Donald Trump to Get ‘Hero’s Welcome’ at RNC Convention in Milwaukee, Delegates Say

MILWAUKEE — The Republican National Convention was always supposed to be a celebration of former President Donald Trump and his aggressive approach to politics and patriotism.

But an assassination attempt on his life at a rally in western Pennsylvania on Saturday, and photos of him being escorted off stage with blood streaming down his face as he raised a fist, have made him an idol among supporters who are ready to greet him as a hero this week when the party formally nominates him for president.

Delegates descended on Milwaukee, a city festooned with red, white and blue signs, where the convention was held just days after a shooting rocked an unpredictable and unprecedented presidential campaign.

“We have to come together as a nation and as a people and move forward,” Pennsylvania Republican Party Chairman Lawrence Tabas said as he waited for a flight to Milwaukee with other delegates at Philadelphia International Airport Sunday morning. “Violence has no place in a political democracy, and we just have to come together as a people.”

Democrats, including Gov. Josh Shapiro and President Joe Biden, also called for an end to extreme political rhetoric Sunday and said Trump and other victims were in their prayers. Biden suspended campaign television ads and postponed a trip to Texas that was originally scheduled for Monday.

But the shooting, which has further mobilized Trump’s electorate, has also intensified divisive political rhetoric on both sides of the political spectrum.

Disinformation spread like wildfire in the minutes and hours after the incident, and while there was widespread condemnation of the shooting, condolences for the victims and calls to lower the political temperature in America, a deeply divided country was quick to blame those responsible.

“They called him a tyrant, they called him Hitler, an absolute threat to democracy,” said state Rep. Aaron Bernstine, a Republican who represents the area and was at the rally earlier in the day but left before Trump took the stage. “The kind of language that was used … prompted that person to take action.”

Pennsylvania’s Republican delegation of about 100 includes at least two delegates from Butler County who attended Saturday’s rally. The Pennsylvania group will see the convention as a chance to show support for them as well as for Trump.

State Rep. Marci Mustello, D-Jefferson Township, skipped Saturday’s rally to leave early for a convention in Milwaukee. She said Sunday she expects more security this week.

“And I think a lot more excitement,” she said. “A lot more excitement for our candidate who we’ll be nominating on Thursday and moving forward, making sure we win in November.”

At the Philadelphia airport on Sunday, wearing Trump T-shirts and MAGA hats, some delegates were still processing the moment of political violence. “We woke up in a different America today,” one man said.

Drew Morrisroe, an alternate delegate from eastern Montgomery County, was looking forward to the gleeful celebrations at his first political convention. The coming week will be tougher, he said.

“No matter who is running for office, these are people who are putting in the time,” he said. “They believe in things for the country, whether you believe in them or not, and they should be able to go out and campaign without fear.”

There was a moment, shortly after the GOP lost the 2022 midterms, when top Pennsylvania Republicans, some attending the convention this week, were divided on whether Trump was the right candidate for the party. The mood among Pennsylvania delegates who gathered Sunday was completely unanimous.

“The hero’s welcome on Thursday will be a deafening event,” said Charlie Gerow, a GOP strategist and elected delegate from the Harrisburg area attending his 13th Republican convention. Gerow watched reports of the shooting with other members of the Pennsylvania delegation at the group’s hotel in suburban Milwaukee.

He described the mood as prayerful — and then full of energy.

“Going to the national convention … is a real opportunity to be a part of history, and there’s no doubt that’s going to get even bigger after what happened yesterday. People really appreciate the fact that they can even vote for the president.”

Trump was recovering Sunday after a bullet grazed his ear. In a statement, he said he still planned to travel to Milwaukee later that day.

Meanwhile, Shapiro spoke at a news conference in Butler County and said he spoke with the wife of Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old from Sarver, Pennsylvania, who died, as well as the family of one of the other two victims who were seriously injured.

“This is a moment when all leaders have an obligation to speak and act with moral clarity, when all leaders must lower the temperature and rise above the current hateful rhetoric to seek a better, brighter future for this nation,” Shapiro said.

Shooting suspect Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, was killed by the U.S. Secret Service.

Biden, speaking at the White House on Sunday afternoon, urged Americans not to jump to conclusions about the shooter’s motives or political views until the law enforcement investigation is complete.

Biden stressed the importance of unity and said that violence has no place in America, calling the attempted attack un-American.

“We will debate and disagree, that will not change, but we will not lose sight of who we are as Americans,” he said.

The president also planned to deliver a speech from the Oval Office on Sunday evening.

Journalists Gillian McGoldrick and Aliya Schneider contributed to this report.