Over four days at their national convention this week, Republicans promised a new Donald Trump – a man who had been permanently transformed by a failed assassination attempt just days earlier.

When Mr. Trump took the podium Thursday evening, it did seem – for the first 15 minutes – that he tried to project a unifying message.

“The discord and division in our society must be healed,” he said. “I am running to be president for all of America, not half of America.”

Soon after, however, he shifted back into old patterns. The crowd roared when he vowed to enact the “largest deportation operation,” and when he referred to President Joe Biden as worse than America’s 10 worst presidents put together.

Mr. Trump’s speech capped a week that has felt less like a warmup for the campaign’s final stretch and more like an election night victory party.

The GOP’s palpable air of optimism and camaraderie was fueled by two events outside Wisconsin that were out of Mr. Trump’s control. One was the unifying effect of the assassination attempt in Pennsylvania. The other is the chaotic unraveling taking place among Democrats back in Washington, with the drip-drip-drip of congressional statements calling for Mr. Biden to end his candidacy.

Over four days at their national convention this week, Republicans promised a new Donald Trump – a man who had been permanently transformed by a failed assassination attempt just days earlier and was ready, finally, to stop attacking and start uniting.

Delegates remarked on the former president’s visible emotion each night as he entered the arena with a bandaged ear, growing emotional themselves as they described the face of a changed man. Advisers told reporters that Mr. Trump was reassessing his messaging, and Mr. Trump himself said as much in a post-shooting interview with the Washington Examiner. His speech Thursday night would bring the whole country together, he said, if not the whole world.

When Mr. Trump took the podium Thursday evening, it did seem – for the first 15 minutes – that he tried to do just that.

“The discord and division in our society must be healed,” said Mr. Trump, before he formally accepted the Republican nomination. “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.”

Soon after, however, he shifted back into old patterns, abandoning his teleprompter for long stretches. In a rambling 92-minute performance, Mr. Trump repeated many of his usual talking points from rallies. The crowd roared when he vowed to enact the “largest deportation operation,” and when he referred to President Joe Biden as worse than America’s 10 worst presidents put together – despite a pre-speech promise to not refer to Mr. Biden by name. 

Republican unity – with fuel from beyond Milwaukee

In many ways, Mr. Trump’s speech was the culmination of a week that has felt less like a warmup for the campaign’s toughest, final stretch and more like an election night victory party. And the GOP’s palpable air of optimism and camaraderie was fueled by two events outside Wisconsin that were entirely out of Mr. Trump’s control.

After the assassination attempt against Mr. Trump in Pennsylvania just days ago, his supporters, many donning makeshift ear bandages mimicking the former president’s, said they felt inspired anew. “It’s like when something bad happens in your family and you all band together,” said Gary Leffler, an alternate delegate from Iowa. “The assassination attempt has drawn everyone that much closer. It had an extremely unifying consequence to it.”