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17 July 2024
The 46th | Trump fights on
Sporting 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 FEATURE
Trump'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
COMMENTARY | JD Vance: What Australians should known about Trump's running mate by Ava Kalinauskas and Samuel Garrett
INTERVIEW | JD Vance: From bestselling author to VP nominee ft. Lester Munson
OP-ED | ‘I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine’: what a JD Vance vice presidency could mean for the world by Ava Kalinauskas and Samuel Garrett
INTERVIEW | Bruce Wolpe on Trump's VP pick
NEWS WRAP
Trump scores another legal win
Documents case thrown out | Federal Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed a classified documents case against Donald Trump, arguing that the special counsel investigating Trump was not lawfully appointed. The Justice Department said they will appeal the decision by the Florida judge, who has a history of controversial rulings. READ MORE HERE
Senator found guilty of corruption | Democratic Senator Bob Menendez was found guilty of accepting bribes from foreign governments, including gold bars and a luxury car, in exchange for political favours. The New Jersey Senator, who vowed to appeal, was the former head of the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee. READ MORE HERE
Secret Service under scrutiny | Congress has launched investigations into the security failures that led to the shooting of Donald Trump and the death of a bystander at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on 13 July. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle said her agency will comply with the probes and she is expected to testify at a hearing on 22 July. READ MORE HERE
US weapons failing in Ukraine | Moscow has learned how to jam and interfere with US precision munitions in Ukraine, rendering multiple US weapons systems redundant on the battlefield, the Wall Street Journal reports. “We should assume that adaptation will always occur, and the Russians have adapted to a variety of things,” said Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. READ MORE HERE
Biden campaign pushes on | President Joe Biden sat for a live interview with Lester Holt on NBC News and attended a rally, pushing ahead with his campaign after fending off concerns over his leadership. His party remains fractured over his nomination however, with some Democrats trying to stop a move by the Biden campaign to lock in the president’s nomination before the Democratic National Convention on 19 August. READ MORE HERE
“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 Convention
In 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
19 July 2024, 6.00pm–8.00pm AEST
WHERE
Auditorium, the Michael Spence Building (F23), Corner of Eastern Avenue and City Road, The University of Sydney, Camperdown NSW
COST
FREE
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Did you USSC?
- COMMENTARY | The Trump assassination attempt has upended the US election race. What happens next?
USSC Non-Resident Fellow Lester Munson on how the Trump and Biden campaigns are recalibrating after the Trump rally shooting. READ HERE - COMMENTARY | The overlooked outcome: AUKUS and the Australia-UK partnership
USSC Research Associate Alice Nason explores the unsung benefits of the UK and Australia's cooperation on nuclear submarines. READ HERE - PODCAST | Trump’s immune. It is so ordered
Planet America's Chas Licciardello talks to the USSC Briefing Room about the Supreme Court's immunity ruling sparing Trump. LISTEN HERE - COMMENTARY | Trump survived. He may well prevail
USSC Non-Resident Senior Fellow Bruce Wolpe on how the assassination attempt on Trump has turned him into a martyr. READ HERE - PODCAST | The NATO Summit in the shadow of Trump, Biden and Vance
USSC Senior Lecturer Dr Gorana Grgić talks to the USSC Briefing Room about the NATO Summit and what JD Vance's selection as Trump's running mate could mean for Europe. LISTEN HERE
BY THE NUMBERS
Legacy of political violence in the US
USSC 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
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United States Studies Centre
Institute Building H03
University of Sydney NSW 2006
