Republican convention focuses on immigration a day after a bandaged Trump returns

Immigration takes center stage as the Republican National Convention resumes Tuesday, with speakers spotlighting a key element of former President Donald Trump ’s political brand that helped endear him to the GOP base when he began his first campaign in 2015.

Immigration has long been one of Trump’s banner issues, as he has criticized an unprecedented surge of migrants entering the country illegally through the U.S. border with Mexico — though that flow has appeared to slow abruptly as the U.S. has suspended border asylum.

At rallies and other campaign events, Trump has pointed to examples of migrants who committed heinous crimes and blamed migration for the trafficking of drugs like fentanyl. His anti-immigrant rhetoric has also strayed into talking points not backed by evidence, including unfounded claims that migrants are entering the country to vote in the 2024 election.

Meanwhile, the mood at the Milwaukee convention is colored by joy and gratitude at Trump's presence after surviving an attempted assassination Saturday at a rally in Pennsylvania. Ear bandaged from his wound, he appeared to cheers at Monday night's session.

Trump and Ohio Sen. JD Vance, his recently announced running mate, are scheduled to appear in the convention hall every night, according to two people familiar with the schedule who were not authorized to speak publicly.

The nominee and his newly minted running mate sat together Monday night in Trump’s first public appearance following the assassination attempt. Vance is expected to give his own speech Wednesday night, with Trump to headline Thursday night’s closing evening.

Tuesday's program includes several Republican candidates for U.S. Senate in some of the closest races this fall, including Bernie Moreno from Ohio, Sam Brown from Nevada and Tim Sheehy from Pennsylvania, according to a source familiar.

In the latest signal the party is solidifying to take on President Joe Biden in November, several of Trump's fiercest GOP primary rivals will also speak Tuesday, the source said. They include former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

A senior Trump campaign adviser said Haley's planned appearance shows how Republicans have mended any fences in need of repair following the bruising primary season.

In the latest scene in a presidential campaign already defined by dramatic turns, Trump appeared to wild cheers at the convention’s opening night Monday. That was hours after the convention had formally nominated the former president to head the Republican ticket in November against Biden.

The raucous welcome underscored the depth of the crowd’s affection for the man who won the 2016 nomination as an outsider, at odds with the party establishment, but has vanquished all Republican rivals, silenced most conservative critics and now commands loyalty up and down the party ranks.

“We must unite as a party, and we must unite as a nation,” said Republican Party Chairman Michael Whatley, Trump’s handpicked party leader, as he opened Monday’s prime-time national convention session. “We must show the same strength and resilience as President Trump and lead this nation to a greater future.”

Pennsylvania Republican Party Chairman Lawrence Tabas said he hoped the assassination attempt on Trump would reset the tone nationally, beginning with Trump's scheduled remarks Thursday.

“After a brush with death, I do believe – going through that – that his message will be better, and I think will appeal to our better emotions," Tabas said in an interview after the Pennsylvania GOP’s delegation breakfast in suburban Milwaukee.

Trump seemed poised to deliver a more toned-down speech. His eldest son, Donald Trump Jr. said in an Axios interview outside the RNC at Central Waters Brewing Company in downtown Milwaukee that he spent three or four hours going through his father’s convention speech with him, “trying to de-escalate some of that rhetoric.”

“I think it lasts," the younger Trump said of the change in his father's rhetoric. "There are events that change you for a couple minutes and there are events that change you permanently.”

Still, several Republicans made clear that their calls for harmony and unity did not mean finding common ground with Biden and Democrats, who find themselves still riven by worries that the 81-year-old is not up to the job of defeating Trump.

“Their policies are a clear and present danger to America, to our institutions, our values and our people,” said Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, welcoming the party to his battleground state, which Trump won in 2016 but lost to Biden four years ago.

Pennsylvania delegate John Fredericks had a simple recommendation for Tuesday’s immigration speakers, “Close the border. If you’re here illegally, get them out – now. That’s all I’m interested in. Get them out.”

Trump’s campaign chiefs designed the convention to feature a softer and more optimistic message, focusing on themes that would help a divisive leader expand his appeal among moderate voters and people of color.

RNC co-chair Lara Trump in a Milwaukee suburb on Tuesday encouraged more than 200 Pennsylvania delegates and guests to vote early. The guidance signaled a flip the party has made for this election, after the former president previously cast doubt on early and absentee ballots and urged same-day, in-person voting.

On Monday, a night devoted to the economy, delegates and a national TV audience heard from speakers the Trump campaign pitched as “everyday Americans” — a single mother talking about inflation, a union member who identified himself as a lifelong Democrat now backing Trump, a small business owner, among others.