Donald Trump will unveil his running mate on Monday as supporters gather in Milwaukee for the Republican Party convention, which has been boosted by the former president’s attempted assassination.
With the country still reeling from photos of a bloodied Trump being carried off a rally stage over the weekend, some 50,000 Republicans gathered on the shores of Lake Michigan for the four-day convention.
According to Fox News, Trump will unveil his vice presidential nominee later Monday, with two senators (J.D. Vance of Ohio and Marco Rubio of Florida) and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum among the leading contenders.
Despite the attempted assassination of Trump on Saturday, convention organisers insisted on continuing the event.
“We’re not going to change anything because of a tragic event in Pennsylvania,” David Bossie, a co-chair of the convention, told AFP.
Trump rebuffed any requests to postpone the convention in the hours following the shooting, vowing to be “defiant in the face of wickedness.”
“I’m not supposed to be here; I’m supposed to be dead,” he told the New York Post in an interview aboard his plane en route to Milwaukee, during which he reportedly sported a white bandage on his ear and a large bruise on his forearm from where the Secret Service agents gripped him.
“By luck or by God, many people are saying it’s by God that I’m still here,” he said.
Despite being convicted in a hush-money case in New York, Trump appears to be on track for victory, while Biden, 81, faces calls from his own party to withdraw from the campaign due to age concerns.
