The last time I attended a Republican National Convention, eight years ago, the mood was frenetic. That RNC began in the shadow of the shooting deaths of five police officers and the wounding of nine others by Black Afghan War veteran Michael Xavier Johnson in Dallas, Texas, in retaliation for the police killings of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. Going into the convention, top Trump campaign aide Paul Manafort shocked reporters by suggesting that the violent atmosphere of “lawlessness” in the country was welcome news for the convention. The 2024 RNC in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, took place in the immediate shadow of political violence, this time an assassination attempt on the Republican nominee, Donald Trump. But whereas the former was used to depict a white nation under siege, the latter was celebrated as the ultimate triumph of the MAGA movement and its unconquerable hero.
In 2016 Trumpism was still a jumble of far-right groups that was markedly different from the mainstream of the party. Longtime party delegates adorned with elephant accessories mingled uneasily with the aggressive insurgents in the streets of Cleveland, unsure of what would become of their party whether Trump won or lost.
The 2016 convention in Cleveland began with an “America First Unity Rally” outside the convention, which featured such figures as Roger Stone, Alex Jones and Breitbart editor and internet racist Milo Yiannapoulos — a cast of characters that stirred a crowd of Infowars enthusiasts, white nationalists and Bikers for Trump. In Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena that evening it was “Law and Order Night,” where speakers lashed out against immigrants and protesters while defending the police in a show of authoritarianism far harsher than the usual fare at Republican conventions. Three parents in turn described the deaths of their children at the hands of undocumented immigrants. Another speaker demanded an end to rampant crime and “anarchy” in the streets. Rudy Giuliani shouted about Black protests at home and Islamist threats from abroad.
Outside the 2016 convention, many Republican delegates and other party members I spoke with evinced a kind of melancholy about their candidate. A number of them frankly admitted that he had not been their choice in the Republican primaries. Indeed, hesitancy about Trump was expressed by a wide spectrum of GOP supporters, from “mainstream” Republicans to social conservatives to free market libertarians.
Jan and Tina, two local Republican volunteers in their 70s, told me that the most important thing to them was party unity. When I asked them on what ground they thought the party should unify, they each demurred, turning the question back to me. I met two Tea Partiers from Westchester County, New York — Howard, an office chair manufacturer, and Steven, a real estate lawyer. They told me that the Tea Partiers in Congress had sold out their principles and that this is why the Republican grassroots chose Trump. When I asked if Trump shared their economic views, they said that they hoped that he would in time. Nick and Tim, two members of the then-small “limited government” organization Turning Point USA, admitted that they weren’t sure they would support Trump but thought it important to stick with the party for the time being.
Read the full article: https://newlinesmag.com/spotlight/a-capacious-and-confident-trumpism-struts-its-stuff/
