Donald Trump met with ‘USA!’ chants on arrival at RNC

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Donald Trump made a surprise appearance at the Republican National Convention with a bandaged ear on Monday, just two days after he was shot in an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Trump formally clinched his party’s nomination when the delegation from Florida, his adopted home state, cast its votes for his candidacy.

It took place just minutes after Trump announced he would be choosing 39-year-old Ohio Senator JD Vance as his running mate.

“After lengthy deliberation and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator JD Vance of the Great State of Ohio,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday afternoon.

The former president received a hero’s welcome at the Republican National Convention with deafening roar from the crowd and chants of “USA” as he greeted his running mate. He did not speak, as he is due to give the keynote address on Thursday.

Key Points

  • Trump makes surprise appearance at RNC with bandaged ear
  • Former president names J D Vance as his running mate
  • Trump and Vance officially get presidential and vice presidential nominations
  • Biden criticises Vance as ‘a clone of Trump’
  • The connections that catapulted JD Vance from Trump critic to running mate
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Anti-Trump protesters denounce GOP agenda at RNC

Nearly 3,000 protesters descended upon Milwaukee on Monday, denouncing Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

A coalition of more than 100 activist groups gathered near the RNC convention, where Mr Trump appeared less than 48 hours after an attempt on his life.

Opposing Republicans’ “racist and reactionary agenda,” they said it threatens the rights of women, queer community and immigrants, reported the Washington Post.

“Defeating the Republican agenda is a matter of life and death for working and oppressed people,” Kobi Guillory of the Freedom Road Socialist Organisation told the demonstrators.

“There’s divisive rhetoric on both sides, but the most violent rhetoric has been on the Trump side,” said another protester named Jackie Sparks, 69.

“It is undeniable that Trump’s rhetoric, policies and actions have contributed to a climate of increased violence and hate crimes by white nationalists, especially against people of color,” said Christine Neumann-Ortiz, the head of Wisconsin’s largest immigrant rights group, Voces de la Frontera.

Namita Singh16 July 2024 07:16 1721109600

Ivanka says she believes late mother was watching over Donald Trump during assassination attempt

Ivanka Trump says she believes her mother Ivana was “watching over” Donald Trump during the shocking attempt on his life at a campaign rally on Saturday.

The former first daughter highlighted that the Pennsylvania shooting happened almost exactly two years from her mother’s death in 2022.

Trump fell to the floor and then covered by Secret Service agents after popping sounds, now known to be multiple gunshots, were heard as he began the campaign event. He had appeared to move his head slightly in the seconds beforehand.

Read more:

Ivanka says her mother was watching over Donald Trump during assassination attempt

The former first daughter highlighted that the Pennsylvania shooting happened almost exactly two years from her mother’s death in 2022

Mike Bedigan16 July 2024 07:00 1721106162

How has JD Vance responded to providing Ukraine with aid against Russian war

JD Vance, the GOP pick for vice president, has been a vocal critic of foreign aid packages, including providing assistance to Ukraine.

Arguing that the US should encourage a peace deal in which Ukraine cedes land to Russia, he has previous dismissed concerns that it would motivate Vladimir Putin to attack other European countries.

Republican presidential candidate former president Donald Trump appears with vice presidential candidate JD Vance (AP)

“The most fundamental question: How much does Ukraine need and how much can we actually provide?” he asked in a guest essay in the New York Times. “Mr Biden suggests that a $60 billion supplemental means the difference between victory and defeat in a major war between Russia and Ukraine. That is also wrong … . Fundamentally, we lack the capacity to manufacture the amount of weapons Ukraine needs us to supply to win the war.”

He had previously said that the US should focus on Asia, instead of Ukraine.

“There are a lot of bad guys all over the world. and I’m much more interested in some of the problems in East Asia right now than I am in Europe,” the Ohio senator said during the Munich Security Conference in February this year.

Namita Singh16 July 2024 06:02 1721106000

ICYMI: Elon Musk commits $45 million a month to Trump’s re-election

Elon Musk has vowed to donate $45 million a month to a pro-Donald Trump super PAC, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The group, called the America PAC, also receives donations from major figures like the Winklevoss twins and former ambassador Kelly Craft, according to the Journal.

This comes after reports over the weekend that the Tesla CEO had donated a “sizeable amount” to the group.

Katie Hawkinson16 July 2024 06:00 1721105880

Republicans line up behind Trump, congratulating Vance on VP pick

Republicans are expressing their approval of JD Vance as the vice presidential pick for the Republicans, with senator Rand Paul writing on X: “It’s great to have an opponent of endless wars and more aid to Ukraine on the ticket.”

House speaker Mike Johnson welcomed the decision saying the Ohio senator “possesses a profound understanding of the anxieties of working families and has both the lived experience and the policy expertise to help President Trump deliver a government worthy of the people it is supposed to serve.”

Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell also backed Donald Trump’s running mate, saying: “Senator JD Vance is a fierce advocate for the president’s policies and is the obvious pick for President Trump. He’ll make a strong case on the campaign trail on why we need to turn the page on the disastrous policies of the Biden administration.”

Tom Cotton, who is also believed to have been considered as running mate, applauded the choice. “JD Vance is a friend and a conservative champion who fights for American workers. He’ll make an outstanding vice president,” he wrote on X.

Namita Singh16 July 2024 05:58 1721105740

How Democrats have reacted to Vance as Trump’s VP choice

The Biden campaign has been quick to launch a scathing attack on Donald Trump’s newly-picked running mate JD Vance.

“Here’s the deal about JD Vance,” said president Joe Biden in a post. “He talks a big game about working people. But now, he and Trump want to raise taxes on middle-class families while pushing more tax cuts for the rich.

Former Barack Obama adviser Van Jones also condemned Mr Vance as the VP choice for the Republicans.

He told CNN that while Trump represents an “instinctive, impulsive, intuitive nationalist. JD Vance is an ideological nationalist.

“That‘s a much more dangerous virus because he can make this – he can polish this stuff and make it seem palatable to people. He can sell this stuff to Silicon Valley, he can sell this stuff to other places.

“What it does is it locks the Republican Party on a pathway that I think is dangerous for the world.”

Namita Singh16 July 2024 05:55 1721103397

Vance calls for ‘full-scale investigation’ in Trump assassination attempt

JD Vance has called for a “full-scale investigation” into the assassination attempt against Donald Trump.

“We need to understand what happened because clearly mistakes were made,” said Trump’s running mate, while appearing on Fox News.

The Secret Service ran up there. They put their bodies over, and they reacted quickly. That’s not what worries me. What worries me is why was there a shooter 150 yards from the President of the United States?

JD Vance

Sharing his fears upon first hearing the news, the Ohio senator said: “My first reaction was just to pray for him. I was terrified if President Trump had been killed, of course, terrible, terrible, terrible. But the reverberations in the country... it would have been a world-historic tragedy. Thank God he was OK.”

Mr Vance had previously claimed that Joe Biden’s campaign rhetoric “led directly to” Trump’s assassination attempt.

Namita Singh16 July 2024 05:16 1721102527

How JD Vance rose from a broken home to be a Republican star

JD Vance, the famed Appalachian memoirist turned pugnacious Republican senator, has been named Donald Trump’s vice presidential nominee as the former president looks to take back the White House.

It is an extraordinary ascent for a 39-year-old former US Marine and child of a violent, broken home, best known for his searing 2016 book about the poverty and despair of America’s Rust Belt.

Hillbilly Elegy – which sought to explain Trump’s rise by dissecting and sharply criticizing the culture that he’d grow up in – made Vance an instant media darling, hailed by many shell-shocked left-wingers as a “Trump whisperer.”

My colleague Io Dodds has more:

How JD Vance rose from a broken home in ‘hillbilly’ country to be a Republican leader

The 39-year old Ohioan is best known for his searing 2016 memoir about how America’s rust belt became desperate enough to back Donald Trump

Namita Singh16 July 2024 05:02 1721102460

Trump makes dramatic appearance at RNC just days after being shot during assassination attempt

Donald Trump made his first public appearance since an assassination attempt at a campaign rally when he appeared at the Republican National Convention on Monday night.

The former president had a bandage covering his ear, showing the wound from the bullet.

Trump made a surprise appearance on the stage at the Fiserv Forum hours after he formally clinched the Republican Party’s presidential nomination and announced Ohio Senator JD Vance as his running mate.

Read more:

Trump appears at RNC days after assassination attempt

The former president makes his first appearance since he was nearly killed at a campaign rally

Katie Hawkinson16 July 2024 05:01 1721101506

Teamsters head warns his union not ‘beholden’ to Democrats in RNC speech

Teamsters union chief Sean O’Brien made history on Monday when he delivered the closing address at night one of the Republican National Convention and applauded the new populist trend the GOP has adopted under Donald Trump.

“We are not beholden to any party,” Mr O’Brien said on Monday — a remark that seemed a clear shot across the bow of the Democrats who criticized him for accepting a speaking slot at the convention.

“I don’t care about getting criticized. It’s an honor to be the first Teamster in our 120-year-history to speak to the Republican National Convention.”

John Bowden reports from Milwaukee:

Teamsters head warns his union not ‘beholden’ to Democrats in RNC speech

Union chief shouts out Trump, JD Vance and Josh Hawley as leaders of populist right

Namita Singh16 July 2024 04:45 Newer1 / 5Older

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