Trump Returns With a Different Look. Does That Mean a Different Tone?

Donald J. Trump, a former reality-TV star, has always been conscious of his set dressing as a presidential candidate. At the 2016 Republican National Convention, he made a pro-wrestling-style walk-on in front of blinding lights. In 2020, he used the White House itself as the backdrop for his acceptance speech.

But on the first night of the 2024 convention, Mr. Trump — in a way that he could not have anticipated before Saturday — was his own biggest prop.

Just as the major networks’ prime-time coverage began, Mr. Trump entered the V.I.P. box in Milwaukee with a large white bandage on his injured right ear, the result of a close call on Saturday with a would-be assassin’s bullet at a rally in Pennsylvania. A reminder of mortality, a badge of survival — it was a blank rectangle on which the crowd could read what it wished, and that made it the most potent placard in the hall.

Mr. Trump’s rallies and appearances have always been about firing up big feelings: rage, fear, grievance, defiance. This, as Mr. Trump walked out to the sounds of Lee Greenwood performing “God Bless the U.S.A.,” was something a little different.

The mood of the moment was emotional and warm. Much of the night felt like a merger of political rally and gospel service, full of exhortations for divine protection, not simply for the country but also for the party’s returning leader.

And Mr. Trump, who has said in interviews that he does not cry, looked as close to misty as I can remember in decades of seeing him onscreen.