His appearance here in Milwaukee, he said, was only by the “grace of Almighty God”.
If there was a divine inference to be drawn from the events of last Saturday, Trump wanted Americans to know it infused his political future, too.
Standing against the backdrop of a lit-up White House, he said it was “with faith and devotion” that “I proudly accept your nomination for president of the United States”.
The incendiary language and angry rhetoric were missing. Trump the conciliator was speaking not to the party faithful standing before him, but those watching at home.
And he wanted them to know he was “running to be president for all of America, not half of America”.
It was “with great humility”, he said, that he was asking for the backing of voters, “whether you have supported me in the past or not”.
Trump’s return to the White House hinges on the backing of not just the disenchanted Rust Belt voters who powered his 2016 bid, but winning back the suburban Republican and independent voters who rejected his divisive presidency in 2020.
It was to them he made his promise that, man or woman, black or white: “I extend to you a hand of loyalty and of friendship”.