Public Comment

The Party of Trump

Chris Krohn
Tuesday July 16, 2024 - 11:58:00 AM

It was a late night. The enormous GOP crowd at Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena (now Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse), host to the 2016 Republican National Convention (RNC), was on its feet with future U.S. national security advisor, Gen. Michael Flynn at the microphone exhorting the delegates to chant, “Lock her up, lock her up.” Waiting in the wings just to the right of the podium was the next speaker, Iowa Gov. Jodi Ernst. She paced anxiously. With the end of network primetime coverage only minutes away, Ernst would likely not get to address a national TV audience as Gen. Flynn continued the flame-thrower rhetoric, his carotid artery bulging as sweat dripped off his brow. “I call on Hillary Clinton to drop out of the race…because of her careless use of a private email server.” He went on to excoriate the enemies of the state and extol the qualities of the man many of us refused to believe would be the next President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. The Party of Trump was being born that night. The city of rock and roll was clearly being rocked by what at first appeared as a fringe movement, MAGA would later co-opt the entire Republican Party.  

I witnessed an intense and politically jubilant four-day political pep rally back in July of 2016. That convention ushered in a decidedly rightward, and populist, shift within the Republican Party. It also yielded a candidate who had neither held public office or served in the military, a first. I left that convention, like so many, believing Hillary Clinton would have a cakewalk to the White House in November. The Democratic establishment thoroughly misjudged the mood of the electorate in 2016. Voter ire against the establishment was significant and growing. The country was wanting to move past the Bush and Clinton political dynasties. Democratic leadership had an opportunity to change its stripes in the populist campaign of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, but the political omen went unheeded. Which brings us to today’s critical moment, when some of the same leaders within the Democratic Party seem unable to grasp the present moment. Democratic voters love Joe Biden, but more than 60% of them think itt is time for him to leave the stage. Will the Democratic Party leadership heed the call now? Seems unlikely since the assassination attempt on the former President. But why? 

Donald Trump was on a campaign-light mode since his June 27th debate with Biden, just watching the Democrats, and Biden, flail as they tried to make an historic decision: how to replace an ailing, and stumbling, incumbent President. The Trump campaign was feeling so confident about the debate results that it waited until this past Monday to unveil its VP choice, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance. As Biden continued to teleconference with various Democrats, especially the donor class, someone took a shot at Trump and it once again saw both campaigns kick into a different political strategy gear. The Trump campaign’s plan not to allow the nation to take its eyes off of the Democratic Party’s ongoing political train wreck changed dramatically on July 14, 2024. It has significantly doubled-down on the old narrative of Trump as victim, but with an enlarged dose of empathy and sympathy, which will very likely see Trump’s poll numbers rise. 

When I entered the Cleveland arena eight years ago for the RNC, it was a Trump campaign that was inexperienced and at times, flagging badly. The attitude at that convention on the part of Trump and his consiglieres–Steven Miller, Steve Bannon, and Gen. Flynn–was a glimpse at the coarss behavior and reckless policy statements that were to come. Throw anything at the wall and see what sticks. Even though the lies continue to pile up to this day, witness the more than 30 false claims Trump declared in his recent debate with Biden, the amnesia of the former President’s supporters is deep. The lies about the economy, about the border and immigration, and about global warming have become acceptable, even among long-time GOP office holders and officials who should know better. 

Trump's party entered Milwaukee's Fiserv Forum on Monday appalled at the attempted assassination but giddy with hero worship as well. Jack Beaty the political writer calls it a cult of Trump. It sure seemed like cult-like worship when Trump entered the Fiserv Forum Monday night. Gone are the moderates or political minders like former Chiefs of Staff John Kelley and Mick Mulvaney. Gone are former old-style Republicans like Michael Steele and John Kasich, both from Ohio, replaced by the young GOP buck, J.D. Vance. The irascible former UN Ambassador John Bolton and former Presidential candidate Mitt Romney have been no-shows here in Milwaukee. The Bush family too has long been sidelined in the party of Trump, replaced by further to the right populist operatives.  

The RNC continues this week toward Thursday’s likely coronation of the President. Although the crowd’s cheering for the former President was nothing short of absolute bedlam on Monday night, the final night of the convention’s pomp and circumstance on Thursday night may be like no other, and might lead to the final nail in Joe Biden’s thus far inept political campaign.