The Republican Party has officially nominated Trump as its presidential candidate for the third consecutive time, solidifying his role as the GOP’s leading figure nearly a decade after first rising to prominence.
This nomination marks a significant achievement for Trump, who, over the past three years, has dealt with criticism for the January 6 riot, multiple criminal charges, political obstacles, and even an assassination attempt just this past weekend.
Trump is now the first convicted felon to be nominated as a major-party presidential candidate.
Trump’s nomination on Monday was expected, as the majority of convention delegates were already committed to him following his dominance in the primaries.
Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and Trump challenger, had released her delegates earlier this month and urged them to support Trump in Milwaukee.
This moment has been anticipated since Trump left office in 2021.
After the January 6 insurrection and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, some party members and presidential hopefuls criticized Trump. He was considered politically damaging after Republicans lost the House and Senate during his presidency. Trump was partly blamed for the Republicans’ failure to win back the Senate in 2022 and their narrower-than-expected House victory.
Subsequently, Trump faced a series of criminal charges. In New York, he was convicted in May for covering up hush money payments to a porn star. In Washington and Georgia, prosecutors charged him with attempting to subvert the 2020 election. In Florida, he faced charges for hoarding classified documents at Mar-a-Lago and obstructing the investigation.
As Trump pursued the presidential nomination for a third time, he contended with a crowded GOP field.
His main opponents, including Haley, Chris Christie, Ron DeSantis, Mike Pence, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Tim Scott, attacked Trump to various degrees, hoping to unseat him.
However, Trump easily defeated his rivals in the primaries, rallying party support by framing his campaign around political “weaponization.”
Many Republicans who once criticized him later endorsed Trump, with party support growing stronger after his conviction on 34 felony counts in New York.
Now, his primary competitors are backing him. Despite significant challenges, Trump’s political and legal victories have increased.
The Supreme Court recently ruled he is immune from criminal prosecution for some presidential actions, and in March, the justices decided states couldn’t remove him from the 2024 ballot. On Monday, the federal judge overseeing his classified documents trial in Florida dismissed the case.
Most dramatically, Trump survived an assassination attempt on Saturday evening at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where a gunman killed one rallygoer and wounded two others. Trump was grazed by a bullet, and the Secret Service killed the shooter.
The attack led to an immediate outpouring of support. Both Democrats and Republicans condemned the violence, with Democrats easing their criticisms out of respect and Republicans rallying more strongly behind Trump.
Less than 48 hours after the attack, the GOP officially confirmed Trump as their nominee.
