Trump heads to convention; slay try motive, security probed

MILWAUKEE – Donald Trump returns to the campaign trail Monday as the star of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee – a gathering meant to fire up the grassroots that has instead been overshadowed by the weekend attempt on his life.

The 78-year-old former president is carrying Republican hopes into November’s election and, days after an assassin’s bullets flew by him, is set to be anointed as the party’s champion to face his Democratic successor, Joe Biden.

Some 50,000 Republicans are descending on the shores of Lake Michigan for the four-day celebration of all things Trump, culminating in his acceptance speech on Thursday.

Before that – perhaps as soon as Monday – Trump will unveil his vice presidential pick, a high-stakes moment that could set the tone for the final stretch of his campaign.

Yet the Trump shooting is really the only story in town.

Much of the buzz around the made-for-TV convention moments has been eclipsed by the fallout from Saturday’s assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania, in which Trump was wounded and one attendee was killed.

There was talk of a postponement of the convention, but Trump has insisted that the show must go on, vowing to be “defiant in the face of wickedness.”

“I’m not supposed to be here, I’m supposed to be dead,” Trump told the New York Post in an interview aboard his plane en route to Milwaukee. “By luck or by God... I’m still here,” he added.

Riding high in the polls despite a cascade of indictments, and his first conviction, the tycoon appears on course for victory as Biden, 81, faces calls from his own side to quit the race over concerns around his mental capabilities.

With the shock of Saturday’s violence fresh in delegates’ minds, all eyes will be on Trump’s acceptance speech, with some US media outlets reporting that his brush with death had persuaded him to soften the edges.

Trump told the NYP that he had “prepared an extremely tough speech” about Biden’s “horrible administration. But I threw it away” for one he hopes will “unite our country.”

But having survived a horrific attack that many Republicans have sought to blame on “over-the-top” anti-Trump rhetoric, the ex-president will have to rein