My proposed speech for President Trump’s nomination acceptance this week:

Good evening, and thank you for that amazing welcome. In light of the events last Saturday I am very glad to be here with my wife, Melania, and my family. I am saddened that a great man, Republican, and supporter –Corey Caperatore– is not. My heartfelt condolences go out to his family. I am also mindful of two other supporters who were wounded but fortunately were not killed — David Dutch and James Copenhaver. It saddens and angers me that wonderful men and women all across this country who have supported our great movement have been publicly vilified and in some cases imprisoned and killed. It is a sign that as in all ages there is good and evil, there is right and there is wrong. These are contending forces that shape the history of mankind. That everyone is capable of good and evil, that no one has a monopoly on good, is the beginning of humility and our journey to God.

Winston Churchill once described a political opponent as a “man of great humility, with much to be humble about.” I do not want to be that man. I strive to be a proud man with much to be proud about. And I encourage all of you to build, to work, and achieve — so that you can be correctly proud of what you have accomplished. But being proud, and being prideful, are not the same things. The prideful claim achievements that they have not made, seek credit where others have achieved. That is not who we are. We build, we make, we serve, we create. And our only ask of government is to do those things set out in our wonderful Constitution to secure our liberty and protect our nation from enemies abroad.

It’s actually pretty simple: We produce and provide for our family and others, and government maintains an environment in which we are free to do so. We do not ask government to be smarter than us, bigger than us, better planners than us, better builders than us. We have done it, we can do it again, but government cannot be allowed to control us and dictate what we can say and do. We do not consent to that, and we demand government do that to which we consent.

In November we will cast votes to decide who will lead government in 2025 and the next four years. It is a critical choice because we have been through many years, even decades, of misuse of government. Even the period in which I was President was only a brief and incomplete reprieve. I do not need to recount here all the ways in which those with a different view of government put up obstacles to reform. And they will do so again if they are put out of power. With that bitter experience, we know better what must be done to restore America, and our resolve must be redoubled to do so. This will not be an easy task and there will be setbacks. But I have faith in the determined will of the American people to have a government that serves them and does not dictate to and control them — that delivers true justice from its courts and faithful adherence to the Constitution from its officers. That is our goal.

I wanted to be clear on our goal for the very simple reason that there is no guarantee that I will be your leader in 2025. God chose to spare me last Saturday but the spirit that was guiding that young man that day has not been vanquished. I am in God’s hands and it is for Him to choose whether I will live or I will die. And we are all in God’s hands as the terrible events in our nation and our world will continue as they have. This understanding is as sobering as it is unsettling. But it is the human condition, and we are called upon to struggle and to achieve with all the individual gifts provided by Providence.

Our great Declaration of Independence says —

We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness—-That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed…

We have those gifts — our unalienable rights — and we have that responsibility and right to determine the form of government to which we consent and into whose hands it is entrusted. I am not chosen by God, I am chosen by you, at this moment, to lead this great movement to restore America. I am proud to do so, and proud of the trust you have given me. But we are all in God’s hands now — to work, as we must, to pray, as we will. And to link arms with our fellow citizens to make our common future, using God’s gifts.

Tonight I call upon you not to demonize our political opposition. But we must call out the demons that hold sway over too many: the demons that deny liberty, the demons that deny individual autonomy, the demons that confuse our language and our children, the demons that sacrifice our children to ideology, the demons that promote conflict amongst and between people and nations. Again, our political opposition are not those demons. We need to call people to reject the influence of those demons over their words and deeds.

The Spirit of America needs to be restored. The people need to have a government that recognizes God’s gifts to us all and operates solely with their consent. In that spirit, I am honored to accept the nomination of the Republican Party for the office of President of the United States of America. We need to Make America Great Again. We will Make America Great Again. God bless you, and God Bless America.