Donald Trump, bandaged on ear, cheered by Republicans in first public appearance since assassination attempt

After surviving an assassination attempt on Saturday, the former US president arrived at the Republican convention on Monday to cheers from delegates who officially nominated him as their presidential candidate.

The return of their champion. Donald Trump arrived on Monday, July 15, with a bandage on his ear, at the Republican convention in Milwaukee, greeted by an excited crowd who gave him a long standing ovation.

The former president, two days after surviving an assassination attempt, raised his fist as he entered the vast hall decorated in blue and red, to cheers from delegates who earlier officially nominated him as their candidate for the Nov. 5 presidential election.

In the packed arena, the billionaire’s supporters chanted “USA!”, “USA!”, “USA!”or “Fight!”, “Fight!”, “Fight!” (“Fight!”) – the same words that Donald Trump had shouted with a raised fist and a bloodied face when he got up after the shots that targeted him on Saturday. An image that went around the world.

To support him in the race for the White House, Donald Trump chose a 39-year-old senator as his running mate, who was installed alongside him on Monday evening. “I have determined that the person best qualified to serve as Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the great State of Ohio,” Donald Trump wrote on his network, Truth Social. He will accept the party’s formal nomination at a spectacular party on Thursday, punctuated by the release of thousands of red, white, and blue balloons, the culmination of an already historic week.

But the emotion was palpable as early as Monday, as the tens of thousands of Republicans gathered in Milwaukee nearly lost their hero at an outdoor campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.

Americans were shocked by the image of Donald Trump with a bloody ear and a raised fist, being hastily evacuated by his bodyguards.

The attack has tested an increasingly polarized American society and angered the most radical Trump activists, who openly accuse Democrats of being responsible.

With its more than 50,000 participants, the Milwaukee convention nevertheless had a well-oiled launch on Monday, in an ultra-secure environment. The chosen venue is a huge sports complex, whose walls are covered with large photographs glorifying the 45th president of the United States, who also wants to be the 47th.