MILWAUKEE — Former President Trump will repeatedly refer to the “current administration” or “current leadership” in his speech to Congress. Republican National Convention, But well-placed sources say the former president will not use the word “Biden” once.
Trump Thursday will formally accept the GOP presidential nomination on the closing night and culminating moment of the 2024 convention.
The former president’s speech to party faithful at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee and a national television audience is expected to last more than an hour, sources told Fox News’ Bret Baier, the network’s chief political anchor and editor of “Special Report with Bret Baier.”
TRUMP CAMPAIGN LOOKS AT BIDEN TURBULENCE
Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump gestures on the third day of the Republican National Convention, at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 17, 2024. (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)
Trump’s speech comes just five days after he survived an assassination attempt. The shooting at Trump’s rally in western Pennsylvania on Saturday, in which a spectator was killed as well as the shooter, had an immediate impact on the tone and message of the convention and changed the former president’s speech.
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According to sources, the speech will “lay out the case for the ticket” and will focus on unity in part of the speech following his near-death experience last weekend.
In an email to supporters the day before his speech, Trump said: “I will lay out my vision to UNITE OUR COUNTRY AND MAKE IT GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE!”
Former President Donald Trump gestures with a bloodied face as several gunshots ring out during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. (REUTERS/Brendan McDermid)
A desire for party unity was evident during the first three days of the convention, with former Republican presidential rivals Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and former U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley — who battled Trump in a contentious primary season — delivering speeches from the podium in support of the former president.
Republicans are using the convention as a place to unite the party and energize delegates and activists ahead of the final stretch of the campaign in Trump’s rematch with Donald Trump for the 2024 election. President Biden.
Trump’s speech comes as Biden’s campaign pushes back against a series of reports in the past 24 hours that the president has become more receptive in recent days to hearing arguments about why he should abandon his 2024 reelection bid.
“We don’t know yet who the nominee will be,” a source close to Trump told Fox News.
Hours earlier, the Trump campaign had compared what it called a “unified” GOP at the convention to the latest turmoil surrounding Biden’s reelection bid.
“When you look at what we’ve done with this convention, we’ve demonstrated to the American people that not only is the Republican Party unified, but we have a unifying vision for the entire country with President Trump’s agenda and plan for America firmly in place,” a Trump campaign official said.
Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump applauds Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance as he gestures on the second day of the Republican National Convention (RNC), at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S., July 16, 2024. (REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz)
“At the same time, Democrats can’t even figure out who their nominee should be,” the official said.
Following his disastrous performance in the debate last month against TrumpBiden, 81, faces questions about whether he has the physical and mental capacity to serve another four years in the world’s most demanding job.
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Politically, Biden has resisted growing calls to end his campaign from Democratic lawmakers who are deeply concerned that the party could lose not only the White House but both houses of Congress in the fall elections.
Reports over the past 24 hours have indicated that top Democrats — including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — have had candid conversations with Biden about ending his campaign.
President Joe Biden waves to protesters as he walks down the steps of Air Force One at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, Wednesday, July 17, 2024. Biden is returning home to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, to isolate after testing positive for COVID-19. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
And a Washington Post report published Thursday suggested that former president Obama has told allies in recent days that Biden’s path to victory has been significantly narrowed and that he believes the president should seriously reconsider his decision to continue running.
“Our campaign does not foresee any scenario in which President Biden is not at the top of the ticket. He is and will be the Democratic nominee,” Biden deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks told reporters at a news conference Thursday morning near the site of the Republican National Convention.
Ahead of Trump’s speech, Fulks noted that “over the last four days, Republicans have laid out their vision for the country. And it has never been clearer that Americans will face a stark choice, a contrasting vision for this country.”
