GOP delegates from Pa. prepare to give Trump a ‘hero’s welcome’ in Milwaukee
Democrats, including Gov. Josh Shapiro and President Joe Biden, also called for an end to extreme political rhetoric Sunday and said Trump and the other victims were in their prayers.
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MILWAUKEE — The Republican National Convention was always going to be a celebration of former President Donald Trump and his pugilistic brand of politics
But the assassination attempt at his rally Saturday in Western Pennsylvania and images of him being escorted off stage, blood streaming down his face as he raised his fist, elevated his idolization among supporters who are prepared to give him a hero’s welcome this week when the party officially nominates him for president.
Delegates descended on Milwaukee, a city decked out in red, white, and blue signage, now hosting a convention just days after a shooting shook up an already unpredictable and unprecedented presidential campaign.
“We need to be unified as a nation and a people and move forward,” Pennsylvania GOP chair Lawrence Tabas said as he waited for the flight to Milwaukee with other delegates at Philadelphia International Airport on Sunday morning. “Violence has no place in a political democracy and we just need to come together.”
Democrats, including Gov. Josh Shapiro and President Joe Biden, also called for an end to extreme political rhetoric Sunday and said Trump and the other victims were in their prayers. Biden suspended campaign TV ads and rescheduled a trip to Texas that was originally planned for Monday.
But the shooting, which has further energized Trump’s base, was also fueling divisive political rhetoric from both sides of the political spectrum.
Misinformation spread rapidly in the minutes and hours after, and while there was broad condemnation of the shooting, condolences for the victims, and calls to lower the political temperature in America, a deeply divided country was also quick to point fingers.
“They’ve called him a tyrant, they’ve called him Hitler, an absolute threat to democracy,” said State Rep. Aaron Bernstine, a Republican who represents the area and was at the rally earlier in the day, but left before Trump took the stage. “As a result of the type of language that’s used … it led to a person to take action.”
» READ MORE: Conspiracy theories spread wildly online after Trump shooting
State Rep. Stephenie Scialabba, a Republican from Butler County who was seated in the front row at Trump’s rally, made a similar argument. Politicians across the political spectrum, she said, needed to condemn the shooting.
“And don’t play dumb, either, as to how this transpired. It makes me sick when I see Biden on TV saying I don’t know how this could have happened. Go read your own tweets,” she said.
Biden has repeatedly warned in speeches that Trump — who refused to accept his 2020 defeat and was impeached for incitement of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack — represents a unique threat to democracy.
“Trump’s assault on democracy isn’t just part of his past,” Biden said in Blue Bell in January. “It’s what he’s promising for the future.”
Pennsylvania’s Republican delegation of about 100 people includes at least two delegates from Butler County who attended Saturday’s rally. For the Pennsylvania group, the convention will be an opportunity to show support for them as well as for Trump.
» READ MORE: Why Thomas Matthew Crooks tried to assassinate Donald Trump is a mystery to investigators and his ex-classmates
State Rep. Marci Mustello from Jefferson Township missed Saturday’s rally to leave early for the convention in Milwaukee. She said Sunday that she expected to encounter more security this week.
“And, I think, a lot more excitement,” she said. “A lot more excitement for our nominee that we’ll be nominating on Thursday and moving forward making sure that we have victory in November.”
At the Philadelphia airport Sunday, dressed in Trump T-shirts and MAGA hats, some delegates were still processing the moment of political violence. “We woke up in a different America today,” one man said.
Drew Morrisroe, an alternate delegate from eastern Montgomery County, was looking forward to a joyful celebration at his first political convention. The week ahead will feel heavier, he said.
“No matter who is running for office, these are people that are giving their time,” he said. “They believe in things for the country, whether you believe in them or not and they should be able to go out and campaign and not feel afraid.”
» READ MORE: What we know about the deadly shooting at the Trump rally in Butler, Pa.
There was a time shortly after the 2022 GOP midterm losses when Pennsylvania’s top Republicans, including some attending the convention this week, were divided over whether Trump was the right candidate for the party. The mood among the Pennsylvania delegates as they gathered Sunday was total unity.
“The hero’s welcome Thursday is gonna be a deafening event,” said Charlie Gerow, a GOP strategist and elected delegate from the Harrisburg area attending his 13th Republican convention. Gerow watched the news reports of the shooting with other members of the Pennsylvania delegation at the group’s hotel in a suburb of Milwaukee.
He described the mood as prayerful — and then energized.
“Attending a national convention … it’s a true opportunity to be a part of history and there’s no question that’ll be heightened after what happened yesterday. People are really holding dear the fact that they are even able to cast votes for the president.”
» READ MORE: The Secret Service is investigating how a gunman who shot and injured Trump was able to get so close
Trump was recovering Sunday after a bullet pierced his ear, and released a statement saying he still planned to travel to Milwaukee later in the day.
The suspected shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old from Bethel Park, Pa., was killed by the U.S. Secret Service.
Shapiro spoke at a news conference in Butler County and said he’s talked with the wife of Corey Comperatore, 50, of Sarver, Pa., who died, and the family of one of the two other victims who were critically injured.
“This is a moment where all leaders have a responsibility to speak and act with moral clarity, where all leaders need to take down the temperature and rise above the hateful rhetoric that exists and search for a better, brighter future for this nation,” Shapiro said.
U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser, a Pennsylvania Republican traveling to Milwaukee for the convention, accused Democrats and the media of vilifying Trump. He called for political rhetoric to shift away from personal attacks in the aftermath of the assassination attempt.
“Frankly, we don’t like their policies but they just don’t like us,” Meuser said. “They make MAGA out to be like this evil cult.”
A reported comment from Biden on a call to political donors has come under close scrutiny in the wake of the shooting.
“I have one job, and that’s to beat Donald Trump. I’m absolutely certain I’m the best person to be able to do that. So, we’re done talking about the debate. It’s time to put Trump in a bull’s-eye,” Biden told donors last week, according to Politico.
Jim Worthington, a longtime Trump ally from Bucks County, who is the chair of the Pennsylvania delegation, pointed to this line in an interview Sunday. “These are things that a crazy person could latch onto and it looks like they did,” said Worthington.
Worthington previously helped form a political advocacy group called People4Trump. The group, separate from Worthington, organized three buses to transport 200 people from Bucks County to attend Trump’s Washington, D.C., rally on Jan. 6, 2021.
Biden, speaking Sunday afternoon from the White House, urged Americans to not jump to conclusions about the shooter’s motivations or political leanings while the law enforcement investigation plays out.
Biden emphasized the importance of unity and said there’s no place for violence in America, describing an assassination attempt as un-American.
“We’ll debate and we’ll disagree, that’s not going to change, but we’re going to not lose sight of the fact who we are as Americans,” he said.
In an Oval Office address Sunday evening, Biden tied the attempted assassination on Trump to the attack on the Capitol and other incidents of political violence in recent years.
“We cannot allow this violence to be normalized,” Biden said. “You know the political rhetoric in this country has gotten very heated. It’s time to cool it down. We all have a responsibility to do that.”
Staff writers Gillian McGoldrick and Aliya Schneider contributed to this article.