MILWAUKEE, July 15: Donald Trumps Republican Party convenes on Monday hoping to chart his return to the White House after he survived an assassination attempt that prompted him and President Joe Biden, his Democratic rival, to call for national unity and calm.
The former president will announce at the convention this week his choice for a running mate, having cited as frontrunners Ohio U.S. Senator J.D. Vance, Florida U.S. Senator Marco Rubio and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, all of whom will speak at the at the gathering.
Trump held individual meetings with each of the three men late last week in what was effectively one last job interview, according to two sources who requested anonymity to disclose private conversations.
While the event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, will be a festive affair to formally choose the partys presidential nominee, it occurs at a tense moment in U.S. history on the road to the Nov. 5 election rematch between Biden, 81, and Trump, 78.
Will party leaders scheduled to speak over the next four days try to cool tempers among Republicans? Or will they use the occasion to accuse Democrats of demonizing Trump as a threat to democracy and making him a target for political violence?
"This is a chance to bring the whole country, even the whole world, together. The speech will be a lot different, a lot different than it wouldve been two days ago," Trump told the Washington Examiner.
Biden, too, in a televised address from the White House on Sunday, said: "There is no place in America for this kind of violence, for any violence ever. Period. No exceptions. We can allow this violence to be normalized."
He said: "The political rhetoric in this country has gotten very heated. Its time to cool it down."
Trump and Biden are locked in a close election rematch, according to most opinion polls including by Reuters/Ipsos. The shooting on Saturday whipsawed discussion around the presidential campaign, which had been focused on whether Biden should drop out following a halting June 27 debate performance.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, the countrys highest-ranking Republican, told NBCs "Today" show on Sunday that all Americans needed to tone down their rhetoric. He accused Bidens campaign of making hyperbolic attacks on Trump. —REUTERS
