After Donald Trump narrowly escaped an assassination attempt on Saturday, Republicans tried for unity on the opening night of the Republican National Convention. It went awry in the first prime-time speech.
Sen. Ron Johnson began the night — which was supposed to be focused on the economy — by delivering a screed on the Biden-Harris “radical far-left agenda,” calling Democratic policies “a clear and present danger to America” and invoking the conservative culture-war specters of trans athletes and “the sexualization and indoctrination of our children.”
Soon after he left the stage, he revealed some of that had been a hiccup: Johnson said he updated his speech after the shooting to cut some of the language about Democrats and add more about unity, but a previous draft made it on the teleprompter.