At RNC's day 1, Trump gains nomination, taps Vance for VP

MILWAUKEE — Delegates at the Republican National Convention on Monday officially nominated Donald Trump for president for the third consecutive election, less than two days after he survived an assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally.

GOP attendees were in high spirits in the convention’s first official session, which culminated with the unsurprising nomination of Trump to face President Joe Biden in November in a rematch of the 2020 election.

Nevada GOP Chairman Michael McDonald seconded Trump’s nomination as part of the procession. In his nominating speech, McDonald chastised the Biden administration for its “persecution” of Trump with a “weaponized lawfare,” referring to Trump’s indictment on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in New York.

“President Trump has transformed our party to the champion of the working men and women,” McDonald said during a brief, two-minute speech. “We are in the battle for the soul of our nation.”

McDonald, the head of the Nevada GOP, is a senior adviser to Trump’s campaign, earning his party stripes for efforts to reverse the results of Trump’s 2020 loss to Biden in a “fake elector” scheme.

Nevada Republicans led by McDonald on Dec. 14, 2020, hosted a fake ceremony in Carson City to certify the electoral votes for Trump following his defeat here to Biden. The Nevada Republican Party sent the document to the National Archives in Washington with McDonald’s name listed with the return address.

McDonald and five other Nevada Republicans faced charges for their participation, but a Clark County District judge last month approved a motion to dismiss the charges because they were improperly brought in Las Vegas instead of the state capital, Carson City, where the crimes allegedly occurred.

Trump and Biden are again projected for a close race, especially in Nevada, where Biden topped Trump by about 30,000 votes in 2020.

Convention attendees appeared motivated for the following months of campaigning, joyfully cheering when Trump’s nomination became official and earlier in the day when Trump selected U.S. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio as his running mate.

Saturday’s shooting at a Pennsylvania rally, where Trump was injured and one man died, was not far from delegates’ minds even as they celebrated — a stark contrast to the anger and anxiety that had marked the previous few days.

Some delegates chanted “fight, fight, fight” — the same words that Trump was seen shouting to the crowd as the Secret Service ushered him off the Pennsylvania stage, his fist raised and face bloodied.

“We should all be thankful right now that we are able to cast our votes for President Donald J. Trump after what took place on Saturday,” said New Jersey state Sen. Michael Testa as he announced all of his state’s 12 delegates for Trump.

Wyoming delegate Sheryl Foland was among those who adopted the “fight” chant after seeing Trump survive Saturday in what she called “monumental photos and video.”

“We knew then we were going to adopt that as our chant,” Foland added. “Not just because we wanted him to fight, and that God was fighting for him. We thought, isn’t it our job to accept that challenge and fight for our country?”

“It’s bigger than Trump,” Foland said. “It’s a mantra for our country.”

Vivek Ramaswamy, a one-time Republican primary presidential candidate, said the country came within a “hair’s breadth” of a second civil war.

“The reason my first reaction was anger was that the only thing more tragic than what happened on Saturday is that if we’re being really honest with ourselves, all of us, it wasn’t totally shocking,” Ramaswamy said.

The shooter, who was killed by Secret Service agents, was a registered Republican.

Biden on Sunday asked the nation to reject political violence and recommit themselves to resolving their differences peacefully. Some Republican delegates expressed a similar sentiment.

“It’s an unfortunate set of circumstances that brought us here, but it’s the right kind of attention that people are saying OK, we can have a reasonable conversation,” Nye County Republican Chairman Leo Blundo said.

He commended Biden’s decision to pull his campaign ads critical of his opponent and expressed that this approach is especially important for Nevada.

“I’d like to see some balance because I think it’s been a little too far one way and that rhetoric really kicked in,” Blundo said. “We’re a balanced state, we’re very purple.”

Nevada has voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 2004. Trump is hoping to stop that trend.

“President Trump is our fearless leader who withstood the persecution of a weaponized lawfare and has fought even harder to represent the fight for all of us,” McDonald said during his speech.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 

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