MILWAUKEE — The "new" Donald Trump soothed and silenced the nation for 28 minutes last night. Then the old Trump returned and bellowed, barked and bored America for 64 minutes more, Axios' Zachary Basu writes from the convention floor.

• Why it matters: Despondent Democrats were reminded why they'd long believed, before President Biden melted down in last month's debate, that Trump is a flawed candidate — and eminently beatable.

🎤 A bandaged, somber, subdued Trump opened his nomination speech by recounting his near-death experience from last weekend's shooting in vivid detail, promising it would be the first and only time he'd do so "because it's too painful to tell."

• Inside the Fiserv Forum, the ebullient mood gave way to rapt silence. "I'm not supposed to be here tonight," Trump mused aloud as he described the feeling of a would-be assassin's bullet clipping his ear.

"I stand before you in this arena only by the grace of Almighty God," he said, echoing a long list of GOP convention speakers who had cited divine intervention for Trump's survival.

• Trump went on to pay tribute to his late supporter Corey Comperatore, the retired firefighter remembered as a hero for diving on his family members to shield them from the bullets.

As delegates and attendees wiped away tears, Trump pivoted to a message of proposed unity — vowing to be a president "for all of America."

• It was a marked departure from dark rally speeches in which Trump has warned of an "enemy from within" and "vermin" living on U.S. soil who pose more of a threat than foreign adversaries.
• "We must not criminalize dissent or demonize political disagreements, which is what's been happening in our country lately at a level that nobody has ever seen before," Trump said.

Zoom out: From there, Trump fell into a familiar stump speech — veering off Teleprompter as he railed against a migrant "invasion," accused Democrats of "cheating" in the 2020 election and praised foreign autocrats.

• Story continues below.

At 92 minutes, it was by far the longest televised presidential acceptance speech in U.S. history, packed with the false claims, vicious rhetoric and personal grievances that have defined Trump's political career.

• It was a standard Trump rally performance — but one that most politically unengaged Americans probably aren't used to seeing.

🖼️ The big picture: All week, speakers at the GOP convention had sought to humanize Trump, who seemed to enjoy an aura of invincibility — and inevitability — as Democrats plotted to replace their own nominee.

• In his prepared remarks, Trump didn't name Biden at all. In the hall, he slipped up once as he declared that "the 10 worst presidents" combined have not done as much damage as Biden.
• It was a revealing moment that captured two sides of Trump: the newly disciplined "unifier" whose life was altered by an assassination attempt, and the MAGA agitator who can't help but return to his abrasive instincts.

The bottom line: A week of party unity and energy has Republicans riding high as they depart Milwaukee.

• But Trump's speech, while showing stamina, also may have given Democrats a shot in the arm as they try to move on from their own internal chaos — with or without Biden.

Share this story.

President Biden — recovering from COVID in Rehoboth Beach, Del. — is being slammed by a barrage of leaks and public pronouncements calling for him to step aside.

• Why it matters: A drip, drip of new information indicates the three-week-old Democratic panic unleashed by Biden's dismal debate performance could be reaching a breaking point.

Over the past 48 hours, news leaked that:

• House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi conveyed to Biden that his campaign is putting the party in political peril.
• Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer urged Biden to consider ending his campaign.
• Former President Obama told allies that Biden "needs to seriously consider the viability of his candidacy," The Washington Post reports.
• Unspecified members of Biden's own Cabinet have discussed among themselves whether he should end his campaign, according to Bloomberg.
• Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) wrote to the president earlier this month not-so-subtly suggesting that he consider dropping his re-election bid.

🔭 Zoom out: On the record, Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), one of the most vulnerable frontline Democrats in November, said yesterday that Biden should drop out.

• Rep. Adam Schiff, a close Pelosi ally, became the most high-profile elected Democrat to call on the president to exit the race.

Go deeper: Top Dems now believe Biden will exit (Mike and Jim's column from yesterday's AM Thought Bubble).

MILWAUKEE — Nearly 100 conservative influencers swamped the Republican convention, creating content aimed at engaging conservatives who typically don't pay much attention to politics, Axios' Sophia Cai writes.

• Why it matters: The GOP sees a slate of new, popular conservative influencers, and a flood of viral pro-Trump content on social media, as a promising way to reach hesitant or untrusting voters.

Republicans are adopting two political tools more associated with Democrats: social media influencers and get-out-the-vote organizations.

• The RNC influencer program, overseen by the convention's digital team, has about 75 participants.
• Each creator has about 30 minutes a day to go to the floor and make content such as reels or interviews.

Another 20 influencers who partner with Vote4America — a voter registration group that tries to reach gun owners, farmers, homeschoolers and veterans — have also been in town this week.

• Share this story.

China's government-led push to outpace the U.S. in generative AI is hitting speed bumps created by the Chinese government's need to control political speech, Axios managing editor for tech Scott Rosenberg writes.

• Why it matters: Even as the U.S. tries to restrict China's access to high-end chips and hardware sold by its allies, the demands of China's authoritarian system could help tip the global AI race America's way.

Several stories in the Western press this week detailed the drag on China's AI progress created by the country's chief regulator, the Cyberspace Administration of China.

• The Financial Times reported Wednesday that the internet regulator is requiring elaborate reviews of the AI models developed by China's tech giants and startups.
• The regulator "requires companies to prepare between 20,000 and 70,000 questions designed to test whether the models produce safe answers," The Wall Street Journal reports.

Case in point: China's chatbots — like its search engines and social media spaces — can't talk about the Tiananmen Square uprising of 1989 or question the legitimacy or policies of President Xi Jinping.

• The bots are designed to refuse to answer politically controversial queries. If users ask too many such questions in a row, the systems must end the conversation.

🔬Between the lines: China's AI firms arrived late to the generative AI game to begin with — and having to toe the government's political line is making it harder for them to catch up.

• No matter how much effort they put into sanitizing their bots' output, the random and unpredictable nature of generative AI means the government can never be 100% certain they won't stray into sedition.

Keep reading ... Get Axios AI+.

OpenAI is releasing a cheaper and faster version of GPT-4o, its most up-to-date model.

• Why it matters: Compact models such as the GPT-4o Mini let the startup appeal to a larger customer base and give developers more options for different types of tasks.

Between the lines: Box CEO Aaron Levie suggested that may be cheap enough for his company to offer unlimited access to Box's AI features to paying customers, Axios' Ina Fried notes.

• Go deeper.

Passengers in the back of a taxi film themselves in front of the Eiffel Tower decorated for the Olympics, which begin next Friday in Paris.

• Go deeper: 12 Team USA athletes to know.

Orange sherbet and rocky road ice cream are each the most uniquely popular flavors in 11 states, Axios' Jacque Schrag writes from Instacart data.

• Uniquely popular means the flavor that had the highest percentage point difference above the national average.

Classic flavors — vanilla, chocolate, and cookies and cream — are the most popular nationwide.

• Share this story.