Takeaways From Day One of the Republican Convention

An emotional first day of the Republican National Convention ended Monday night with an official ticket for 2024, Donald J. Trump and J.D. Vance, but it was Mr. Trump’s triumphal prime-time emergence in the arena, just two days after a failed assassination attempt, that might prove the indelible moment of the whole event.

The opening session signaled how unified and confident the G.O.P. was behind its preternaturally resilient nominee, and set the tone for a four-day conclave that will project Republican strength and conviction that a red wave is in the making.

At 9 p.m., as the country star Lee Greenwood sang the anthem that Mr. Trump has made his own, “God Bless the U.S.A.,” the former president stepped into view at Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum, a gauze bandage over the ear wounded by his would-be assassin, his eyes seemingly close to tears. It was his first public appearance since the shooting, and the applause was rapturous from the delegates, elected officials and Republican elites, many of whom have doubted his leadership in the past.

“You will not take this man down,” Mr. Greenwood said, attributing the former president’s survival to divine intervention. “He has the courage, the strength and he will be the next president of the United States.”

Here are four takeaways from the convention’s first day:

There was a time when Mr. Trump did not like to share the spotlight. On Monday, with a fresh bandage on his right ear, he showed no insecurities atop a political party he has molded into his own, despite 34 felony convictions, two impeachments, civil judgments for business fraud, sexual abuse and defamation, and pending indictments tied to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.