CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Republican politicians in West Virginia are showing their support for former President Donald Trump as he prepares for the 2024 Presidential Election following an assassination attempt at a rally last week.
State Senator Jack David Woodrum, of Summers County, says the assassination attempt, that saw a bullet strike Trump’s ear in Butler, Pennsylvania, has changed the tone of the country.
“The attempt on a president’s life, I think, changed the tone and changed the way people are thinking right now, which I think is going to end up being a good thing,” Woodrum said.
Riley Moore, West Virginia’s State Treasurer, traveled to Milwaukee for the Republican Nation Convention, and said the assassination attempt set a different tone for the event.
“That terrible assassination attempt on Saturday, I think, has set a totally different tone here,” Moore said at the convention. “It’s really brought people together in a manner which I’ve never seen before.”
Trump spoke Thursday night at the final evening of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee for the first time since the assassination attempt. On Wednesday night, Trump was seated at the Fiserv Forum, taking in speeches from his son Donald Trump Jr., granddaughter Kai Trump, and his running mate J.D. Vance.
Woodrum says, by the look of him, Trump has had an emotional week.
“He seems to have been humbled by this whole experience,” Woodrum said. “It’s been, I’ll say, a little bit emotional, just looking at his face for him. There’s been really an outpouring of love from the people that have been here for him.”
Trump made his speech late Thursday night, saying, “We rise together, or we fall apart.”
Moore said he has never seen the Republican Party as unified as it is now.
“I have never seen this party so unified in my entire life, my entire time in public office, or outside of it,” Moore said. We are very fired up to get out there, all these delegates from all over the country, to go out and get that vote out and go win.”
Woodrum, too, spoke on unity, but from a national perspective. Woodrum says he wants to see America come together and hates seeing it so divided.
“I hope the country unifies and starts to come together,” Goodrum said. “I hate to see the nation divided and I think we need to get back together.”