Former president Donald Trump staged another dramatic entrance to Day Three of his convention, this time walking into a packed hall to James Brown’s ‘It’s a Man’s World.’
Trump, who is known to curate the playlists for his campaign rallies, came in with a version of the funk star’s recording accompanied by Luciano Pavoratti, another Trump favorite.
Trump raised his fist as he entered, once again wearing a bandage on his ear, on a night when speakers called for a muscular U.S. foreign policy to take intimidate adversaries and avoid ‘forever wars.’
It was a night where his backers finally got to some of the red meat attacks and his vice presidential pick J.D. Vance was ready for the biggest platform of his life.
‘This is a man’s world, this is a man’s world,’ sings Brown. ‘But it wouldn’t be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl.’
After he arrived, Trump returned to his front row seat next to Sen. Marco Rubio, who failed to make it off his short-list for vice president but gave a full-throated endorsement of Trump, a 2016 rival.
Trump had ducked into the convention hall earlier to check out the stage, the lectern, and a teleprompter that will carry the speech Thursday night that Trump said he recast after the attempt on his life that wounded him.
Donald trump is back for Day Three of his convention
He continued to sport a bandage on his right ear four days after his ear was wounded by a would-be assassin’s bullet.
After a Tuesday night that heavily featured family vouching for his personal traits – including a keynote speech by daughter-in-law Lara Trump – the former president was set to return to the hall the hear a series of speeches vouching for his candidacy.
Trump has been mostly watching, smiling and listening on the convention floor. But at a private event earlier, he was recorded speaking about the assassination attempt.
‘I got shot. How does that happen?’ he said, to chants of ‘fight, fight.’
‘God was with me, I tell you. That’s what they call it close call. That was an amazing horrible thing. Amazing thing. And in many ways it changes your attitude, your viewpoint on life. And I think honestly you appreciate God even more. Something happened. Not that it was pleasant. It wasn’t like it was a complete miss. But it was pretty terrible that that can happen.’
Vance is set to bring the economic populism that rocketed him to the Senate and endeared him to trump to the convention crowd. On Tuesday, he sat at Trump’s side and chatted with the nominee amid the run of prime-time speakers.
Trump’s third night comes hours after the White House said rival President Joe Biden had tested positive for COVID-19, after another week of bad polling and on a day a prominent Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) called him to step back from his campaign.
There was much for Trump to watch on TV as convention speakers once again showered him with accolades, while rolling out some red meat attacks.
Trump made a fist for the crowd, as a series of speakers spoke to his strength and accused Joe Biden of weakness
Trump came out to James Brown’s ‘It’s a Man’s World’
Trump’s raised fist, an iconic gesture after Saturday’s assassination attempt, has become a repeat move for the candidate
Trump has sported a gauze bandage with each public appearance since a gunman shot him on Saturday
‘President Biden is weak in more ways than one,’ said former Trump ambassador to German Ric Grenell. He contrasted that with Trump’s ‘incredible courage and resilience.’
‘You are casting a vote for the strength and grace that will bring peace and prosperity back to you, your family, America and the world,’ he promised.
Trump loyalist Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) ripped Biden with some one-liners.
‘We saw people in the Witness Protection Programs more often than we saw the unscripted Biden,’ he said. He tried to link inflation with convicted Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez. ‘You have to use gold bars just so the bribes keep value,’ he quipped.
And former Trump economic advisor Peter Navarro tore into Judge Juan Merchan, who presided over the Stormy Daniels trial, just hours after Navarro was released from federal prison after serving four months for defying a congressional subpoena in the House January 6 probe.
