Former President Donald Trump says he has rewritten the speech he will give to the Republican National Convention so that it strikes unifying themes after the assassination attempt on him over the weekend.

Mr. Trump said he had a “really good, really tough” speech planned for Thursday night in Milwaukee, but it didn’t set the right tone after a gunman grazed his ear with a bullet and killed one of his supporters Saturday in Butler County, Pennsylvania.

“I think it would be very bad if I got up and started going wild about how horrible everybody is, and how corrupt and crooked, even if it’s true. Had this not happened, we had a speech that was pretty well set that was extremely tough. Now, we have a speech that is more unifying,” he said in an interview with the Washington Examiner.

Mr. Trump also marveled at how close the bullet came to inflicting real damage while he was speaking in front of the Pennsylvania crowd.

The former president was looking up at a large screen when the shots rang out.

“Because the sign was high, I’m looking up. The chances of my making a perfect turn are probably one-tenth of one percent, so I’m not supposed to be here,” he said.

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Washington is doing some soul-searching after the assassination attempt.

In a prime-time address, President Biden urged the nation to “cool it down” and resolve its differences at the ballot box.

Mr. Trump said his speech isn’t fully drafted but he felt the need to pivot away from his focus on opponents.

“It has an impact,” he said of the assassination attempt. “Now, maybe the impact will wear off if the other side gets nasty.”

The campaign will likely settle back into finger-pointing and criticism as November nears. For now, there is a pause to unpack what just happened.

 “I mean, I’m supposed to be dead. I’m not supposed to be here,” Mr. Trump said. “It did have a lot of impact.”

• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.