Milwaukee, 19 July 2024 (dpa/MIA) - Donald Trump has vowed to run "to be president for all of America" as he took to the stage at the Republican National Convention on Thursday, in what was his first public speech following the failed attempt on his life.

"I stand before you this evening with a message of confidence, strength, and hope," Trump told an ecstatic crowd in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

"Four months from now, we will have an incredible victory, and we will begin the four greatest years in the history of our country."

"Together, we will launch a new era of safety, prosperity and freedom for citizens of every race, religion, colour and creed," Trump said.

"I am running to be president for all of America, not half of America, because there is no victory in winning for half of America."

Trump, 78, formally accepted his party's nomination as the presidential candidate for the November 5 elections, where he is set to face off against incumbent Joe Biden.

He is set to run together with vice presidential candidate JD Vance, a senator from Ohio who is some 40 years younger than Trump, a rising star within the Republican Party and a former fierce critic who has since wholeheartedly embraced Trump.

Trump's official nomination as the Republican presidential candidate came just two days after the failed attempt on his life.

At a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, a shooter was able to climb to an elevated position with an assault rifle and fire a number of shots at Trump, wounding him in the ear while one spectator was killed.

Trump, left bleeding, struck a defiant tone as he pumped his fist while being whisked off the stage.

In his much-anticipated address on Thursday, Trump devoted large parts of the speech to retelling Saturday's events from his perspective.

"It was a warm, beautiful day in the early evening in Butler township in the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania," he began.

"I heard a loud whizzing sound and felt something hit me really, really hard on my right ear," Trump said, adding he immediately realized he had been grazed by a bullet.

"I'm not supposed to be here tonight," Trump said. "I stand before you in this arena only by the grace of Almighty God."

He also asked the audience to observe a moment of silence in memory of the volunteer firefighter who was killed in the attack on July 13.

The shooting upended what had already been a tumultuous campaign season, dominated by Trump's criminal trials and concerns about the candidates' age.

Biden, 81, has come under immense pressure to withdraw from the race after a disastrous debate performance in June super-charged existing fears about his mental acuity.

He is currently isolated at his private residence in Delaware after testing positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday.

Photo: EPA