Trump 2.0 tries to unite America after gun attack
Former president to tone down aggressive rhetoric to appeal to swing voters after assassination attempt
DONALD TRUMP has rewritten his keynote speech for the Republican National Convention this week as he changes his election strategy to focus on a message of national unity after an attempt on his life.
The 78-year-old, who has been no stranger to divisive rhetoric during his three presidential campaigns and term in office, is now urging his supporters to dial down their rhetoric and bring Americans together.
“In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand united, and show our true character as Americans, remaining strong and determined, and not allowing evil to win,” he said in a post on Truth Social after a would-be assassin shot at him during a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
The shift in tone comes ahead of this week’s convention in Milwaukee where he will formally receive the Republican nomination.
His “Trump 2.0” message is designed to appeal to swing voters who are nervous about his swashbuckling style and, in his own words, to “unite America”.
It also allows his supporters to criticise Joe Biden for a series of increasingly hostile adverts that described Trump as a “dictator” and an “extremist”. Trump’s allies, who have cheered on his own personal attacks for years, are now accusing the Democrats of creating a dangerous political atmosphere.
JD Vance, who was last night announced as Trump’s running mate, said on Saturday that Mr Biden was responsible for the shooting because he had portrayed him as an “authoritarian fascist”. Mr Biden’s campaign struggled to land its core message of economic security in the early months of its campaign and has since shifted to a more aggressive style, deploying adverts and statements that accuse Trump of holding extreme views on abortion and other policy issues.
They have pointed to Project 2025, a playbook for office created by a Rightwing think tank, as evidence of a secret plan to erode civil liberties, and framed the election as a choice between democracy and authoritarianism.
In light of the attempt on Trump’s life, by a gunman whose motive remains unknown, that campaign pivot looks like a mistake.
“We can start by dropping hyperbolic threats about the stakes of this election,” said Jared Goldner, a Democratic representative for Maine.
“It should not be misleadingly portrayed as a struggle between democracy or authoritarianism, or a battle against fascists or socialists bent on destroying America. These are dangerous
‘In this moment it is more important than ever that we stand united and show our true character as Americans’
lies.” The sense of crisis among Democrats was underscored yesterday morning when the Left-wing broadcaster MSNBC pulled an episode of its flagship show, Morning Joe, amid concerns that guests would attack Trump and embarrass the network.
Later in the day, as a court in Florida announced it was dropping the classified documents case against him, Trump said he hoped the decision would be the “first step” to “unite our nation”.
He also called for an increase to federal protection for politicians, including the independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr, who is a rival on the campaign trail.
Yesterday evening, Alejandro Mayorkas, the Homeland Security Secretary, announced that the Secret Service had been directed to protect him.
Mr Kennedy, the nephew of assassinated president JF Kennedy, has repeatedly requested that he be given Secret Service protection. A new law, proposed by a bipartisan group of congressmen, would extend Secret Service protection to all major presidential candidates during election periods.
“Given the history of the Kennedy family, this is the obvious right thing to do,” Trump said.
There is considerable scepticism among some Democrats about Trump’s new message of unity, which they argue is designed to eliminate the political division that he has created since 2016. They point to his refusal to accept the result of the 2020 election, his inflammatory language on illegal migration, and his support for Jan 6 rioters as evidence that he cannot be a unifying political force.
However, the shift creates some difficulty for Mr Biden who has campaigned on the issue of protecting American democracy from hostile forces for some time and is now accused of contributing to the problem.
Mr Biden is also suffering from a dip in poll ratings after a series of public gaffes on the world stage, including a disastrous debate performance last month and his confusion over the names of Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin at the Nato summit in Washington last week.
Meanwhile, Trump supporters say he is now the only man who can rescue America from division and political violence. The images of the former president on stage in Pennsylvania on Saturday have already been converted into unofficial merchandise and are displayed by his supporters as a symbol of resistance against “evil”.
Aaron Bullen, a GOP conference delegate from Utah, told The Telegraph that Trump was now viewed by voters as a bulwark against division.
“This is a referendum on political violence,” he said.
“We need to show that even though the media tries to paint us all as some kind of crazy Right-wing extremists, calling Trump a Nazi is just completely indefensible. It has no basis in reality.”