It’s like we were hearing Trump’s greatest hits, from 2020 election denialism to referring to COVID-19 as “the China virus.” There were some words of unity sprinkled in the mix, however.
But before Trump there was a slate of other notable speakers and performers, including right-wing media personality Tucker Carlson, musician Kid Rock, wrestler Hulk Hogan and Dana White, the president and CEO of the UFC. Their inclusion made for an unconventional Republican National Convention if you ask Matthew Wilson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University. And that was by design, he said.
“This is not your father’s Republican Party,” Wilson said.
At least Carlson was having fun. “I have never been to a more fun convention, or a convention with better vibes,” he told the crowd. They grew silent as he spoke about the attempt on Trump’s life just days before. Carlson said it turned Trump into a different person, into the leader of this nation.
We didn’t get those vibes when Trump took the stage.
Carlson, too, hinted that the 2020 election was stolen. “It is a fact that you could take, I don’t know, a mannequin, a dead person and make him president,” Carlson said. “I’m just saying, it’s theoretically possible. With enough cheating, that could happen.”
Then, there was Hulk Hogan. He said he’s tried to stay out of politics, but after the last few years and the Trump assassination attempt he had to step into the ring. “I can no longer stay silent,” Hogan said. “I’m here tonight because I want the world to know that Donald Trump is a real American hero and I’m proud to support my hero as the next president of the United States.”“This is not your father’s Republican Party.” – Matthew Wilson, SMU
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Hogan was wearing a blue blazer with a T-shirt underneath depicting him in front of the American flag. At one point, Hogan took off his blazer, ripped his T-shirt off, tearing the American flag in half, to reveal a red Trump-Vance tank top. We’ll let you sort out the symbolism there, intentional or not. “Let Trumpmania run wild,” he yelled. “Let Trumpmania rule again!” And the crowd went wild with chants of “USA!”
The UFC’s Dana White introduced Trump before he came out on stage, drenching the former president in compliments. He said Trump interrupted a family getaway to get him to speak at the convention, but he didn’t mind. White said Trump felt bad about being taken away from his family. “That’s the President Trump that I know, a man who truly cares about people,” White said.
On and off, Trump attempted to play the part of unifier, especially in the moments he stuck to reading from the teleprompters in front of him. But, throughout his speech, he went off the cuff to spew much of the same rhetoric we've heard for the last few years. At times, his speech bordered on rambling, but it was still enough to rile up his base.
“We rise together or we fall apart,” he said. “I am running to be president for all of America, not half of America because there is no victory in winning for half of America.”
He said the left needs to stop weaponizing the justice system and labeling their political opponents as enemies of democracy. This is coming from a guy who said he would take his first day in office to further close the border and continue oil drilling in the U.S.
We’ll have to admit, he had a strong finish. “We will restore the Republic and we will usher in the rich and wonderful tomorrows that our people truly deserve,” he said. “America's future will be bigger, better, bolder, brighter, happier, stronger, freer, greater and more united than ever before.”
The whole convention teetered between unity and divisiveness.
“You had certain speakers who definitely did feed partisan talking points to the base,” Wilson said. “Then, you had others who tried to pivot more to the center, speak in more unifying terms. Then you had Trump himself, who kind of did both, who started off one way and then kind of meandered back and forth between more conciliatory and more incendiary.”
The beginning of Trump’s speech was good, Wilson said. Which is good for Trump because most people likely didn’t stay up to catch all of what he had to say.
“This, at times, became just kind of a disjointed laundry list of Trumpian talking points,” Wilson said. “That part was fine for the people in the arena. I don’t think it especially engaged most viewers at home.”
But one of the most important parts of Trump’s speech was when he spoke about the attempt on his life, which Wilson said he handled quite well.
“But all his instincts are those of a political brawler and his instincts are to be snarky and somewhat self-aggrandizing, and when he riffs, that’s where he goes,” Wilson explained. “Whereas when he stuck to the script, I think it was quite effective. And so, it really was kind of a tale of two speeches in that regard.”
Say what you want about the Republicans, they left that convention with confidence. But if you ask Wilson, they’re getting out over their skis a bit. “I think a lot of people in there are looking at a Republican victory in the fall as a fait accompli and I think that’s going too far,” Wilson said. “There still remains a large portion of this country with serious doubts about Donald Trump and that’s going to make any Democratic nominee competitive.
“So there's no doubt that Trump and the Republicans are the favorites. You would rather be in their shoes today than in the Democratic Party’s shoes. But this election is not a done deal. So Republicans are justified in feeling confident and optimistic. They are not justified if they think that they have this in the bag.”
