The attack against Israel on October 7 would not have happened had he been in office, presidential candidate and former US president Donald Trump stated on Thursday night at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
“We want our hostages back and they better be back before I assume office, or you will be paying a very big price,” he said.
It was unclear if Trump was referring to American-Israeli hostages being held captive by terrorists alone or alluding to all of the remaining hostages still in captivity in the wake of the October 7 massacre.
That said, it is likelier that he was speaking of the American hostages, given that this was a repeated theme throughout the convention.
Earlier, Trump described how he narrowly survived an attempt on his life, telling a rapt audience in his first speech since the attack that he was only present “by the grace of Almighty God.”
“I heard a loud whizzing sound and felt something hit me really, really hard on my right ear,” he said in Milwaukee, a thick bandage still covering his ear. “I said to myself: Wow, what was that? It can only be a bullet.”
When he told the audience that he was “not supposed to be here,” it chanted back, “Yes, you are!”
With photos of a bloodied Trump showing on screens behind him, the former president praised the Secret Service agents who rushed to his aid and paid tribute to the volunteer firefighter, Corey Comperatore, who was killed in the incident, by kissing his fire helmet.
Conciliatory tone
Trump struck an unusually conciliatory tone during the speech’s opening moments, when he formally accepted the Republican presidential nomination for the November 5 election.
“I am running to be president for all of America, not half of America, because there is no victory in winning for half of America,” he said in a marked shift in tone from his typically bellicose persona.
But he swiftly pivoted to well-worn attacks on the Biden administration, which he said was “destroying” the country. He claimed without evidence that his criminal indictments were part of a Democratic conspiracy, predicted that US President Joe Biden, his Democratic rival, would usher in “World War III,” and described what he called an “invasion” of migrants over America’s southern border.
In the meandering remarks that followed – at 90-plus minutes, this was the longest registered convention speech in known American history to date – Trump abandoned the message of unity he had promised to embrace in favor of his usual mixture of bombast and grievances, repeating his false claim that Democrats stole the 2020 election.
Trump asserted, as he has throughout his political career, that only he was capable of saving the country from certain doom.
“I could stop wars with a telephone call,” he proclaimed.
The speech capped a four-day event during which Trump was greeted with adulation by a party that is now seemingly almost entirely in his thrall.