Donald Trump made a dramatic return to the public eye on Monday, appearing at the Republican National Convention for the first time since surviving an assassination attempt and announcing 39-year-old Senator JD Vance as his running mate. The former president, now the official Republican nominee for the 2024 U.S. presidential election, entered Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum to thunderous applause, his right ear visibly bandaged.
As Trump walked onto the convention floor, chants of “We Want Trump” and “USA, USA” erupted from the crowd. The optics were carefully orchestrated, with Trump placards plastered across the hall and a massive “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) banner prominently displayed.
Supporters cheered him on as Trump greeted them and headed towards a section of the hall where his new vice presidential pick, JD Vance, House speaker Mike Johnson and Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr, Vance’s most ardent advocate in what is now the Republican first family, were waiting for him.
The crowd, both on the floor and in the stands, stood to attention, phones aloft to capture the moment. A new slogan, “Fight, Fight, Fight” — echoing Trump’s reported words after the shooting incident — reverberated through the arena. The official Republican nominee for the president of the United States of America, Donald J Trump, clearly had the entire Republican Party behind him.
A few hours earlier, on Monday, the Republican National Convention nominated Trump as their official nominee for president, after each state had pledged their nominees to Trump. Johnson, the permanent chair of the convention in his capacity as the speaker of the House, had officially declared Trump as the candidate.
Earlier in the day, Trump had announced Vance as his choice via a post on Truth Social, his preferred social media platform. Vance, a former critic turned staunch supporter of Trump, rocketed to fame with his memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” which chronicled the struggles of America’s white working class — a key component of Trump’s base.
If elected, Vance would become the third-youngest vice president in American history, potentially positioning him as the heir apparent to the MAGA movement. His selection adds a youthful dynamic to a race where the age of 81-year-old incumbent President Joe Biden has been a point of contention.
The convention marks a new chapter in Trump’s tumultuous political career, which began with his 2015 campaign announcement at Trump Tower in New York. His surprise victory in 2016 ushered in a period of radical change in American governance, from trade and economic policies to foreign relations and the composition of the Supreme Court.
And on Monday, it entered its next chapter. Despite losing the 2020 election and facing multiple legal challenges — including four criminal indictments — Trump has managed to maintain and even strengthen his grip on the Republican Party.
His campaign has skilfully spun these legal troubles into a narrative of victimhood. Indeed, he built his campaign around the theme of victimhood, and at the convention, one of the most striking images outside the venue was of Trump merchandise. T-shirts with Trump’s image were plastered with slogans such as “I am voting for the convicted felon”; another T-shirt said “Never Surrender” with Trump’s mugshot.
And then, in the past four weeks, the political landscape altered. Trump’s rival, President Joe Biden, performed disastrously in the first debate, sparking an internal backlash within the Democratic Party calling for his exit. And on Saturday, Trump survived an assassination bid in Pennsylvania’s Butler county as a bullet grazed his ear.
Republican delegates at the convention expressed unwavering support for Trump, citing his outsider status, economic policies, and perceived strength as key factors in their admiration.
Explaining what drew her to Trump, Sheryl Foland, a Republican delegate from Wyoming who is a mental health therapist and substance abuse treatment specialist, told HT: “He is outside the mainstream. His policies helped me. It gave me tax breaks and made filings easier. Under him, gas prices were low and this was easier for my clients, many of whom have to drive 100 miles to just come and see me.” She lauded his energy policies – Trump has declared he will “drill, baby, drill” — and claimed it gave her state revenues, dismissing environmental concerns.
Kip Christianson, a 33-year-old Republican delegate from Minesota, said that his generation had been crushed by rising costs and Trump needed another chance to “finish his work”. Matt, who preferred not to give his last name, a Republican from Alabama, liked Trump’s embrace of crypto and opposed regulations in the new sector.
Two elderly Republican women from California, who did not want to be named, said they liked Trump because he did what he said he would, with one of them saying, with obvious admiration, “I look at him and feel like he is a man, he exudes power. I look at him and feel he is in charge.”
This cultish following has got reinforced after the shooting on Saturday, with speaker after speaker attributing Trump’s decision to turn his head at the last second before the shot to God’s blessing.
A Christian prayer for Trump was followed by a Sikh prayer, with Harmeet Dhillon, a prominent Californian Republican, covering her head and offering the prayer. She called Trump nirbhaya, fearless, and thanked Waheguru for protecting the Republican nominee.
HT asked Reince Preibeius – a Wisconsin local, the Republican committee chairman in 2016 who helped catapult Trump to power, Trump’s first chief of staff who lasted only six months and now the chair of the host committee for the convention — what would be different this time if Trump got elected. He responded, “More efficient, less clumsy, more precise.”
And it is that sense of a victory in the making, and of a different and even more radical Trump administration, that scares his critics and opponents, but also explains the passionate support and enthusiasm of his admirers on the convention floor in Milwaukee.
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