CNN Anchor Kasie Hunt claims Trump has embraced a message of unity during the Republican National Convention
Hunt: “You could see emotion on his face. And I have to say, in all these years of covering him, it struck me as something we don't normally see.”
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From the July 17, 2024, edition of CNN's CNN This Morning
PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: The warmth of your words, the expression of friendship and yes, love, meant more to us than you can ever know. You have given us a memory that we will treasure forever. And you have provided, provided an answer to those few voices that were raised saying that what happened was evidence that ours is a sick society. The society we heard from is made up of millions of compassionate Americans and their children from college age to kindergarten.
KASIE HUNT (ANCHOR): That was shortly after an assassination attempt on his life. Ronald Reagan thanking his fellow Americans for their message of support and communicating a message of unity. This is one that former President Donald Trump has also embraced in the days after Saturday's assassination attempt against him. His son, Donald Trump Jr., now telling Axios that Saturday's near-death experience has changed his father for good.
MIKE ALLEN (AXIOS CO-FOUNDER): Getting shot in the face changes a man. Is your father a changed man?
DONALD TRUMP JR: I think actually, yes, I think we're trying to, you know, certainly deescalate some of that rhetoric. I think it lasts. You know, I think at lasts. I think, those are, you know there are events that change you for a couple of minutes and there's events that change you permanently.
HUNT: And joining me now to talk more about this is Trump campaign senior advisor, Jason Miller. Jason, good morning to you. Thanks so much for being here.
JAOSN MILLER (TRUMP CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISOR): Good morning.
HUNT: You have worked for the former President Donald Trump for quite some time now, and I just want to put the same question to you that Mike Allen there put to Donald Trump Jr. which is, do you think that Donald Trump is a changed man after what happened on Saturday?
MILLER: Well when somebody tries to kill you, you have an assassination attempt, of course it's going to change your life. It's going to change your outlook. And I think we've seen that from President Trump ever since Saturday. You look at the Truth Social posting that he put out Sunday morning where he talked about the resilience and our faith and our defiance in the face of wickedness. This is a different country that we're in right now. Literally, when you're putting an attempt on somebody's life, this is going to change everything. And American politics has become such a tinderbox. It's so negative, so nasty. Somebody has to take that step forward and say, this isn't the way to do it. It doesn't mean we don't have serious issues that we don't have to tackle. The tone has to change.
HUNT: Is this what we saw on President Trump's face the first night of the Republican National Convention? Because when he did come in, I mean, he obviously had a hero's welcome from the crowd when they saw him for the first time after this attempt, but you could see emotion on his face. And I have to say, of all these years of covering him, it struck me as something we don't normally see.
MILLER: Well you walk into a room with some 10,000 people and everybody's cheering and literally it's within 48 hours of an attempt on your life, that's going to impact you. And I think that's even what you're going to see with the president's speech tomorrow. I think he's going to talk about his firsthand experience, but also how this applies to what's going on in society today. These challenges we have with people who are suffering from the economy or from the open border, all these things. We've seen so many of these everyday voices there have been the first two nights the convention, we'll see it tonight with additional everyday voices and obviously with Senator Vance. But that's, President Trump, I think, is going to have a very powerful message tomorrow.