MILWAUKEE — Trump-Vance 2024.
The Republican presidential ticket was assembled Monday when Donald Trump called JD Vance if his running buddyBy turning to the 39-year-old senator from Ohio, the Republican candidate injected new energy into a campaign that has largely revolved around age issues in recent weeks after President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance.
The Republican National Convention kicked off less than 48 hours after Trump was the subject of a shocking assassination attempt in Pennsylvania. The shooting, which left Trump wounded and one man dead, hung like a dark cloud over the convention, with speakers expressing gratitude for the former president’s survival and resolving to reclaim the White House in November.
Here are some conclusions from the first day of the congress.
Just two days after a gunman tried to kill him, Trump walked into the convention hall with a bandage over his injured right ear as singer Lee Greewood sang “God Bless the USA,” a fixture at the former president’s rallies. Trump waved to the crowd and pumped his fist in the air, a customary gesture that took on new meaning after he made a similar move from the stage as Secret Service agents escorted him to safety Saturday.
The crowd rose and cheered with joy at the sight of their nominee. Trump, rarely at a loss for words, offered no formal remarks. But the sight of him was telling, and a tangible reminder of the former president’s narrow failure to avoid tragedy.
He then greeted his family and took a seat between Vance and commentator Tucker Carlson.
Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell is arguably responsible for the GOP’s biggest policy achievements, particularly in installing conservative judges at all levels of the judiciary. But that didn’t matter much to the Trump-friendly crowd at the RNC, which greeted the Kentucky Republican with boos — a palpable rejection of someone demonized as an establishment Republican who failed to adequately support the former president.
Shortly afterward, Vance received a very different reception. The second-youngest U.S. senator — and the first millennial to appear on a major party ticket — drew loud applause as he first stepped onto the floor of Congress as Trump’s running mate.
The two contrasting moments offered a glimpse into the transformations the GOP has undergone under Trump. They capped an era in which McConnell has gone from one of his party’s most powerful leaders and astute tacticians to someone booed on the floor of Congress by activists from within his own party.
In style, McConnell and Vance couldn’t be more different. Vance, an outspoken MAGA fighter, is one of Trump’s most prominent supporters. McConnell, by contrast, has a low-key demeanor, while his political sensibilities are rooted in Ronald Reagan’s GOP.
Without McConnell, however, the 39-year-old Vance’s political rise might not have been possible.
Two years ago, Vance struggled to raise money and faced a well-funded Democratic challenger. McConnell’s super PAC won with more than $30 million in advertising spending.
Vance won and began his ascent to prominence. McConnell, now in the twilight of his political career, will step down as Senate GOP leader in November.
The first night of the RNC was supposed to be about the economy, with the goal of uniting voters of all ideological persuasions frustrated by high prices. But some of the biggest applause lines came from harsh criticism of transgender people.
It’s a reminder that cultural issues motivate the GOP base as much as financial ones. A trio of speakers unabashedly railed against Democrats who have sought greater acceptance of transgender people. Republicans were particularly outraged this year by Biden’s celebration of Transgender Day of Visibility. It happened to coincide with Easter in 2024, a byproduct of the Christian holiday’s lunar calendar.
To many in the LGBTQ+ community, it was a coincidence. But to many Republicans, it was an insult.
“They promised normalcy and gave us Transgender Visibility Day on Easter Sunday,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene“And let me make this clear: there are only two genders.”
Other Republicans tried to turn the issue into a question of fairness, arguing that it is wrong to ask “girls” to compete with transgender athletes. The Biden administration proposed a rule in April that would prevent schools and colleges from passing a rule that would ban transgender athletes outright, a rule that was quickly challenged in court.
Senator Ron JohnsonR-Wis., said at the convention that it was all part of a “fringe agenda” that includes “biological males competing with girls.”
Rep. John James, R-Mich., tried to draw a parallel to part of a broader criticism of Democrats, saying they promised to bring hope to the country and had failed. “Our daughters were sold hope, and now they’re being forced to play on the playing fields and in the locker rooms with biological males,” James said.
Republicans say inflation has destroyed the US economy and it’s all Biden’s fault.
The argument is an important message for voters who have doubts about Trump’s ethics but still trust his economic judgment. None of the convention speeches offered a detailed explanation of why prices rose. That would require acknowledging the broken supply chains left in the wake of the pandemic and how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sent food and energy costs soaring. But Biden pushed through $1.9 trillion in pandemic relief, and the GOP argued that Americans have suffered as a result, paying more for groceries and gas.
This focused only on the worrying inflation figures and ignored the positive aspects of the economy, such as a strong labor market and solid growth as the economy recovers.
“So many American families are living with so much less,” said Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala. “This is too high a price to pay for an administration that has brought us to such low points.”
But how would the GOP tackle inflation?
The speakers never really gave a plan, other than that Trump would simply return to the White House.