President Donald Trump’s speech Thursday accepting his party’s presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention made headlines for three reasons.
1. He told the deeply moving story of his experience of surviving an assassination attempt; 2. He broke the record for length for an acceptance speech, at 92 minutes; 3. He followed UFC president Dana White and wrestling legend Hulk Hogan.
Yet it was also simply a remarkable speech.
Here are 17 notable lines — and not all of them were spoken by Trump. One of them, in fact, was a moment of silence.
- I am running to be president for all of America, not half of America, because there is no victory in winning for half of America.
- As you already know, the assassin’s bullet came within a quarter of an inch of taking my life. So many people have asked me what happened. “Tell us what happened, please.” And therefore, I will tell you exactly what happened, and you’ll never hear it from me a second time, because it’s actually too painful to tell.
- They just, this beautiful crowd, they didn’t want to leave me. They knew I was in trouble. They didn’t want to leave me. And you can see that love written all over their faces.
- I’m not supposed to be here tonight. Not supposed to be here. [Crowd chants “Yes, you are.”]
- Once my clenched fist went up, and it was high into the air, you’ve all seen that, the crowd realized I was OK and roared with pride for our country like no crowd I have ever heard before. Never heard anything like it.
- So now, I ask that we observe a moment of silence in honor of our friend Corey [Comperatore]. [SILENCE] There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for others. This is the spirit that forged America in her darkest hours. And this is the love that will lead America back to the summit of human achievement and greatness.
- And we must not criminalize dissent or demonize political disagreement, which is what’s been happening in our country lately, at a level that nobody has ever seen before. In that spirit, the Democrat party should immediately stop weaponizing the justice system and labeling their political opponent as an enemy of democracy. Especially since that is not true. In fact, I am the one saving democracy for the people of our country.
- On this journey, I am deeply honored to be joined by my amazing wife, Melania. And, Melania, thank you very much. You also did something really beautiful, a letter to America calling for national unity. And it really took the Republican Party by surprise, I will tell you; it was beautiful. In fact, some very serious people said that we should take that letter and put it as part of the Republican platform.
- We beat them on the impeachments. We beat them on the indictments. We beat them. But the time that you have to spend, the time that you have to spend. If they would devote that genius to helping our country, we’d have a much stronger and better country.
- It was an honor to select [JD Vance]. Great, great student at Yale. His wife was a student at Yale; they met at Yale. These are two smart people. So J.D., you’re going to be doing this for a long time; enjoy the ride.
- And by the way, Wisconsin, we are spending over $250 million here, creating jobs and other economic … development all over the place. So I hope you will remember this in November and give us your vote. I am trying to buy your vote. I’ll be honest about that. And I promise we will make Wisconsin great again.
- If you took the 10 worst presidents in the history of the United States — think of it, the 10 worst — added them up, they will not have done the damage that Biden has done. Only going to use the term once. Biden. I’m not going to use the name anymore. Just one time. The damage that he’s done to this country is unthinkable. It’s unthinkable.
- And you know who’s being hurt the most by millions of people pouring into our country? The Black population and the Hispanic population. Because they’re taking the jobs from our Black population, our Hispanic population. And they’re also taking them from unions. The unions are suffering because of it.
- They’re coming from prisons. They’re coming from jails. They’re coming from mental institutions and insane asylums. I, you know the press is always on because I say this. Has anyone seen “The Silence of the Lambs”? The late, great Hannibal Lecter. He’d love to have you for dinner. That’s insane asylums. They’re emptying out their insane asylums. And terrorists at numbers that we’ve never seen before. Bad things are going to happen.
- And to the entire world, I tell you this, we want our hostages back — and they better be back before I assume office, or you will be paying a very big price.
- We live in a world of miracles. None of us knows God’s plan, or where life’s adventure will take us. … But if the events of last Saturday make anything clear, it is that every single moment we have on Earth is a gift from God. We have to make the most of every day for the people and for the country that we love.
- You have been told to lower your expectations and to accept less for your families. I am here tonight with the opposite message: Your expectations are not big enough.
Here is a link to the full transcript of the speech, courtesy of the New York Times.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of “”The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of “The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.