Donald Trump’s running mate JD Vance has hailed the former president’s defiant response to his attempted assassination in a rousing speech to the Republican National Convention (RNC), casting his boss as a tough fighter who also cares deeply about the United States and its people.
Accepting the nomination for vice president at the RNC in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Wednesday, the Ohio senator mostly eschewed aggressive rhetoric in favour of an upbeat message, pointing to Trump’s reaction in the moments after he was shot during a campaign rally on Saturday as proof of his leadership and love of the country.
What did he call for us to do with our country? To fight, to fight for America. Even in his most perilous moment, we were on his mind,” Vance said.
“His instinct was for us, for our country, to call us to something higher, to something greater, to once again be citizens who ask what our country needs from us.”
Vance, a former critic of Trump who described him as an “idiot” and “reprehensible” in the leadup to the 2016 election, said the tycoon-turned-politician had endured “abuse, slander and persecution” to serve his country.
“Now, consider what they said: They said he was a tyrant, they said he must be stopped at all costs,” Vance said.
“But how did he respond? He called for national unity, for national calm, literally right after an assassin nearly took his life.”
Seeking to portray a softer side to Trump, who is known for his acerbic rhetoric and vitriolic attacks against critics, Vance said that the Republican was also a devoted father and grandfather, as well as a successful businessman and politician.
“He’s the man who is feared by America’s adversaries but two nights ago – and I’ll share a moment – said goodnight to his two boys, told them he loved them and made sure to give each of them a kiss on the cheek,” Vance said.
“And I will say, Don and Eric squirmed the same way my four-year-old does when his daddy tries to give him a kiss on the cheek.”
Vance, who rose to national fame with the 2016 publication of his memoir Hillbilly Elegy, repeatedly appealed to working-class voters in the key swing states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, recalling growing up in a “small town where people spoke their minds, built with their hands and loved their God”.
The three “Rust Belt” states flipped from Trump to Biden in 2020 and are considered crucial to the outcome of the election in November.
Vance said President Joe Biden had for half a century been a champion of “every single policy initiative to make America weaker and poorer”, including the free trade deal, NAFTA, and the war in Iraq.
