Former President Donald Trump has tossed his original speech for the Republican National Convention and rewritten it to focus on unity following the attempt on his life Saturday.
On Sunday, Trump told the Washington Examiner that he wants to use the historic moment to bring the deeply divided country together.
"The speech I was going to give on Thursday was going to be a humdinger," he said. "Had this not happened, this would've been one of the most incredible speeches" targeting the policies of President Joe Biden. "Honestly, it's going to be a whole different speech now."
Trump told the outlet that he plans to use the address to highlight how the assassination attempt at his campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, has completely changed the election landscape, which both Republicans and Democrats have acknowledged following Saturday's attack.
The 45th president said "reality is just setting in" and he was saved from death because he turned to look at a screen showing data he was discussing.
"I rarely look away from the crowd," he said. "Had I not done that in that moment, well, we would not be talking today, would we?"
Boarding his plane in Bedminster, New Jersey, for Milwaukee, where the Republican convention is set to take place Monday through Thursday, Trump said his speech is an opportunity to "bring the country together."
"This is a chance to bring the whole country, even the whole world, together," he said. "The speech will be a lot different, a lot different than it would've been two days ago."
In an early Sunday morning Truth Social post, Trump credited "God alone" for preventing "the unthinkable from happening" and said he would "fear not."
The former president also recognized Corey Comperatore, the former fire chief who was shot and killed protecting his family at the rally, and supporters David Dutch and James Copenhaver, who were wounded and have been moved from critical to stable condition.
Trump said his decision to fist-pump the crowd when Secret Service agents were leading him off the stage was to let those in attendance know he was OK "and that America goes on, we go forward, that we are strong."
When he stood up and saw that the rally crowd had not moved, Trump said he felt he needed to tell them that he and the country were going to be alright.
"The energy coming from the people there in that moment, they just stood there; it's hard to describe what that felt like, but I knew the world was looking," he said. "I knew that history would judge this, and I knew I had to let them know we are OK."
Nicole Wells ✉
Nicole Wells, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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