“Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!” delegates chanted from the floor of the Fiserv Forum on Monday for the first day of the Republican National Convention.
Delegates from Texas donned their signature cowboy hats and North Carolina’s representatives were dapper in seersucker outfits — a staple southern summer look. Others were patriotic in red, white and blue, along with Trump and MAGA attire.
They were all there for the same goal — to nominate former President Donald Trump as the Republican presidential nominee.
The new chant, which gave the feel of students rallying behind a fight in a schoolyard, was adopted recently as a nod to Mr. Trump surviving an assassination attempt on Saturday. As the Secret Service ushered him off the stage in Butler County, Pennsylvania, he put his fist up and yelled, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” and “For God and country.”
After reports revealed that Mr. Trump was revamping his convention speech in light of the shooting, some delegates want to hear him preach about party unity when he ultimately takes the stage for his acceptance speech on Thursday.
“I think you’re going to hear a whole different Trump,” North Carolina state Sen. Jim Burgin said. The Milwaukee convention is Mr. Burgin’s first time being a delegate.
Mr. Burgin said he thinks Mr. Trump’s original speech was going to be “fiery and combative,” but after surviving the shooting, he’ll have a different tone.
“Anytime somebody has a near-death experience, I think it changes their lives,” he said. “I think you’re going to see a more humble and more thoughtful and considerate Trump and I think his message is going to be unity.”
Pennsylvania delegate Rick Saccone said he thinks Mr. Trump will have more confidence after the shooting, and called the fist bump he gave to the crowd “iconic.”
“He’s like George Washington now,” he said. “I mean, the whole country is going to get behind him. People are texting me, blowing up my phone, people that haven’t been involved in years, asking me how I can get involved.”
Mr. Saccone, a former state representative who ran for Congress, said Mr. Trump held a rally for him in Pittsburgh.
“I love the man. I’d do anything for him,” he said. “Just to be here to nominate him — once in a lifetime dream.”
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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