“Scan to enter the draw and get a free guide to land recognition,” promises the poster on one of the stands outside the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, where the Republican Convention is being held this week. Up for grabs is an AR-15 rifle, the same type of weapon used by Thomas Matthew Crooks to shoot Donald Trump at the Butler rally just three days ago. “The gun didn’t go up those stairs by itself. The young man pulled the trigger. There will always be people with mental problems,” argued Sharon Anderson, 68, at the entrance to the stadium.
After the attack on Trump in Pennsylvania, the Tennessee Republican delegate has not changed her position on gun ownership in the country: “I am a firm defender of the Second Amendment.” In Wisconsin, it is legal to carry a pistol or an AK-47. At the security checkpoints that surround the area, one of the questions the agents ask is whether you are carrying weapons. On Tuesday, after an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate the former president became known, the American secret service decided to reinforce security at the convention. Tehran has already denied the accusation. Despite the shooting on Saturday, the organization said that in principle it was not necessary to take additional measures.
Next to Sharon, who is wearing a cowboy hat with donkey ears (alluding to the Democratic Party) and the words “Trump Kick Ass,” is Trisha Hopes. The 60-year-old Texan is also no slouch with her outfit: cowboy-style hat with miniature fireworks in the colors of the flag and a Terminator-style Trump figurine in the center. “The media has unfairly fostered hatred towards President Trump. And the Democratic Party has too. They call him a fascist, they say he’s Hitler. What do you think is going to happen when that happens?” denounces Texan Trisha, who says she “despises” President Joe Biden’s policies, but would never want any harm to come to him. “The Democratic Party has driven this. The media has driven it,” Sharon agrees.
In the hours following the shooting, Trump’s supporters began to capitalize on the image of political victimhood, pointing to Democrats as the main culprits of the country’s polarization and tension. One of the first to point the finger of blame was Ohio Senator JD Vance, whom Trump chose on Monday as his vice-presidential candidate.
The narrative that all the division in American society is a consequence of the Democrats and the press is succeeding in redefining the margins in which the campaign moves. On Monday night, in an interview with NBC, Biden admitted that it was a “mistake” to have used the expression “putting the spotlight on” (bullseyein English) to talk about Trump in the days leading up to the shooting. Still, he tried not to buy the Republicans’ narrative entirely, asking: “How do you talk about the threat to democracy, what’s real, when a president says things like he says? Do you just not say anything because it might incite someone?”
For Trisha and Sharon, the attempt to assassinate their leader on Saturday is a sign of the “persecution and violence he has suffered for years.” Sharon is even critical of her own party for the void that the tycoon experienced during his first years from a sector that has already disappeared within the Republican ranks. “The Republican Party did not support Donald Trump when he ran. I didn’t like that. I don’t like it today. But today, there is no RNC (the party’s initials) without DJT (the initials of Donald J. Trump).” Sharon explains almost as if it were an epiphany the moment when it was clear to her that Trump was “her man”: “When in 2015 he said he was running for president, he was my president from that day forward.”
The gleam in the eyes when talking about Trump is something that is repeated among his supporters. Mary Lazich is also one of the 2,400 delegates who on Monday made official the nomination of Trump as the Republican Party’s presidential candidate. When she remembers the moment when Trump reappeared for the first time on Monday after the attack, with a spotless bandage covering his right ear, her gaze lights up: “It was a very emotional moment, but also serious. There were a lot of emotions on the part of the delegates and the president… You could see his expression and how his eyes were glassy.”
Trump has long been more than just a presidential candidate among his supporters. They have blind faith in him. Now, after elevating him as a political figure persecuted by the Washington establishment (the Deep State that Trump has promised to fight), they also want to give him the title of reunitor of a divided country. “I think he wants to unite us all. I think he is saying now, this is the time to unite. We are Americans. None of us should want violence,” explains Trisha, who is convinced that on Thursday Trump will offer a speech that will reconcile society.
Despite championing this vision of American reconciliation, the first thing Trisha hopes for in a second Trump term if he is re-elected is that he “holds us accountable.” “I hope Trump holds us accountable for the betrayal that has happened in our country. We have to right what has happened in our country.” The Republican’s words echo Trump’s promise that he would pursue his political enemies once he came to power. A few days before the attack, the tycoon called on his Truth network for the imprisonment of President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Senators Mitch McConnell and Chuch Schumer, and his former Vice President Mike Pence, among others. In fact, when Fox News host Sean Hannity asked him late last year if he was not going to “be a dictator,” Trump replied: “No, no, except for day one. We’re going to close the border and we’re going to drill, drill, drill. After that, I will not be a dictator.”
Nikki Haley returns from ostracism: “Trump has my support”
The morning after Super Tuesday, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley was the night’s big loser. Haley faced ostracism from a Republican Party controlled by Donald Trump after leading an aggressive campaign against him. As she left, she said she would not support Trump’s candidacy. On Tuesday, she took the stage at Milwaukee’s Fireside Forum to urge people to vote for him.
Just a week ago Haley was not supposed to attend the Republican Convention. She was persona non grataBut now Trump needed her to project his new image as a unifier. To claim to be able to reunite American society, he first had to prove that he was capable of reconciling his own party. “Trump has invited me to speak on behalf of unity. It was a kind invitation and I am happy to accept it,” Haley announced in front of the 2,400 delegates. The welcome was not particularly warm, with boos and applause. Trump did not seem very excited to see her either.
After the Super Tuesday defeat, Haley had kept a low profile. She was last in the spotlight when she visited Israel in May to show support for Israeli troops and signed a missile with the phrase “finish them off.” Haley served as the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. from January 2017 to December 2018 under Trump’s first presidency. Due to disagreements with the then president, Haley resigned from the post. It was one of twenty such departures during the Trump administration.
Before the convention began on Monday, Haley had already announced that she would give her 97 delegates to the former president. Although it was not until today that she said it loud and clear to the Republican masses: “Donald Trump has my support.” This phrase was received with much more emotion by the delegates. Trump has also decided to turn to Haley to hunt for the vote of independents and those who are unsure at a time when President Joe Biden’s image is very weakened, after the disastrous CNN debate. “My message is simple: you don’t have to be 100% in agreement with Trump’s policies to vote for him,” said Haley, who allowed herself to joke about herself by saying that they should take her as an example.
“We are here because we have a country to save,” said Haley, who said that voting for Joe Biden also means voting for his vice president, Kamala Harris. Once again, Republicans are attacking the president’s second-in-command, covering their backs against the possibility of changes in the candidacy.
Haley has described Trump as a “tough” president who is capable of preventing conflict. To do so, she used a misleading example: “When Obama was in power, Russia invaded Crimea. Now that Biden is in power, they have invaded Ukraine. When Trump was in power, Putin did not attack because he knows Trump is tough.” This is the argument that Trump has repeated repeatedly, while also promising that if he is re-elected president, he will end the war in Ukraine within days. However, he has never explained exactly how he intends to do so.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who tried to stand up to Trump during the primary process, also attended the hand-kissing of defeated rivals. Unlike Haley, he left much earlier and tried to do so in a “peaceful” way with the leader, since when leaving he offered his delegates to Trump. This was noted by the public, who were much warmer in welcoming him with applause and cheers. Even Trump laughed at his comment that “America cannot afford four more years of a ‘Weekend with Bernie’ presidency.”
Trump was seen again tonight in the box at the Firsev Forum with his ear covered by a white bandage. To his left sat his new vice presidential candidate JD Vance, with whom he showed good rapport and exchanged a few words. Vance is expected to give his speech as a candidate on Wednesday and Trump on Thursday.
Source: www.eldiario.es
