MILWAUKEE — There are many things you can buy at events like the Republican National Convention that feature the very recognizable aesthetic of Donald Trump. For example, gold sneakers or a T-shirt featuring Trump’s face transposed onto a jacked, tattooed body with letters spelling out “The Don” arching over its midsection.

But some of the most outlandish images to make their way onto the apparel and accessories here are actual products of the almost unbelievable reality of Trump’s last year. His mugshot. His criminal trial and conviction. And now, his bloodied cheek and pumped fist following his attempted assassination over the weekend.

In less than a week, that image has become a staple of the RNC’s kitschy merch scene. On Wednesday, Jennifer Bacchione, a delegate from Ocean County, New Jersey, purchased a black XL T-shirt featuring the bloody, defiant Trump for her nephew. Bacchione believes Trump’s near-killing will make him fight even harder for the country, and she’s not letting up either. “Donald Trump wants to fight to keep America free and keep America the way we want it to be,” she told HuffPost. “Not fight against Democrats, not fight against other people. No violence, just fight for our country.”

What it means to “fight” after the party’s standard-bearer was nearly killed is the theme propelling this year’s GOP convention, and Trump’s clenched fist is the image that most defines this gathering of thousands of grassroots party loyalists from across the country. RNC attendees, mimicking Trump’s mouthed plea moments after a bullet grazed the top of his right ear, have chanted, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” multiple times a night at Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum. “As President Trump raised his fist and gave a rally cry on Saturday, now is our time to fight, and we will,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told the audience Tuesday, framing the existential stakes dozens of speakers have laid out for the election.

Trump will address the nation from here on prime time Thursday, following speeches from Dana White, the CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and Hulk Hogan, the former wrestler who staged one of his biggest fights outside the ring when he sued the website Gawker into oblivion with the help of billionaire tech investor and Trump donor Peter Thiel.

Democrats argue that combative messaging undermines Trump and the GOP’s own pleas for unity in the wake of the attack. “Nothing says uniting like leading ‘fight’ chants from the main stage,” said Quentin Fulks, President Joe Biden’s deputy campaign manager, at a Milwaukee presser this week.

Trump has urged his followers to fight for him throughout his political career — and at times his provocations have turned dangerous. On Jan. 6, 2021, Trump told a large, angry crowd to “fight like hell” when he lost the 2020 election, and then a violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol. When he infamously told the Proud Boys, a right-wing group already prone to violence, to “stand back and stand by” during one of the 2020 presidential debates, members apparently took it seriously. As several leaders of the Proud Boys stood trial last year for seditious conspiracy, the presiding federal judge allowed prosecutors to play those words from Trump because, the judge said, they showed “an additional motive to advocate for Mr. Trump (and) engage in the charged conspiracy.”

There’s no evidence Trump’s post-shooting fight call has or will lead to violence. Trump supporters like to say they take Trump seriously and not literally, and many of the people interviewed at the convention about Trump’s combative tone say they do not believe he incited the events of Jan. 6, nor is he urging them to do anything like that now, during another fraught time for the nation. Any insinuation otherwise is Democratic propaganda, said Alberto Herrera, a delegate from McAllen, Texas, who traveled to the convention with a gray-black service doodle wearing bedazzled jewelry around its legs. “There’s a saying: if you stop lying about Trump, then he’ll stop telling the truth about y’all,” Herrera said. “[Trump] didn’t just say what it means to be strong. He showed what it means to be strong.”

For delegates, that appears to be the overarching takeaway of this historic convention that’s handing Trump the presidential nomination for the third time. If Trump was a hero before, he’s a martyr now, almost dying for the cause — and for them.

Nearly two dozen Republicans interviewed here say they were angry, disgusted or deeply saddened by Trump’s attempted murder. One woman told me she cried. They also blamed Biden and Democrats for using rhetoric inciting the attack, even though a motive for the shooting by a 20-year-old who had registered as a Republican — but also donated a small sum to a liberal cause as a teen — has not been revealed.

“They preach unity and tolerance, and yet Biden goes out and says we must get Trump in the crosshairs,” said Stacey Goodman, a GOP delegate from Arizona who wore a bandage over her right ear to show solidarity with Trump. Goodman was referencing Biden’s comments days before the shooting about putting a “bull’s-eye” on Trump that some Republicans read as inciting. “That’s not unity. That’s not solidarity,” she said.

But mostly the mood in Milwaukee over the past four days has been jubilant, and delegates have found Trump’s response in the aftermath of a near-tragedy to be uplifting. They are happy warriors in Trump’s fight, listening to the house band every night and schmoozing with GOP celebrities like Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.).

“I think that was an incredible sign of strength and bravery. I don’t know if he thought about it or it was just automatic for him,” Tonja Walker, a convention attendee from California, said of Trump’s actions at the Butler, Pennsylvania, rally. “You can’t fake it if someone’s just shot you in the head.”