The first night of the Republican National Convention kicked off in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with an emphasis on “unity” in the wake of Saturday’s assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
This afternoon, Trump announced Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio as his running mate, a 39-year-old Rust Belt native and author of a bestselling autobiography. Hillbilly Elegy Viewed by many as a chronicle of the forgotten men and women that Trump’s 2016 campaign and the MAGA movement championed, Vance became the youngest Republican vice presidential nominee in history, joining Richard Nixon, who was also 39 and serving his first term as a senator when he was selected as President Dwight Eisenhower’s running mate in 1952. A rising star in the populist conservative movement, Vance has proven himself a fierce Senate defender of working-class Americans who have been ignored by both parties.
In 2021, Breitbart editor-in-chief Alex Marlow interviewed Vance at his Cincinnati home.
This is a 75 minute interview. translator From 2021 in Cincinnati’s historic home.
If you want to know him, how he thinks, what is important to him, I think this will be useful ==> https://t.co/quIFqYW3HR
— Alex Marlow (@AlexMarlow) July 15, 2024
In a roll call vote today, Republican delegates gave Mr. Trump a historic third Republican nomination, making him one of only six Americans to have been nominated by a major party more than twice — the other five being Thomas Jefferson, Grover Cleveland, William Jennings Bryan, Franklin Roosevelt and Richard Nixon.
The speakers for this evening are:
- Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin)
- Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA)
- Governor Mark Robinson (R-NC)
- Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas)
- Rep. John James (R-Mich.)
- Senator Katie Britt (R-Alabama)
- Senator Tim Scott (R-SC)
- Governor Glenn Youngkin (Republican, Virginia)
- Governor Kristi Noem (Republican, South Dakota)
- Congressman Byron Donald (R-FL)
- Charlie Kirk, executive director of Turning Point USA
- Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.)
- Sean O’Brien, President of the International Teamsters Union
Saturday’s assassination attempt has upended an already unprecedented race that pits a sitting president against a former president in a repeat of the last election. It also comes after weeks of Democratic debate wrangling over whether to replace President Joe Biden as the candidate, after his disastrous defeat in last month’s debate. And it comes after months and years of what Trump and Republicans have seen as loafer tactics against him by his political opponents, including the classified documents lawsuit brought by special counsel Jack Smith that was dismissed by a federal judge this morning.
Unfortunately, in what appears to be an attempt to hype up the coverage of the Republican National Convention, Biden is scheduled to do a primetime interview with NBC News’ Lester Holt at 9pm ET tonight. If it plays out like his interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, it’s unlikely to lift his sagging approval ratings.
NBC News posted a preview clip of it.
In an exclusive interview with Lester Holt, President Biden said he made a mistake when he used the word “bullseye” when discussing former President Trump, but: [Trump is] “Are doing” pic.twitter.com/TufdyiZq8v
— Lester Holt on NBC Nightly News (@NBCNightlyNews) July 15, 2024
Biden has been trying to pivot his campaign’s messaging since Saturday after an assassin’s bullet nearly killed Trump.
The assassination attempt has left Democrats and their allies in the mainstream media without a message to deliver to a public exhausted by years of divisive rhetoric that has denigrated Trump and the Americans who voted for him as deplorables, extremists, insurrectionists, racists, religious fanatics, traitors, and even terrorists. This demonizing rhetoric has been exponentially strengthened by Biden, who has staked his reelection on the message that Donald Trump is a Hitler-like existential threat to democracy and the entire world. This characterization implicitly makes Trump a target for would-be assassins eager to topple a dictator.
With his fist raised in the face of death, Trump now wields a power no one could have predicted: the power of unity. Said of Washington Examiner After the assassination attempt, Trump said he rewrote his convention speech to focus on unity. “This is a chance to bring our country together,” Trump said. “And I’ve been given that chance.”
One thing is certain: Trump has unified the Republican Party. Breitbart’s Joel Pollack, reporting from Milwaukee, Note The atmosphere inside the convention center was “jubilant,” but “somewhat quieter among anti-Trump protesters outside.”
Follow Breitbart News below for live updates (all times Pacific):
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5:11pm PST
Next up is another West Point graduate, Rep. John James of Michigan. This plucky guy is here in Wisconsin rooting for the Detroit Lions, but gets good-natured boos from the Badger State crowd. James shares his family history, with his father running a small business in Detroit. Like Hunt, James served as an Apache pilot in Iraq. He says he shares something in common with Trump: “The bad guy shot at both of us and missed.”
James is passionate about criticizing the economic failure of the Democratic Party and Trump’s economic achievements. He says, “Black people were sold hope, and now our streets are overrun with crime, our children are illiterate, and illegal immigrants are getting better support from the Democratic Party in four days than they’ve had in 400 years.” He jokes, “I heard the other day, if you don’t vote for Donald Trump, you’re not black.”
Next up is Rep. Wesley Hunt of Texas, a West Point graduate and freshman like Rep. John James of Michigan, who will be speaking tonight. “I’m a military man. I flew Apaches in Iraq,” he says, explaining that he knows how to get the job done, but Biden and Harris have failed to get the job done for the American people because of inflation. “We the people can fix this Democratic disaster by re-electing Donald John Trump as president,” he says.
He describes himself as the “great-grandson of slaves” and a graduate of West Point.
4:56 PM PST
Next up, North Carolina Lt. Governor Mark Robinson took the stage and said, “I’m the first black lieutenant governor of North Carolina, and I’m going to be the first black governor of North Carolina in November.” Robinson shared his background, explaining how North Carolina lost two manufacturing jobs because of NAFTA, and reminded people that Joe Biden voted for him. “As governor, I won’t forget where I come from.” Robinson praised Trump’s record of protecting manufacturing jobs and fighting for American workers. This is a powerful speech from a conservative star that we’ll surely see many more of in the future.
4:47pm PST
Rep. Marjorie “MTG” Taylor Greene, a MAGA favorite, took the stage to pay tribute to firefighter and Trump supporter Corey Comperatore, who died trying to protect his wife and child at a rally on Saturday. She said she would “honor Corey’s memory” by building the country he wanted. She then delivered an impassioned attack on her supporters, blasting Democrats for celebrating Transgender Awareness Day on Easter Sunday and calling the Democrats’ economy an economy “of illegal immigrants, by illegal immigrants, for illegal immigrants.”
4:27pm PST
Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson reminds delegates that the Republican Party began in the Badger State, then analyzes Democratic policies: “Forgotten Americans are forgotten no more. The Republican Party is the party of opportunity, freedom, and prosperity for all…We have repaired the damage caused by Democrats before, and we will do so again.”
4:10pm PST
Milwaukee Catholic Archbishop Jerome Listecki opened the primetime broadcast with a prayer of blessing.
The first speaker will be Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley, followed by Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.
