‘Braveheart of our time’: Trump inspires more awe than ever at Republican conference

"Braveheart" is how delegates at the Republican national convention are describing Donald Trump after he survived an attempted assassination.

The first day of the jamboree in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, showed that the former US president inspires more awe and admiration than ever among his dedicated Republican base after the incident on Saturday.

Some expressed hope that Trump will seize the moment by accepting the party's presidential nomination on Thursday night that redefines him as a unifier intent on lowering the political temperature.

"I do think the slogan 'Make America one again' sounds pretty cool," said Reince Priebus, chairman of the host committee and formerly Trump's White House chief of staff. "The president has said that he is apparently looking at his speech. It's an enormous opportunity that he has to galvanise the country and we'll just see what he does with it."

Downtown Milwaukee has been turned into Trumpville for the week, festooned with the stars and stripes, Republican banners and "Make America great again" hats, T-shirts and other merchandise. On display are a cardboard cutout of Trump as Rambo, a Trump bust carved from Indiana limestone and a Trump shoe - a classic black cap-toe oxford crafted by Johnston & Murphy.

Inside the arena, jubilant delegates cheered as they formally nominated Trump to the Republican presidential ticket soon after he announced the Ohio senator JD Vance as his running mate. When a video montage of Trump dancing at rallies - a source of mockery for political satirists - was shown on giant screens, the crowd cheered and danced along with "Trump" signs.

Memories of the 2016 convention, when vocal Trump critics could be found with ease, have been banished. A gunman's attempt to kill him has turned him into "the Braveheart of our time", North Carolina's lieutenant governor, Mark Robinson, said in a floor speech.