Trump's message isn't one of unity, whatever he might say

It is hard to decide which is the best moniker to apply to him after this strange but magnificent political week for Donald Trump - is he the martyr of Milwaukee, or the messiah of Milwaukee? In the eyes of the faithful - and given the quasi-religious devotion he is now attracting - it is both.

- JON SOPEL

With his neat, square bandage over his right ear, it was a less bombastic and bellicose Trump who accepted his party's nomination this week. The great pugilist on Thursday night came, not in search of a fight, but with a plea for unity. How long this new incarnation of the former president will last is anyone's guess. But let no one doubt its effectiveness right now, in this strange political moment.

The political unity he is offering is very much on his terms: you can have political unity and America will come together, but only if you stop persecuting me - only if you stop the prosecutions. It will only happen once you realise that I am the true champion of democracy, not its destroyer. In other words, can we all forget about 6 January, please?

There's a real irony in Trump, of all people, calling for unity. The same Trump who gave us the so-called "Muslim ban"; the Trump whose supporters stormed Capitol Hill; the Trump whose new running mate responded to Labour's election victory by referring to the UK as an "Islamist country". The scene at the convention was of a "united" front, but it felt like the "nastiness" in politics was ready to make a triumphant return to the surface.