Sawt Falasteen - Trump to rally unified Republicans in rousing convention finale

The 78-year-old ex-president can expect a hero's welcome on the final day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, as he addresses a nation still reeling from the assassination bid by a lone gunman at a rally in Pennsylvania.

Saturday's attack -- which killed one bystander and left Trump with a bloodied ear -- has loomed large at the convention, with Republicans lining up to applaud the former president for his bravery.

As some Republicans sought to blame Democrats' anti-Trump rhetoric for the attack, the billionaire said he had torn up a more aggressive version of his keynote address in favor of one he hopes will "unite our country."

"I'm just grateful we're going to hear from him. It's a miracle that his life was spared, and I really believe it was God's hand," Teena Horlacher, a 50-year-old delegate from Utah, told AFP.

"I'd love for him to talk about Saturday, what his feelings were."

Riding high on the adulation of the party faithful, Trump has seen his poll lead expand since President Joe Biden's dismal TV debate performance last month ushered in an existential crisis for the Democratic Party.

His campaign has even been talking up his chances in Democratic strongholds like Minnesota and Virginia, potentially forcing Biden funds and manpower away from defending his "blue wall" in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

- 'Golden age' -

Trump's keynote address on Thursday will be followed on television by millions, closing the convention by ushering in "a new golden age for America," according to the campaign.

It brings down the curtain on four days of speeches from elected officials, entertainers, industry figures and everyday Americans who mixed with some 50,000 Republicans who had traveled from all corners of the nation.

The gathering opened Monday with a packed arena of "delegates" -- a mix of politicians and grassroots activists -- voting to confirm Trump as the nominee after he won almost every state's primary contest.

Milwaukee 2024 was the first convention over which the former president had total control, after a 2016 edition hampered by party divisions and a second appearance in 2020 reined in by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The schedule was designed very much in the former president's image, with themes for each day playing on his "Make America Great Again" rallying cry.

Trump set the tone for a triumphalist convention when he marched into the Fiserv Forum on the opening day -- looking emotional and with a heavily bandaged ear -- after announcing right-wing Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate.

The 39-year-old author of "Hillbilly Elegy," a best-selling memoir about growing up poor in working-class, rural America, is a one-time harsh critic who has become one of Trump's most staunch supporters.

- 'Stark contrast' -

While Trump is increasingly confident of a shock return to the White House -- despite multiple legal problems and two impeachments clouding his first term -- Biden is reeling from weak polls and Democratic concerns over his health.

At 81, he has been facing growing calls from his own side to quit the race over concerns around his age, and his week went from bad to worse Wednesday when he was diagnosed with Covid-19.

Trump himself was a diminished figure after his 2020 election loss and a subsequent riot at the Capitol by his supporters, but has spent much of the last four years reshaping Republican politics.

Installing loyalists, including his daughter-in-law Lara Trump atop the Republican National Committee, the mercurial tycoon has effectively crushed dissent within the party.

"There's a clearly stark contrast between the strength of President Trump and the weakness of President Biden," Mississippi delegate Clifton Carroll told AFP.

"And I think he'll expand on that, and really send a message that the entire United States of America can get behind whether they're Republican, Democrat or Independent."

A.Suleiman--SF-PST