Former President Donald Trump dramatically entered the Republican National Convention (RNC) Monday night in his first public appearance since Saturday’s failed assassination attempt.
Trump walked into the Milwaukee arena with a bandaged right ear. The song “God Bless the U.S.A.” welcomed the former commander-in-chief to the RNC for a third presidential nomination.
Once the music finished, delegates erupted with chants of “USA!” and “Fight!” in reference to Trump shouting, “Fight!” with a defiant fist raised immediately after he was shot on a Pennsylvania rally platform.
The former president’s historic appearance on the first evening of the RNC came hours after Trump announced his pick for the vice-presidential nomination, Sen. J.D. Vance from Ohio.
While Republicans celebrated the opening of their 2024 convention with the grand entrance of a nominee who barely survived a gunshot to the head two days prior, President Joe Biden sat down for a live interview with Lester Holt on NBC. Biden denied he often engaged in vitriolic rhetoric that could provoke an assassination attempt on his chief political opponent.
“You called your opponent an existential threat on a call a week ago. You said it’s time to put Trump in the bullseye,” Holt said.
“The truth of the matter was,” Biden said, “I guess [what] I was talking about at the time was, there was very little focus on Trump’s agenda.”
“The term was ‘bullseye,'” Hold said.
“It was a mistake to use the word,” Biden said.
The 81-year-old incumbent also refused to commit to place a third presidential debate on the calendar but pledged he would participate in the scheduled match-up planned for September.
“We’re going to have another debate,” Biden said.
“Would you be open to doing one in the next few weeks?” Holt asked.
“I’m going to debate him when we agreed to debate, and I’m going to debate him in September,” Biden said.
“But if the opportunity came up to do one between now and then, is there a sense of wanting to get back on the horse?” Holt said.
The question made Biden lash out.
“I’m on the horse!” the president said. “Where have you been?”
