July 18 (UPI) — Earlier this week, Donald Trump pumped his fist and mouthed “thank you” as he strode into the Republican National Convention Thursday night in Milwaukee as AC/DC’s Back in Black blared throughout the arena.
Later tonight, he will accept the Republican nomination for president, making him the first convicted felon in U.S. history to be nominated for the presidency by a major political party. Fellow Republicans laid out their support in speeches leading up to the historic event.
It will be the first public speech by the former president, since he survived an assassination attempt Saturday at a campaign rally in rural Pennsylvania.
Former conservative talk show host and strident Republican supporter Tucker Carlson told the crowd that Trump is the funniest man he knows and said the former president’s policies will focus on America first.
He criticized the current administration for failing to solve the opioid crisis, a failed border policy, and for continuing to send money to Ukraine for its fight for survival against an invading Russia.
“A middle finger in the face of every American,” Carlson said.
Florida delegate and Dixie County GOP Chair Javnote Teague, a man with a pronounced southern drawl and sporting a cowboy hat and a blue sport coat, said he is supporting Trump because he has had the opportunity to compare administration’s under Biden and Trump, and asked himself which one was better for his family owned timber business.
“Rarely do you even see a presidential candidate where you can compare two track records, ” Teague said. “Here you can. When we lived up underneath the Trump administration, we had a little bit more prosperity,” Teague said of his timber business. He added fuel costs and other expenses associated with running his business are higher now than they were four years ago.
Speakers earlier in the day focused on Trump’s record during his time as president.
“Donald Trump is a job creator, said Linda McMahaon, former chair of the Small Business Administration in one of the speeches leading up to Trump’s official nomination.
“Donald Trump is not only a fighter, ladies and gentlemen, he is a good man,” she said.
When Trump speaks later Thursday night, it will be the first time he has spoken publicly since a failed assassination attempt Saturday in Pennsylvania left him with what he says is a gunshot wound to his right ear.
He appeared at the convention on Monday with a patch of white gauze over his ear as he walked in, waving and giving soft fist-bumps for the crowd.
“Donald Trump is not only a fighter, ladies and gentlemen, he is a good man,” McMahon said. “He has the heart of a lion and the soul of a warrior.”
Trump, a former president and convicted felon, will accept his party’s nomination against a backdrop of heightened political rhetoric and ramped-up religious fervor in the public arena. He is facing a president who arguably has been weakened by COVID this week and who has faced diminishing support of donors and operatives in his own party.
Former pro wrestler Jesse Ventura, who has himself not ruled a foray into politics, is scheduled to introduce Trump, likely prompting .
“Hey, you never know,” Hogan said in an interview in June. “Right now, I’d make a great vice president, brother, because I do have common sense. I do know right from wrong.”
During his convention speech Thursday evening, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was critical of Biden while voicing support for Trump. He said Trump will be president different than the current one in different ways.
“A president who will not check his watch while he is honoring his fallen brothers and sisters,” Pompeo said, referring to a moment when Biden glanced at his wrist, appearing to check the time during a military ceremony. “It was indecent,” Pompeo continued.
Pompeo blamed “that very weakness that we saw in Afghanistan [for] Putin’s butchery in Ukraine,” Pompeo said of Biden’s handling of America’s exit from the military conflict in Afghanistan.
Pompeo also was critical of Biden’s handling of the current war in Gaza and seized on Biden for refusing to talk about hostages being held in Gaza “by the Iranian regime.”
Pompeo contrasted Biden’s record with what he said happened during the Trump administration, which he said took bright hostages home when Americans were wrongly held.
Pompeo cited his trip to North Korea to bring home three American pastors.
“We brought them home,” Pompeo said. “We brought them home along with dozens of other hostages and we did so without paying one single penny to the terrorists. ”
Pompeo went to say the U.S. Mexico border is a “welcome mat for Islamist terrorists, drug dealers, Chinese spies, and violent criminals.”
Congress debated border security and aid for Ukraine off and on for months before agreeing to a deal, with both parties reluctant to give the other anything that might be perceived as a victory in an election year.
Amid a few cackles of laughter in the highly revved up crowd, Pompeo said the world “looks to the U.S.” as what a free society should look like but that under the Biden administration, has shown weakness.
He made a glancing reference to Biden’s age and physical stature, criticized the president for injecting “woke” into the military, and has censored free speech.
Pompeo also said Biden has weaponized the U.S. justice system against political opponents, and claimed the Biden administration is appeasing terrorists and coddling undocumented immigrants, and added that Biden is not fit for the job of being president.
“The truth that we all know and is so dangerous to our nation,” he said. “The truth is that Joe Biden can’t handle that 3 a.m. phone call. Indeed. He won’t take a phone call after about 4 p.m.”
Pompeo was followed by other speakers in the run up to the Trump acceptance speech.