Takeaways from the first day of the Republican National Convention

With a white bandage over the right ear an attempted assassin’s bullet clipped just two days earlier, Donald Trump stole the show when he made his first public appearance since the shooting on the opening night of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

With a white bandage over the ear clipped just two days earlier by an attempted assassin’s bullet, Donald Trump stole the show when he made his first public appearance since the shooting on the opening night of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. Trump joined the man he’d chosen hours earlier as his vice presidential running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, in a box in the 10 p.m. Eastern time hour for Monday night’s final speeches. The crowd chanted “fight” — the word a bloody-faced Trump had shouted several times, while pumping his fist in the air, as the Secret Service rushed him off the stage in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. It was a memorable moment on a day that Republican delegates officially nominated Trump for the third consecutive presidential election, confirmed Vance as his running mate and opened a four-day convention aimed at making the case for another Trump term and against reelecting President Joe Biden. Here are five takeaways from the RNC’s first night: Rather than choose his running mate before Republicans gathered in Milwaukee, Trump wanted an element of surprise at this year’s convention — and he got it, keeping the veepstakes guessing game alive until Monday afternoon.