MILWAUKEE — Former President Donald Trump’s campaign has offered suggestions and directly edited the final speeches of convention speakers in an effort to tone down the political rhetoric in the wake of Saturday’s shooting and focus on policy contrasts with President Joe Biden, NBC News has learned from four sources engaged with speech preparation for the convention.
Trump said that he had rewritten his own speech accepting the Republican presidential nomination ahead of Thursday night after surviving an assassination attempt. The Trump campaign has said that now he intends to home in on the theme of unifying America.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., said Wednesday before delivering his convention address, “Frankly, they sent the same message to those of us giving speeches.”
“We always planned to be a reflection of our party’s unity and remind the American people of the the difference between President Trump’s success and Crooked Joe Biden’s failure,” Brian Hughes, a senior Trump campaign adviser, said in a statement. “The convention messages from everyday Americans and policymakers have met that goal. This convention is one of the greatest ever held and will launch us forward to victory in November.”
While convention speakers this week have served up plenty of red meat to the thousands of delegates in attendance, particularly on the issues of immigration and crime, they have steered away from some of the party’s more divisive topics and talk of seeking retribution.
Through the convention’s first two nights, speakers have not mentioned the following issues: unfounded claims of stolen elections; the Jan 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol; investigating Trump’s political opponents, including Biden; and investigating the prosecutors who have sought indictments against him, like Special Counsel Jack Smith, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg or Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
A video where Trump mentions the unsubstantiated threat of Democrats “cheating” in the upcoming election was played during the first two nights of the convention.
Asked if the toned-down theme would continue through the week, Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., said, “I do.”
“I mean, it starts with Trump,” he continued. “Hopefully, JD [Vance] picks that up. And others. Trump said he didn’t want people to change their speeches, but I think that they will.”
There also has been no mention from the speakers of the party purging Republicans who Trump and allies feel have crossed them, including former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., former Vice President Mike Pence, and former House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.
Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Trump’s main opponents in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, were well-received by the convention when they spoke Tuesday evening, though Haley did receive a smattering of boos.
One source told NBC News that some speakers received suggested focus points to better reflect the theme of the night.
Just one speaker so far, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., has used the phrase “weaponized government” from the stage, a refrain frequently used by Trump and his allies to push against the criminal charges filed against him. After delivering his speech, Johnson claimed that the wrong speech was uploaded into the teleprompter.
A Johnson spokesperson told NBC News on Monday the speech was supposed to begin by noting that the convention was meeting “at a somber moment in history” and saying Americans “should all heed President Trump’s call for unity, strength, and determination.”
“It also did not have ‘Today’s Democratic Party is a clear and present danger to America,’” the spokesperson said.
On Wednesday, senior Trump adviser Jason Miller did not expressly say that the campaign has guided the convention speakers’ remarks, but noted Trump’s desire to soften the rhetoric from inside the Milwaukee arena.
“Politically, the country’s a tinderbox right now,” Miller said. “[We’ve] got to find a way to take down the temperature.”
Pressed if Trump or the campaign had pushed speakers to steer away from topics like the Capitol riot, 2020 election or retribution against Trump’s foes, Miller said: “Anyone who watches all of President Trump’s rallies will see this is exactly what he talks about.”
“These are the issues that he’s passionate about,” Miller said. “So we’re going to follow his lead. And — I think through the first two nights of the convention — I think the speakers have done a masterful job of really echoing those themes but also saying, quite frankly, why they support him.”
