Trump appears at convention with bandaged ear after shooting

WASHINGTON

Donald Trump received a hero's welcome Monday as he entered the Republican National Convention arena with a bandaged right ear in his first public appearance since being wounded in a weekend assassination attempt.

Hours after winning the formal nomination to be the Republican presidential candidate and announcing right-wing Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate, Trump marched into Milwaukee's Fiserv Forum flanked by aides and waved at supporters on the opening day of what is expected to be a triumphalist gathering.

Trump, who is due to give a formal acceptance speech on Thursday, took his seat to the sound of country singer Lee Greenwood's patriotic hit "God Bless the USA" without delivering any remarks but appeared markedly moved by the rapt ovation he received from a packed venue.

"It was absolutely amazing. I mean, just thinking what he's been through, and to come here today because he really cares," Illinois delegate Susan Sweeney told AFP on the convention floor.

It was the second huge moment of the day for the Republican crowd, which erupted into cheers earlier as Trump announced Vance, just 39, as his vice presidential pick, rewarding a one-time harsh critic who has become one of his most uncompromising supporters.

While Trump, 78, is increasingly confident of a shock return to the White House — despite multiple legal problems and two impeachments clouding his first term — President Joe Biden is reeling from weak polls and Democratic concerns over his health.

The standard-bearer for a new kind of populism that has come to the fore under Trump, Vance is also one of the least experienced VP picks in modern history.

But he embraces the ex-president's isolationist, anti-immigration America First movement and is even further to the right than his new boss on some issues — including abortion, where he embraces calls for federal legislation.

Strong polling

He initially made his name with the 2016 memoir "Hillbilly Elegy," a best-selling account of his Appalachian family and modest Rust Belt upbringing that gave a voice to rural, working-class resentment in left-behind America.

Turning his back on previous Republican opposition to Trump, whom he once said might be "America's Hitler," Vance reinvented himself and ultimately won the ex-president's endorsement in the 2022 Ohio Senate race, launching his meteoric rise.

Some 50,000 Republicans descended on the shores of Lake Michigan for the four-day convention, four months before election day.

The gathering comes with the country reeling from a botched attempt by a gunman to kill Trump at a rally in Butler, western Pennsylvania on Saturday.

The attack — which killed one bystander and left Trump with the bloodied ear that required the bandage — was expected to dominate proceedings.

Leading in multiple polls, despite being convicted in his hush-money criminal case in New York, Trump is exuding confidence.

At 81, Biden meanwhile is facing calls from his own side to quit the race over concerns around his age.

His campaign released a statement saying the Trump-Vance agenda would "take away Americans' rights, hurt the middle class, and make life more expensive — all while benefiting the ultra-rich and greedy corporations."

Message of unity

Trump told the New York Post he had "prepared an extremely tough speech" about Biden's "horrible administration" to deliver at the convention.

As some Republicans — including Vance — sought to blame Democrats' anti-Trump rhetoric for the attack, Trump said he had torn up that version in favor of one he hopes will "unite our country."

Still, that means him having to rein in the instinct to settle scores — demonstrated by his cry for supporters to "fight" in the seconds after Saturday's attack.

A diminished figure after his 2020 election loss and a subsequent riot at the Capitol by his supporters, Trump has spent much of the last four years reshaping Republican politics.

Installing loyalists including his daughter-in-law Lara Trump atop the Republican National Committee, the billionaire has effectively crushed dissent within the party.

He scored another victory Monday as a judge dismissed one of the criminal cases against him, concerning accusations he endangered national security by holding on to top secret documents after leaving the White House.