Accepting the Republican Nomination, Trump Preaches Unity, Then Reverts to Attacks

Former President Donald J. Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination for the third time on Thursday night with a speech that opened with a somber appeal to unity before reverting to a divisive and rambling list of grievances and attacks on his political opponents.

Speaking publicly for the first time since an attempt was made on his life, Mr. Trump — who frequently mocks his political enemies, has promised retribution against them and often insists this election is the country’s “final battle” — called on Americans to put aside their political differences and come together.

But he quickly made it clear that his version of unity was one in which the country turned to him for leadership and cast his opponents aside, accepting that he had wrongfully been targeted by corrupt forces.

“We must not demonize political disagreement,” Mr. Trump said early in his speech at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, which clocked in around 92 minutes, the longest convention speech in modern history, shattering his own previous record.

Minutes later, he proceeded to do exactly that, making baseless claims about election fraud and vilifying Democrats as “crazy” and “incompetent.” After spending the better part of an hour unleashing divisive rhetoric about immigrants, his political opponents and the legal cases against him, Mr. Trump declared that “as long as our energies are spent fighting each other, our destinies” remain “out of reach.”

Considerable time and effort was put into a Republican convention that softened Mr. Trump’s image and portrayed him as the leader of an inclusive political movement. Mr. Trump, over the course of four days, basked in stories about “Grandpa Trump” and speakers who marveled at his surviving an assassin’s bullet