2024 Republican National Convention kicks off: What you need to know

Donald Trump is expected to officially become the GOP’s presidential candidate, just days after an attempt on his life

The 2024 Republican National Convention (RNC), where the party will approve its platform and officially nominate its candidate for the November 5 US presidential election, is taking place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin this week.

The four-day event, which will continue from Monday through Thursday, is being staged just days after an assassination attempt against the party’s presumptive presidential candidate, Donald Trump.

A bullet grazed Trump’s right ear when at least five rounds from a semi-automatic rifle were fired in his direction during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday. One spectator was killed and two others severely wounded in the attack, while the suspected gunman, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was shot dead on site by US Secret Service officers.

Despite the assassination attempt on his life, Trump insisted that he would not delay his trip to Milwaukee. “I cannot allow a ‘shooter,’ or potential assassin, to force change to scheduling, or anything else,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform on Sunday.

Choosing the presidential candidate

The convention at the Fiserv Forum, the home arena of the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks, will gather more than 2,400 delegates from across the country as well as some 50,000 Republican activists and volunteers.
Delegates will hold a roll call vote on Monday to select the GOP’s official candidate for the presidential election. The vote is seen as more of a formality after Trump won the primaries in March, getting support from 2,243 delegates. It is set to be the 78-year-old’s third Republican nomination since 2016, when he beat Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the race for the White House.
Trump has also said he will announce the name of his vice presidential pick this week. The shortlist for the former president’s running mate includes Senators Marco Rubio of Florida, JD Vance of Ohio, and Tim Scott of South Carolina, and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum.
Delegates will also approve the Republican Party’s new platform, which was voted on earlier in July. Among other things, the document softens the party’s stance on abortion, suggests building a missile defense shield over the US, promises tax cuts, and insists on mass deportations of illegal immigrants.

Trump’s speech

Trump is scheduled to deliver his address to the RNC on Thursday, the final day of the gathering. As he was heading to Milwaukee aboard his private plane, he told the New York Post that he had prepared “an extremely tough speech... all about the corrupt, horrible administration” of his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, but “threw it away” after the assassination attempt. “I want to try to unite our country… but I do not know if that is possible. People are very divided,” he stressed.

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Other speakers

Beside the vice presidential candidates, the likes of independent journalist Tucker Carlson, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Trump’s former rivals for the Republican nomination – Vivek Ramaswamy, Ron DeSantis, and Nikki Haley – are expected to appear on stage at the Fiserv Forum.
The former president’s wife Melania and daughter Ivanka are not among the speakers, but his two older sons – Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump – are scheduled to address the crowd. Appearances from country music stars Lee Greenwood and Chris Janson and rapper Amber Rose are also on the schedule.

Heightened security

The director of the US Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, said on Monday that changes have been made to Trump’s security detail following the assassination attempt to “ensure his continued protection for the convention and the remainder of the campaign.” The new flexible security plan will provide for “the highest level of safety and security for convention attendees, volunteers and the City of Milwaukee,” Cheatle insisted. Law enforcement sources earlier told CBS News that the idea was to expand the security perimeter at the RNC and create buffer zones around the convention’s events.