Speaking to The New York Post and The Washington Examiner, Mr. Trump said he had thrown out a “tough speech” he had planned to make at the Republican National Convention.
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Former President Donald J. Trump during a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., on Saturday, shortly before the shooting.
Former President Donald J. Trump, in his first interviews since surviving an assassination attempt, said he had thrown out the speech that he planned to deliver at the Republican National Convention this week and was drafting one that was more unifying.
“I want to try to unite our country, but I don’t know if that’s possible,” he told The New York Post on Sunday in an interview on his private plane as he traveled to Milwaukee for the convention. “People are very divided.”
“I had all prepared an extremely tough speech, really good, all about the corrupt, horrible administration,” he said. “But I threw it away.”
Mr. Trump will formally accept the Republican presidential nomination for a third election cycle during the party’s convention, which starts on Monday.
He made similar comments to The Washington Examiner, which reported that Mr. Trump was wearing a gauze bandage over his ear. “I think it would be very bad if I got up and started going wild about how horrible everybody is, and how corrupt and crooked, even if it’s true,” he said.
But the assassination attempt may be more likely to further polarize American voters than unify them. As soon as the shooting happened, conspiracy theories began to take off. Some Republicans blamed President Biden and his supporters for the attack, while some Democrats blamed Mr. Trump for encouraging political violence.
After the shooting, Mr. Trump pumped his fist at the crowd and shouted, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” An Associated Press photographer captured the moment against the backdrop of an American flag, in a photo that the Trump campaign is already using on its fund-raising site. In the interview with The Post, Mr. Trump said, “A lot of people say it’s the most iconic photo they’ve ever seen. They’re right and I didn’t die. Usually you have to die to have an iconic picture.”
Mr. Trump said in the interviews that he was “not supposed to be here” and that he was “supposed to be dead.” He showed the reporters who interviewed him a bruise on his right forearm from Secret Service agents tackling him, and said his shoes fell off when the agents brought him to the ground.
Jenny Gross is a reporter for The Times in London covering breaking news and other topics. More about Jenny Gross
See more on: U.S. Politics, 2024 Elections, Republican Party
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Source: nytimes.com
