. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, not so much. She was very good, but they tried to do it, they tried to do it in different ways… and some of the speakers seemed out of tune.”
“I think it helped a little bit… but then Trump came along. And [that] “That speech was the Trump we know and we were like, ‘Oh, that guy.’ I remember watching that speech and he was great… but then it just went off the rails,” she added.
During his speech, Trump described his near-death experience at a campaign rally outside Pittsburgh last Saturday, when a bullet grazed his ear and killed a rally attendee.
As the former president spoke to thousands in Milwaukee, the crowd was largely silent, listening to him detail his every word, then cheered when a bandaged-eared Trump accepted the Republican nomination.
“As you all know, an assassin’s bullet came very close to taking my life. Many people have asked me, ‘What happened? Tell me what happened,'” Trump said Thursday night, vowing never to tell the story again because it is “too painful” to do so.
