GOP convention may have found a quality that’s been missing from American politics | Opinion
Republicans leave their convention in Milwaukee having offered up something that’s been in short supply in recent American politics: optimism.
It was, to be sure, filtered through the MAGA lens, with all the usual rhetoric about how awful things have been for four years under President Joe Biden. And it was tinged by the apocalyptic quadrennial warning that we hear: It’s the most important election of our lifetime! On Thursday night, Donald Trump even declared it the most important ever.
His nomination acceptance speech droned on far too long with all the usual diversions, exaggerations and confusing references. But the first third — probably the only part the vast majority of viewers watched — was a powerful recap of the assassination attempt he survived and a most un-Trumpian promise of unity.
“Together we will launch a new era of safety, prosperity and freedom for citizens of every race, religion, color and creed,” he said.
Trump, whose theory of politics has always been division over attraction, even added: “I am running for president for all of America, not half of America.”
Where did all this come from? How did a party and a candidate that feasted for years on warnings of “American carnage” come to offer up hope?
Part of it surely comes from confidence in victory. Polls are edging more and more Republicans’ way, and Democrats are in the throes of a crisis over whether they can replace Joe Biden as their nominee. The prospect of a sweeping victory has been beyond the GOP’s reach for a long time, and their hope is contagious.
The feeling is fed by the relief and sense of destiny that comes with Trump having survived a shooting that, but for a fraction of an inch, would have killed him. It’s given the GOP, which still had a significant share of voters unenthusiastic about Trump, a unifying moment. Unity breeds magnanimity.
The entire convention had a sense of fun, too. There were plenty of dark notes about illegal immigration, crime and inflation — it wouldn’t make sense, after all, to ignore voters’ urgent concerns. But the entertainment value of Kid Rock, UFC founder Dana White and wrestling legend Hulk Hogan on Thursday night alone was off the charts.
It’s the least Republican line-up ever. Just go with it.
The four-day convention was also a feast of patriotism. To be fair, it was tempered by the aforementioned dire notes. But speaker after speaker touted the possibility of the country’s best days being ahead. That hasn’t always been the case. Sometimes, “Make America Great Again” comes across as, “Our best days are behind us, but let’s do what we can.” Not anymore.
The bases of both parties have made it a habit recently of running down the country, pointing out its flaws, failings and betrayals of its foundations. The GOP pulled out of it with a vision that stresses common sense on the border, the economy and social issues.
Democrats will struggle to match this when they convene in Chicago in five weeks. For one thing, they might have a divisive fight for their nomination. And whoever wins it will spend more time running against Trump than promising a vision for the future. He or she certainly won’t be able to tout the Biden record and approach on inflation, the border or world affairs.
Democrats haven’t shown they can re-calibrate the far-left’s portrait of America as irredeemably discriminatory. Barack Obama had a gift for saying that, even with its faults, only in America was his story possible. Bill Clinton formulated it brilliantly when he said that there’s nothing wrong with America that can’t be fixed by what’s right with America.
Joe Biden? Alternating between whispers and shouts, he tells Black college graduates that the country is out to get them and paints a modest Georgia voting law as worse than “Jim Crow.”
Kamala Harris? When you can figure out what she’s trying to say, it’s usually not hopeful. At best, she comes across as Selina Meyer, the vapid, rootless, ambitious pol played by Julia Louis-Dreyfuss in an HBO sitcom.
Their best hope, oddly, is Trump himself. He showed Thursday night that he can’t help from rambling, and the more he says, the more he risks turning off segments of voters.
But he also pledged: “No matter what obstacle comes our way, we will not break, we will not bend, we will not back down, and I will never stop fighting for you, your family and our magnificent country.”
That’s a strong hook for a campaign to leave voters feeling like maybe this election offers more than a choice of the lesser of two evils.
This story was originally published July 19, 2024 at 5:31 AM.
