Arizona delegates watch balloons drop from the ceiling at Fiserv Forum on the last night of the Republican National Convention on July 18, 2024. (Photo by Keetra Bippus/Cronkite News)
MILWAUKEE – Arizona Republicans were awestruck after a week devoted to all things Donald Trump – dazzled by a high-spirited finale and moved to tears in some cases as he recounted his narrow escape from an assassin’s bullet just five days earlier.
“I’m not supposed to be here tonight,” he said Thursday night as he accepted the party’s nomination for the third time in eight years.
“Yes, you are! Yes, you are!” delegates packed into a downtown Milwaukee arena chanted back near the end of the 2024 Republican National Convention.
By the time the balloons dropped to cap the evening – cascades of red, white, blue and, in a Trumpian touch, gold – delegates were giddy at the thought of the 45th president returning to the White House and the near-miracle of his survival.
“I’m so high on life right now,” said Lori Martinez, an at-large delegate from Arizona and state chair of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly, “I can’t even describe it any other way than that.”
Trump’s right ear was covered in a white bandage.
A number of Arizona delegates wore bandages, too, in solidarity with the bloody wound that Trump suffered in the attack at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Trump recounted the attack in somber tones and made calls to lower the political temperature – before shifting to a familiar combative stance.
“I am running to be president for all of America, not half of America,” Trump said. “Because there is no victory in winning for half of America.”
“We saw a different man on stage today than we’ve seen at any other time. Everyone was super emotional,” said Jeremiah Cota, a delegate from Arizona’s 3rd Congressional District.
Trump’s 93-minute speech strayed often from the prepared text and smashed the previous 76-minute record for such remarks, set by Trump in 2016.
These were his first public remarks since the assassination attempt two days before the convention gaveled open. Aides said that after the shooting, he largely discarded the speech already prepared for the occasion to seek a more unifying message.
But his calls for national unity and more civil discourse were paired with a pointed tone. He reiterated accusations that President Joe Biden and other Democrats have persecuted him in court and falsely painted him as a would-be autocrat rather than, as he sees himself, the savior of American democracy.
Over the course of the week, speakers denounced the two impeachments that ended in acquittals in the Senate, and the assorted criminal cases filed against him after he left office.
“The Democrat party should immediately stop weaponizing the justice system and labeling their political opponent as an enemy of democracy,” Trump said.
“I think the Republicans are more galvanized now than they’ve ever been, at least since Reagan,” said Steve Zipperman, an at-large delegate running for a state Senate seat in Yavapai County.
Steve Robinson, an alternate delegate from Phoenix, called the convention “epic.” His favorite speaker, aside from Trump, was Hulk Hogan, who riled up the crowd and tore off his overgarment to reveal a “Trump Vance” shirt.
A thrill went through the hall at the arrival of former First Lady Melania Trump ahead of her husband’s speech. She spoke at the 2016 and 2020 conventions but not this time around. She joined him on stage after his own speech, and they held hands as they basked in the delegates’ adoration.
The evening kicked into high gear with a rousing Kid Rock performance of “American Bad Ass.”
Delegates chanted “Fight! Fight! Fight!” repeatedly throughout the convention, echoing Trump’s rallying cry when he stood after the shooting, surrounded by Secret Service agents, his face bloody and his fist pumping.
As Trump recounted the attack, huge LED panels behind the stage displayed the instantly iconic images from the assassination attempt, including one that apparently showed a bullet streaking past his head.
He paid homage to Corey Comperatore, a firefighter killed in the attack when he shielded his wife and their children with his own body. Comperatore’s helmet and protective gear were on stage, and Trump kissed the helmet.
He praised rally goers as “incredible people” who – instead of stampeding – pointed law enforcement to the source of the gunfire and kept vigil in the fearful moments before he stood up, improbably still alive.
Trump was not the only one to mesmerize the Arizona delegation.
Rightwing media personality Tucker Carlson was another favorite.
He spoke without a teleprompter and “he spoke from the heart,” said Ray Michaels Bashkingy, a delegate from the 1st Congressional District.
Cronkite News reporters Keetra Bippus, Amaia J. Gavica and Regan Gallo contributed to this report.
