Former President Donald Trump made another spectacular entrance on the third day of his convention, this time walking into a packed hall to the tune of James Brown’s “It’s a Man’s World.”
Trump, known for curating playlists for his campaign rallies, came through with a version of the funk star’s recording accompanied by Luciano Pavoratti, another Trump favorite.
Trump raised his fist as he entered, again with a bandage on his ear, on a night when speakers called for a forceful U.S. foreign policy to intimidate adversaries and avoid “forever wars.”
It was a night when his supporters were finally able to make some of their meatier attacks and his vice presidential pick, JD Vance, was ready for the biggest platform of his life.
“This is a man’s world, this is a man’s world,” Brown sings. “But it wouldn’t be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl.”
After arriving, Trump returned to his front-row seat next to Sen. Marco Rubio, who failed to make his shortlist for vice president but gave a full endorsement to Trump, a 2016 rival.
Trump had entered the convention hall earlier to see the stage, lectern and a teleprompter that will broadcast Thursday night’s speech that Trump said he reworked after the assassination attempt that wounded him.
Donald Trump returns for the third day of his convention
He continued to wear a bandage on his right ear four days after his ear was injured by a would-be assassin’s bullet.
After a Tuesday night of family endorsement of his personal qualities (including an opening speech by daughter-in-law Lara Trump), the former president was scheduled to return to the hall to hear a series of speeches endorsing his candidacy.
Trump has been mostly watching, smiling and listening on the convention floor. But at an earlier private event, he was Recorded Talking about the attempted murder.
“They shot me. How can that happen?” he said, as people shouted at him: “Fight, fight.”
“God was with me, I can tell you that. That’s what they call it when he almost died. It was a terrible, unbelievable thing. And in many ways it changes your attitude, your outlook on life. And I think, honestly, you appreciate God even more. Something happened. It wasn’t that it was nice. It wasn’t something that was completely lost. But it was pretty terrible that that could happen.”
Vance is set to bring to the convention the economic populism that catapulted him to the Senate and endeared him to Trump. On Tuesday, he sat next to Trump and chatted with the candidate amid a series of prime-time speakers.
Trump’s third night comes hours after the White House said his rival, President Joe Biden, had tested positive for COVID-19, following another week of poor polling and on a day when a prominent Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), called on him to withdraw from his campaign.
Trump had plenty to do on television, as convention speakers once again showered him with praise and launched some meaty attacks.
Trump raised his fist toward the crowd, as a series of speakers spoke of his strength and accused Joe Biden of weakness.
Trump went out to see James Brown’s ‘It’s a Man’s World’
Trump’s raised fist, an iconic gesture after Saturday’s assassination attempt, has become a go-to motion for the candidate.
“President Biden is weak in more ways than one,” said Trump’s former ambassador to Germany, Ric Grenell. He contrasted that with Trump’s “incredible courage and resilience.”
“You are casting a vote for the strength and grace that will restore peace and prosperity to you, your families, America, and the world,” he vowed.
Trump loyalist Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) took a swipe at Biden with some one-liners.
“We saw people in Witness Protection Programs more often than Biden, who didn’t have a script,” he said. He tried to link the inflation to convicted Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez. “You have to use gold bullion to make bribes keep their value,” he joked.
And former Trump economic adviser Peter Navarro lashed out at Judge Juan Merchan, who presided over the Stormy Daniels trial, just hours after Navarro was released from federal prison after serving four months for defying a congressional subpoena in the House investigation on Jan. 6.
