This week, the Republican Party sacrificed itself entirely on the altar of the cult of personality surrounding Donald Trump. The show about the former president is attracting new voters. And it’s scaring old ones: a visit to the party’s convention in Wisconsin.
It’s a school-trip atmosphere at the Milwaukee airport on Friday. Computer systems are down all over the world, and here, too, at the small Wisconsin airport, employees are fighting over a sad smiley face on a blue background. But none of that matters to the travelers: It’s the day after the Republican National Convention ends. The atmosphere is great. Photos are being displayed and phone numbers are being exchanged. Departing delegates want to take all sorts of souvenirs home with them: cardboard signs reading “Trump-Vance 2024,” posters from the party convention hall.
The night before, Donald Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination for a third time. His appearance at Fiserv Arena in Milwaukee was the highlight of the Capitol Hill Congress, which began Monday, less than 48 hours after a 20-year-old gunman shot the former president in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
“It would be a landslide victory.”
While delegates were shaken by the events earlier in the week, the mood on Thursday, shortly before Trump’s speech, was triumphant. “It’s going to be a landslide,” said a delegate named Ann in the square outside the ballroom, repeating the party line. In Milwaukee, they wanted to project an image of absolute unity to the rest of the world this week.
Trump supporters at the party convention in Milwaukee. Reuters/Evelyn Hochstein
“Food practitioner. Bacon guru. Infuriatingly humble zombie enthusiast. Total student.”
More Stories
At least 95 dead in Spain: thousands of people trapped in cars, trains and shopping centres
Will Biden become a burden on Harris in the US election campaign?
Spain: More than 60 killed in the storms