MILWAUKEE, Wisc.鈥擝y the time the head pro at Donald Trump鈥檚 Palm Beach golf club took the stage in Milwaukee on Thursday night, it was clear, on the off chance anyone needed even more evidence, that the Republican Party believed it had this one in the bag.
“At our club championship in March, I watched President Trump hit a perfect 210-yard four iron to within 10 feet of the hole,鈥 an affable, red-cheeked John Nieporte said. 鈥淗e needed to sink that putt to win. Do you think he sank it?”
Here the crowd roared and Nieporte paused before leaning into the microphone. 鈥淵ou better believe he sunk that putt,鈥 he drawled in the exact tone of a 12-year-old boy describing a naked woman he saw on TV to his friends.
鈥淒onald Trump: 21 club championships,鈥 Nieporte said, grinning and nodding his entire head. 鈥淛oe Biden: Zero.鈥
It was the kind of surreally absurd moment Democrats used to crow about. Trump has always been at his weakest when he鈥檚 acting like a buffoon. And on the final night of the Republican Convention in Milwaukee, the Trump machine amped the buffoonery up to 11.
The mood in Milwaukee this week is much changed from the first time the Republicans chose Trump as their standard-bearer.
The mood in Milwaukee this week is much changed from the first time the Republicans chose Trump as their standard-bearer.
They had a billionaire鈥檚 son introducing his billionaire dad in a section devoted to 鈥渘ormal Americans.鈥 They added Hulk Hogan to the speakers鈥 roster, alongside UFC president Dana White. Russell Brand, a British comedian recently accused by four women of sexual assault, roamed the floor. Kid Rock, the right-wing rap-rocker behind 鈥淓arly Mornin鈥 Stoned Pimp鈥 and other albums, was set to play.
Hogan drew a raucous response when, standing on the main stage, he ripped off his shirt to reveal a red Trump-Vance 鈥淢ake America Great Again鈥 shirt during the Republican National Convention. (AP produced by Javier Arciga / July 19, 2024)
And yet, none of it seemed to matter.
For the first time since Trump announced his first run for president more than eight years ago, he wasn鈥檛 really the story Thursday.
One senior American reporter I spoke to said he wasn鈥檛 even covering Trump in Milwaukee. 鈥淚鈥檓 here, but just doing Biden reporting,鈥 he said.
The Democrats finally figured it out, in other words. They finally managed to steal the front page from Trump.
All it took was the complete, unprecedented meltdown of their own campaign.
Mark Halperin, a veteran Washington insider, was reporting online that Joe Biden may drop out of the race as soon as this weekend. He doesn鈥檛 plan to endorse Kamala Harris, Halperin wrote, but will instead throw it open to the Democrats鈥 own convention in Chicago this August.
鈥淭op Democrats Prepare for Campaign Without Biden,鈥 read the top headline on the Wall Street Journal website. 鈥淩eality is setting in,鈥 one party official told the New York Times.
What happens when the Trump ticket suddenly isn’t acting so extreme?
What happens when the Trump ticket suddenly isn’t acting so extreme?
Trump himself took the stage after a performance by Kid Rock and an introduction by Dana White. 鈥淔riends, delegates and fellow citizens, I stand before you this evening with a message of confidence, strength and hope,鈥 Trump said, a stark contrast to the dark warnings of American carnage he offered eight years ago when he first accepted the presidential nomination in Cleveland, Ohio.
鈥淔our months from now, we will have an incredible victory and we will begin the four greatest years in the history of our country,鈥 he carried on. 鈥淚 am running to be president for all of America, not half of America, because there is no victory in winning for half of America. So tonight, with faith and devotion, I proudly accept your nomination for president of the United States.鈥
Trump wore a white bandage on his right ear, a remnant from the assassination attempt last Saturday. He told the crowd the story of the shooting, in Butler, Pa., for the first and what he promised would be the last time.
鈥淚 will tell you exactly what happened. And you’ll never hear it from me a second time, because it’s actually too painful to tell,鈥 he said.
鈥淚t was a warm, beautiful day in the early evening in Butler township in the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,鈥 Trump went on. He said he had just turned his head to look at a chart when he felt something whizzing by. He held his hand up to his ear and felt blood, then was tackled to the ground.
聽鈥淭he crowd was confused because they thought I was dead,鈥 he said. 鈥淎nd there was great, great sorrow. 鈥 I wanted to do something to let them know I was OK. I raised my right arm, looked at the thousands and thousands of people that were breathlessly waiting and started shouting, ‘Fight! Fight! Fight!鈥欌
At that, the crowd in Milwaukee took up his cheer.
Earlier Thursday night, Nieporte fumbled his last line. 鈥淎s much as I鈥檒l miss him the White鈥斺 the club house,鈥 he said stumbling over his words. 鈥淲e need him back in the White House.鈥 But Trump didn鈥檛 seem to mind. The camera panned and showed him grinning and nodding at his golf pro, happier, or more visibly pleased, than he had been for his own son Wednesday night. Nieporte beamed and walked offstage.
鈥淚 have been to many conventions,鈥 Tucker Carlson, an avowed fan of the murderous Vladimir Putin, said earlier Thursday night. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think I鈥檝e ever been to a more fun convention or a convention with better vibes.鈥
Yes, someone tried to kill Trump on Saturday. And yes, there is still an election to win. But when the other side is warring over how and when to pull their fighter from the card, you can forgive a little self-indulgence. OK, more than a little. After Carlson walked off, another employee from another Trump golf club took the stage. Carrie Ruiz, the general manager of the Trump National in Doral, praised her boss as not just a great golfer but a great businessman, too.
While Republican leaders point fingers at political rivals, left-leaning voices have also joined the fray.
For the blissed-out Trump superfans in Milwaukee, this was paradise. They have been in a benevolent mood all week. (Or as benevolent as you can be while waving placards promising mass deportation.) Just outside the secure perimeter Thursday, a man dressed as Uncle Sam was offering free ear bandages to Republicans headed inside (to mimic their hero). Just outside the arena, a man in a Joe Biden mask shuffled around in a hospital gown with an inflatable walker.
At an event at the CNN-Politico Grill on Thursday morning, Chris LaCivita, the co-manager of the Republican campaign, said Trump might win 320 electoral votes, the most of any candidate since Barack Obama in 2012.
It reminded me of a moment from eight years ago, in Iowa.
I was having breakfast outside Des Moines at a table next to two organizers for Hillary Clinton. If the Republicans nominated Trump, they told me, it would ruin the party for a generation. Clinton might win 40 states. They鈥檇 sweep the house and the senate. It would be greatest thing that ever happened to the party.
So take that for what it鈥檚 worth. Optimism doesn鈥檛 always work out.
As the evening wore on Thursday, Hogan, with his trademark bronze and his moustache walked out on the stage. He huffed. He puffed. He called everyone “Brother!” He tore off his shirt, revealing a Trump/Vance tank-top underneath.
“Hold on a second. Hold on. I just had a flashback,” Hogan said at one point. “You know, the last time I was up on stage, Donald Trump was sitting at ringside at the Trump Plaza. I was bleeding like a pig. And I won the world title right in front of Donald J. Trump.聽And you know something, he’s gonna win in November, and we’re all going to be champions again.”
And the crowd cheered and cheered.聽
“Whatcha gonna do,” Hogan finished, “when Donald Trump and all the Trumpamaniacs run wild on you?”
He was followed on stage by Christian evangelist Franklin Graham.
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