MILWAUKEE — Former President Trump will refer to the “current administration” or “current leadership” several times in his speech at the Republican National Convention, but senior sources say the former president will not use the word “Biden” even once.
Trump will formally accept the Republican Party’s presidential nomination on Thursday during the closing night and climax of the 2024 convention.
The former president’s address to party faithful at Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum and a national television audience is likely to last more than an hour, sources told Fox News’ Bret Baier, the network’s chief political anchor and executive editor of “Special Report with Bret Baier.”
TRUMP CAMPAIGN WEIGHS IN ON BIDEN’S AGGRESSIVENESS
Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump gestures during the third day of the Republican National Convention, at the 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, which occurred Saturday at Trump’s rally in western Pennsylvania, where one spectator was killed along with the gunman, immediately affected the tone and message of the convention and altered the former president’s speech.
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According to sources, the speech will “lay out the arguments in favour of the candidacy” and will focus on unity in part of the speech following his brush with death last weekend.
In an email to supporters on the eve of 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 his bloodied face as multiple gunshots are heard during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, July 13, 2024. (Reuters/Brendan McDermid)
A push for party unity was on display during the first three days of the convention, with former GOP 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 space to rally the party and energize delegates and activists ahead of the final stretch of campaigning in Trump’s 2024 election rematch against President Biden.
Trump’s speech comes as the Biden campaign is responding to 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 campaign.
“We don’t know who the nominee will be at this point,” a source close to Trump’s political orbit told Fox News.
Hours earlier, the Trump campaign contrasted what it called a “unified” Republican Party at the convention with the latest turmoil surrounding Biden’s reelection bid.
“When we look at what we’ve done with this convention, we’ve shown 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 in place,” a Trump campaign official said.
Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump applauds as Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance gestures on the second day of the Republican National Convention (RNC), at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S., July 16, 2024. (Reuters/Elizabeth Frantz)
“At the same time, Democrats cannot even decide who their nominee should be,” the official argued.
After his disastrous performance in the debate Last month against TrumpBiden, 81, has faced questions about whether he has the physical and mental capabilities to serve another four years in the world’s most demanding job.
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Politically, Biden has been responding to a growing chorus of calls to end his campaign from elected Democrats, who are deeply concerned that the party could lose not just the White House but both chambers of Congress in the fall elections.
Reports in the past 24 hours indicated that top Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have had frank conversations with Biden about ending his campaign.
President Joe Biden waves as he walks down the stairs of Air Force One at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, Wednesday, July 17, 2024. Biden is returning home to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, to self-isolate after testing positive for COVID-19. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
And a Washington Post report on Thursday suggested that Former President Obama has told allies in recent days that Biden’s path to victory has narrowed dramatically and he believes the president needs to seriously reconsider his decision to continue running.
“Our campaign is not thinking about any scenario where President Biden is not at the top of the ticket. He is and will be the Democratic nominee,” Biden’s senior deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks told reporters at a news conference Thursday morning near the site of the Republican National Convention.
And before Trump’s speech, Fulks stressed that “over the course of the last four days, Republicans have offered their vision for the country. And now it has never been clearer that Americans will face a difficult choice, a contrasting vision for this country.”
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