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MILWAUKEE — The Republican National Convention heads into its second day Tuesday in Milwaukee — now with Donald Trump officially as its presidential nominee.
Trump energized the crowd Monday night by entering the arena with a bandage on his right ear after being injured during an assassination attempt Saturday. Expect more speakers Tuesday to mention what they described as the former president’s strength and resilience after the shooting at his rally in Pennsylvania.
That will likely include Nikki Haley, a onetime primary rival who was a last-minute addition to the schedule.
Here’s what to watch for on the second day of the RNC:
The former United Nations ambassador and South Carolina governor was the last major rival against Trump in this year’s primary contest. She waited two months after dropping out in March to say she would vote for him. Then last week, she announced she would instruct her convention delegates to vote for Trump but wasn’t planning to attend the convention.
It wasn’t until Sunday — hours after the shooting — that her office reversed itself and said she would speak.
It’s likely that she will call on her party to show cohesion in the face of this fall’s general election battle against President Joe Biden.
Many of the speeches Monday focused on economic policies and claims that Biden had mishandled the economy.
On Tuesday, the overview shifts to immigration and crime, according to Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee, with the theme of “Make America Safe Once Again.”
Be on the lookout for speakers to argue that they have been damaged by Biden-era immigration policies. Trump and Republicans believe the border debate is among their strongest issues.
As part of a broader attempt to blame crime on border policies, expect speeches from family members of slain people in cases where immigrants in the U.S. illegally face criminal charges. Trump has repeatedly brought up the issue at rallies this year.
Last week, the Trump campaign and the RNC announced that the brother of Rachel Morin — a Maryland woman whom prosecutors say was killed and raped by a fugitive from El Salvador — would be one of the speakers at the convention. Officials say the suspect, Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez, entered the U.S. illegally after allegedly killing a woman in his home country.
He was arrested last month in Oklahoma and charged with first-degree murder and rape in Morin’s death.
Convention organizers are not expected to announce who will speak on the event’s second day until later Tuesday morning.
The Democratic president gets back on the campaign trail Tuesday with events in Nevada, as he continues to try to reassure members of his party about his candidacy after his disastrous debate last month. He had canceled a planned Monday trip to Texas and his reelection campaign temporarily suspended its television ads after Saturday’s shooting.
He will address the NAACP convention in Las Vegas on Tuesday, conduct an interview with the BET network and participate in an economic summit with Rep. Steven Horsford, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.
As the RNC got underway, Biden had his own slice of the prime-time spotlight Monday. In an interview with Lester Holt on NBC, Biden called it a “mistake” to say he wanted to put a “bull’s-eye” on Trump, but argued that the rhetoric from his opponent was more incendiary, while warning that Trump remained a threat to democratic institutions.
Those remarks from Biden came during a private call with donors last week as the Democrat had been scrambling to shore up his imperiled candidacy with key party constituencies. During that conversation, Biden declared that he was “done” talking about his poor debate performance and that it was “time to put Trump in the bull’s-eye,” saying Trump has gotten far too little scrutiny on his stances, rhetoric and lack of campaigning.
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Associated Press writer Adriana Gomez Licon in Milwaukee contributed to this report.
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Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP
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