Trump to take RNC stage for first speech since assassination attempt

Trump allies promise ‘different’ candidate in wake of attack. Sceptics question how far more unifying message will go.

Former United States President Donald Trump is set to take the stage at the Republican National Convention (RNC), where he will deliver a speech as the party’s standard bearer just five days after surviving an assassination attempt.

The address on Thursday night will cap a convention that has largely been a reminder of how Trump’s brand of populist, pugilistic politics has transformed the Republican Party.

But surrogates have said Trump will embrace a more unifying message in the wake of Saturday’s attack, in which he was grazed in the ear by a gunman’s bullet.

Trump has said he rewrote his speech after surviving the incident at a Pennsylvania campaign rally. His family and close allies have maintained the president has been profoundly changed as Trump and his supporters at the RNC have repeatedly referred to the near-miss as an act of God.

“I think you may see a bit of a different version of Donald Trump tonight, perhaps a bit softer version than maybe some of the people at home have seen in the past,” Republican National Committee co-chair and Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump told CBS News on Thursday.