Trump Fans Try Playing Nice, but ‘Fight, Fight’ Comes More Easily

It was an unnatural spectacle, like watching a dog walk on its hind legs: a convention hall full of feisty Republicans suddenly talking about playing nice with Democrats.

The message came directly from the top. After surviving an assassination attempt, Donald J. Trump said he had rewritten the speech he plans to give in Milwaukee on Thursday, apparently toning it down. “UNITE AMERICA!” he instructed on Truth Social.

When his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, spoke on Tuesday night, she started off by saying: “I actually had a very different speech that I was prepared to give up here tonight. That all changed at 6:11 on Saturday evening.”

Her husband, Eric Trump, said on CNN that “I think politics needs to be done with a lot more respect, and a lot more love.”

So much for retribution.

Mr. Trump’s party scrambled to pivot to kumbaya, but this was not a posture that came easily to them. And the set design was all wrong. The halls of the convention center were covered with quotations from Mr. Trump (“THEY’RE NOT AFTER ME, THEY’RE AFTER YOU … I’M JUST STANDING IN THE WAY.”) and pictures of his scowling face.

“Of course, a lot of this stuff and signs you see were planned before the weekend,” explained Senator Tommy Tuberville, Republican of Alabama, as he stepped into an elevator headed for the ground floor of the convention hall on Monday afternoon. “Anyway, I talked to the president this morning, about 7 o’clock, and he was really upbeat, he talked about the bullet grazing the top of his ear.”