GREENSBORO, N.C. — Donald Trump is the Republican presidential nominee. That was rubber-stamped on Monday when more than 2,400 delegates voted.
Thursday night, the public heard from former President Trump, and his tone was something we're not used to.
Speaking for more than an hour and a half in what was the longest convention address in modern history, Trump struck a somber tone to recount the deadly shooting at his rally in Pennsylvania.
“After the shooting, it became a story of, 'well, they're back with us for the most part. Now let's go to try to pick up voters who are in the middle and voters who may be disaffected by Biden, worried about his health, worried about his ability to lead a lead forward.' What we're seeing here, I think, is an expansionist view of the bigger tent Republican Party. We'll see if that holds.”
Coming on the heels of an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, he said he would focus on this in his RNC speech, though this shift comes last minute.
"Switching gears rapidly to one of someone who's going to be a unifier, more of like an Abraham Lincoln sort of character," Jason Husser, a political science professor at Elon University, said. "To move us out of this moment of divide is a tall task."
Husser said Trump's speeches are usually offensive, portraying himself as a fighter against Democrats and, at times, his party. This dramatic pivot is a big challenge for the 45th president.
"Former President Trump is a master of ceremonies, a master of gaining the crowd's attention, particularly crowds that are sympathetic to his worldview," Husser said. "This is a very experienced public speaker, but he's also a public speaker that is used to extemporaneous speeches, not necessarily prepared speeches."
Husser said the tone of the convention has notably shifted. Republicans and Democrats, both inside and outside of the RNC, are calling for everyone to lower the temperature. However, he questioned how long this would last.
"It's not clear to me that the discipline around that message will hold for the next few months. But it strikes me as this unity message may be one that's purely sincere, that people recognize that a horrible, horrible thing happened that cost a person his life, caused people to be gravely injured, almost caused former President Trump to die himself," Husser said. "But there's a cynical view, which is that this is typical electoral politics. Trump has solidified his base and can now move on to capturing the middle and moving into Biden's territories with groups like the unions.”
Trump's speech at the RNC marked the first time since someone tried to kill him that he'll be in front of a microphone.
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