Journalist Tucker Carlson opened his speech at the Republican National Convention on Thursday with laughs and cheers from the crowd.

"I feel like I know about half of the people in the room," the former Fox News host said. "This is wild."

Carlson has advocated for former President Donald Trump in the past, and many have called him the "highest-profile proponent of Trumpism." Even still, Carlson was registered as a Democrat prior to 2020.

He talked about the strength the Republican presidential nominee has exhibited since the attempted assassination at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Minutes into Donald Trump's speech at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, loud popping noises were heard as people huddled for safety. Trump appeared to clutch his ear and fell to the ground. When he stood back up, surrounded by Secret Service agents, as blood was seen running down his face.

"Everything was different after that moment. This convention is different. The world is different. Donald Trump is different," Carlson said. "When he stood up after being shot in the face, bloodied, and put his hand up, I thought at that moment, that was a transformation."

The shooting is officially being investigated as an attempted assassination. A poster with imagery of the shooter, Thomas Crooks, was seen outside of the RNC in Milwaukee on Wednesday.

Carlson said a leader can't "be named." A person has to prove it, like how Trump did in the moment he stood up after being shot. The two spoke after the shooting. Trump humbly did not speak about himself on their call, Carlson said.

"Something bigger is going on here," Carlson said. "I'm starting to think it's going to be ok."

Rather than calling for anger and division, Carlson noted Trump has called for unity throughout the nation since the shooting.

"A leader is the bravest man," Carlson said. "A leader's courage gives courage to his people... He did his best to bring the country together."

Carlson hosted the nightly political talk show "Tucker Carlson Tonight" on Fox News from 2016 to 2023. He was dismissed by Fox Corporation's Rupert Murdoch. The two almost had an awkward close encounter with his former employer at a hotel near the Republican National Convention on Wednesday.

Carlson's firing came around as Fox News settled a nearly $800 million lawsuit, which accused the network of airing false claims following the 2020 presidential election. Several of Carlson's text messages were pivotal to the case. Just hours after the Jan. 6 insurrection, Carlson messaged his producers a video of Trump supporters beating a protester saying that was "not how white men fight."

Since leaving Fox, Carlson has hosted "Tucker" on X, formerly known as Twitter. He's known for circulating far-right ideas and has promoted conspiracy theories on topics like COVID-19 pandemic and the Jan. 6 Capitol attacks.

Thursday evening's speech was not Carlson's first address at the RNC this week. He spoke with an audience of several hundred attendees at The Heritage Foundation's daylong policy festival on the opening day, July 15.

In a 20-minute address, Carlson criticized politics on both sides of the aisle. He also praised Trump's choice of Ohio Sen. JD Vance as his vice-presidential nominee, describing Vance Thursday night as "one of the only members in Washington that's close to his wife."

Carlson called out "all of the bad people" for opposing the pick.

Carlson also spoke on Monday to the "forces of chaos and destruction, which are fundamentally anti-human, which are against people." This includes the Biden administration, advocates of artificial intelligence and supporters of transhumanism.

During his speech Thursday night, Carlson said the job of a president is instead "duty to his citizens." He mentioned when "Antifa came to my house," Trump told Carlson's wife he personally would stand duty and protect them.

"He seems to be the only one who thinks that way," Carlson said. "That's called democracy."

Follow Newsweek's live coverage of the RNC Day 4 here.

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