Washington: A rather subdued Donald Trump, right ear covered by a bandage after being nicked by an assassin’s bullet, was formally nominated party candidate along with his running mate JD Vance at the Republican Convention in Milwaukee on Monday in an election he is seen to have all but won.
Chants of “Fight! Fight! Fight!” erupted in the convention hall as Trump walked in to a hero’s welcome to a party gala that even in normal times is a celebration of the nominee.He sat quietly through an hour of adulatory speeches by delegates now even more in thrall of him after he survived an assassination attempt, flanked by his vice-presidential pick J.D.Vance and right wing commentator Tucker Carlson, among others. His wife Melania and daughter Ivanka were not seen at the event.
Trump made no remarks but is expected to speak on the final day of the convention as the party closed ranks behind him and his choice of Vance as a running mate. The veep pick of a man half his age (Vance is 39, Trump 78) is seen as a nod to his MAGA constituency centered in Middle America where Vance is rooted, and to his own legacy and succession issues that have come to the fore after he survived the assassination attempt.
Trump, looking somber after evading death by an eighth of an inch by his own account, was clearly moved by the reception, leading his acolyte KellyAnne Conway to note on Fox News that “I saw a man who knows he got a second lease on life.” He displayed none of the showmanship, histrionics, and grandstanding typical of his rallies, even as party operatives deployed minorities — including Latino and African-American speakers — to expand the outreach of a party seen mainly as giving voice to the anxieties of white rural America.
The diversification included enlisting a labor union (typically a Democratic constituency) leader Sean O’Brien, who referred to Trump surviving the assassination and called him “one tough SOB,” an epithet that seemed to please Trump and his flock rather than offend them.
The Republican Party won only about ten per cent of the Black vote in the 2020, but polls indicate they are in track to double it in 2024, which explains four of the five black GOP lawmakers making it to the speaker’s podium. Votes from the labor and union constituency, for long in the Democratic corner, are also looking good for the MAGA-driven Republican Party on account of the protectionist rhetoric on jobs and trade.
God was a recurring reference at a gathering where he is invoked often even in normal times as several speakers attributed Trump surviving the assassination attempt to divine protection, an explanation proffered by Trump himself. “I don’t see this as luck…I see this as God’s protection,” Rev. Nathaniel Thomas, a pastor and delegate from Washington, told the gathering. Others echoed the theme, some elevating Trump himself to a godly status.
Chants of “Fight! Fight! Fight!” erupted in the convention hall as Trump walked in to a hero’s welcome to a party gala that even in normal times is a celebration of the nominee.He sat quietly through an hour of adulatory speeches by delegates now even more in thrall of him after he survived an assassination attempt, flanked by his vice-presidential pick J.D.Vance and right wing commentator Tucker Carlson, among others. His wife Melania and daughter Ivanka were not seen at the event.
Trump made no remarks but is expected to speak on the final day of the convention as the party closed ranks behind him and his choice of Vance as a running mate. The veep pick of a man half his age (Vance is 39, Trump 78) is seen as a nod to his MAGA constituency centered in Middle America where Vance is rooted, and to his own legacy and succession issues that have come to the fore after he survived the assassination attempt.
Trump, looking somber after evading death by an eighth of an inch by his own account, was clearly moved by the reception, leading his acolyte KellyAnne Conway to note on Fox News that “I saw a man who knows he got a second lease on life.” He displayed none of the showmanship, histrionics, and grandstanding typical of his rallies, even as party operatives deployed minorities — including Latino and African-American speakers — to expand the outreach of a party seen mainly as giving voice to the anxieties of white rural America.
The diversification included enlisting a labor union (typically a Democratic constituency) leader Sean O’Brien, who referred to Trump surviving the assassination and called him “one tough SOB,” an epithet that seemed to please Trump and his flock rather than offend them.
The Republican Party won only about ten per cent of the Black vote in the 2020, but polls indicate they are in track to double it in 2024, which explains four of the five black GOP lawmakers making it to the speaker’s podium. Votes from the labor and union constituency, for long in the Democratic corner, are also looking good for the MAGA-driven Republican Party on account of the protectionist rhetoric on jobs and trade.
God was a recurring reference at a gathering where he is invoked often even in normal times as several speakers attributed Trump surviving the assassination attempt to divine protection, an explanation proffered by Trump himself. “I don’t see this as luck…I see this as God’s protection,” Rev. Nathaniel Thomas, a pastor and delegate from Washington, told the gathering. Others echoed the theme, some elevating Trump himself to a godly status.