Former President Donald Trump accepted the GOP nomination for president for the third time in a row on Thursday, closing out the Republican National Convention with his first speech since he was shot in a failed assassination attempt just days earlier.
Speaking for more than an hour and a half in what was the longest convention address in modern history, Trump struck an uncharacteristically somber tone to recount the fatal shooting at his rally in Pennsylvania before he transitioned into the kind of meandering address that is his staple.
With a bandage covering the wound where a sniper’s bullet tore through his ear, Trump told Republican delegates in Milwaukee and a primetime television audience about his experience during the shooting, which left one rally attendee dead and two others wounded.
“I am not supposed to be here tonight,” he said. “I stand before you in this arena only by the grace of almighty God. And watching the reports over the last few days, many people say it was a providential moment. Probably was.”
The rest of the speech featured an unfocused Trump riffing on the text in his prepared remarks, with an emphasis on the economy, inflation and the Biden administration’s foreign policy. If elected, he vowed to implement large-scale deportations of undocumented immigrants, cut taxes and reassert American might abroad. He made several false or misleading claims during his remarks.
The speech stretched past midnight on the East Coast, and Trump concluded by tying the attempt on his life to his campaign for the White House and calling on his supporters to fight alongside him.
“Nothing will sway us. Nothing will slow us. And no one will ever stop us,” Trump said. “No matter what dangers come our way, no matter what obstacles lie in our path, we will keep striving toward our shared and glorious destiny — and we will not fail.”
Here’s more from what Trump said in his 2024 RNC speech: