No images? Click here 17 July 2024The 46th | Trump fights onSporting a bandage on his ear after narrowly surviving an assassination attempt, Donald Trump was confirmed as his party’s nominee at the Republican Party Convention in Milwaukee, after picking his running mate JD Vance. In an emotional coronation capping off an extraordinary week in US politics, the Republican Party rallied strongly behind their leader, with many senior Republicans evoking religious imagery and thanking God that Trump was not killed. Scheduled to address the RNC on Thursday, Trump told reporters that he had re-written his speech to convey a message of unity. “I think it would be very bad if I got up and started going wild about how horrible everybody is,” he said. “Now, we have a speech that is more unifying.” The attack on Trump nonetheless triggered a wave of finger-pointing, with both political parties blaming each other for the shooting. In a prime-time address after the shooting, President Joe Biden urged Americans to “lower the temperature” and reject political violence. Yet he too faced tough questions about his own political language, conceding in a sit down interview that he should not have called for Democrats to put Trump “in a bullseye.” While polls have yet to assess the race since the shooting, the event has electrified the Republican base and led to a global outpouring of sympathy for Trump. SPECIAL FEATURETrump's VP pick: JD Vance The 39-year-old Ohio senator is seen as the heir apparent to the ‘America First’ movement. Growing up in a troubled, working class family in the Rust Belt, he is a strong advocate for protectionism, backing government support for US manufacturing and tariffs on China as a way to create opportunities in Rust Belt states. On foreign policy, Vance - a former Marine - is considered an 'Asia First' Republican and an isolationist on Ukraine, arguing that the United States should shift its resources away from Europe towards countering China's rise. Analysis
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![]() “I bought into the media’s lies … that somehow [Trump] was going to be ... a terrible threat to democracy. It was a joke.” JD Vance when asked about his previous criticism of Trump | 15 July 2024 EVENT Election Watch 2024 | In Trump they trust: Reflections on the Republican National ConventionIn the wake of the assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump and his announcement of JD Vance as his running mate, the eyes of the world are on the Republican National Convention (RNC) this week. To explore what Australians should be watching for at the RNC, the USSC is hosting a live panel featuring the co-host of ABC TV's Planet America Chas Licciardello alongside President Ronald Reagan's Former Assistant Press Secretary Kim Hoggard, and the USSC's Director of Research Jared Mondschein. The panel will be moderated by the USSC's Director of Engagement and Impact Mari Koeck. WHEN WHERE COST IN CASE YOU MISSED IT Did you USSC?
BY THE NUMBERS Legacy of political violence in the USUSSC Director of Jared Mondschein details in an op-ed for ABC News how the attack on Donald Trump was the first shooting of a US president since Ronald Reagan in 1981, but there have been assassination attempts on every president since Reagan. These include a 1993 plot to car bomb President George HW Bush when he was in Kuwait; and the 2011 discovery of a bullet in a window of the White House's residential quarters - discharged by a 21-year-old man who said President Barrack Obama was the "antichrist." What makes the Trump shooting unique, he argues, is how an armed man was able to get so close to the president under the watch of the security services. READ MORE HERE Manage your email preferences | Forward this email to a friend United States Studies Centre |