BUFFALO, NY (WKBW) — "Just terrible, that we've gotten to this point in the country,” remarked Carl Calabrese, Republican analyst.
Just days after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, the Republican National Convention (RNC) is beginning in Milwaukee.
I spoke to local Republican leaders about their reaction to the attempt to kill Trump as the RNC began Monday.
“Heading into this convention today, what do you expect to have to happen?” Buckley asked.
“I’m being told, and it's being reported that everybody's speeches, every speaker who's going to speak at the convention has been told rewrite their speech to reflect what happened Saturday night and what has to happen in this country going forward,” replied Calabrese. “I would think we're going to hear a lot of talk of toning down the rhetoric, unity, and getting back to a more civil discourse on our political disagreements.”
That "tone down" theme is exactly what Western New York Republican Congressman Nick Langworthy called for Saturday night, just hours after the attempted assassination. He said talk of Trump planning to become a "dictator" if elected president is a "lie."
“These are lies, and this is what inflame situations like this and this is what causes people to go on a roof with a rifle and try to kill a presidential candidate,” Langworthy commented.
Congressman Langworthy told me he plans to head to the convention Wednesday.
“This is a terrible tragedy,” commented Niagara County Republican Chairman Richard. Andres is also convention-bound.
"What do you expect to hear at the convention and what do you expect to hear from Donald Trump?” asked Buckley.
“I expect to hear classic Trump, but you know he popped up combative and I think that's the tone he's going to take to fight for this country and to fight for the things he's been advocating for years,” answered Andres.
Calabrese says he watches the RNC and he will be listening to “the tone and what direction Donald Trump wants to take his campaign."
He says he is also interested in what message Trump wants to deliver to the American people,
I asked both the Niagara County GOP leader and Calabrese if the attempted assassination could mean more undecided voters would cast their ballots for Trump.
“Trump has been moving, you know, some groups that have traditionally not been kind of pro-Republican,” noted Andres. "Some of my friends that are on the other side. I don't get the sense that they're moving.”
“The country is so polarized. There's not a lot of undecided voters anymore,” Calabrese replied.
Calabrese tells me events like this tend to harden positions, not change them.
Also on Monday, former President Trump selected Sen. JD Vance as his running mate.
7 News political analyst Bob McCarthy Joined Voices to give his reaction to the selection, which you can watch below.
Another firsthand account of this weekend's attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, this one from a Western New Yorker who was at the rally.
