Originally Published: July 19, 2024 12:24 a.m.
The final night of the Republican convention featured Trump's first public speech since a gunman tried to assassinate him on Saturday, and saw extensive exaltation of the nominee from speakers who implied, and sometimes outright declared, that he was saved by, and chosen by, God himself.
That deification was punctuated by appearances from various MAGA celebrities who gloried in their own excess — Hulk Hogan, Tucker Carlson, Kid Rock — leading up to a long and sometimes plodding speech by the biggest MAGA celebrity of all.
Here are some moments and themes from night four:
Trump recounts the shooting
Speaking with an image of the White House projected behind him, Trump retold the story of the attempt on his life last weekend in Pennsylvania.
He said that he turned during his speech and "felt something hit me really, really hard." There was "blood all over the place," and he immediately knew "we were under attack," he said.
"There was blood pouring everywhere and yet, in a certain way, I felt very safe because I had God on my side. I felt that," Trump said.
He praised the crowd on Saturday for its stillness after the shooting.
"This massive crowd — tens of thousands of people — stood by, and didn't move an inch," he said, with his customary need to exaggerate crowd size (and, in this case, lack of crowd movement).
He then mused on how, if he had not turned his head at the exact right moment, the bullet would have found its mark. There was an explicitly religious overtone to all this. Trump was saved, Trump was protected.
"Bullets were flying all over us, and yet I felt serene," he said. He added, later: "I'm not supposed to be here tonight."
"Yes you are," the crowd chanted.
"I stand before you here thanks to the grace of an almighty God," Trump said.
It was a religious revival story that earlier speakers teed up for him, and which he leaned fully into. He dodged death, he suggested, and is marked by God for a providential mission.
Trump takes a victory lap on immunity, Cannon
Trump made his call for "unity" demanding that the Democrats stop labeling their opponent the "enemy of Democracy."
"In fact, that is not true, I am the one saving democracy for this country," he said.
He then transitioned to exulting in Judge Aileen Cannon's dismissal of his Mar-a-Lago records case, and in his victories in fending off a number of other attempts at accountability: the two impeachments, the Supreme Court giving him an assist by finding that it's nearly impossible to prosecute former presidents for anything they did while in office.
"Very big news, as you probably just read. On Monday a major ruling was handed down from a highly respected federal judge in Florida, Aileen Cannon," he began, name-checking his appointee.
Trump did not mention his conviction on 34 felony counts in New York state court in May.
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