The phase of moderation among Republicans is over again
A Few Days After Trump's Announcement That He Would Moderate His Tone and Bring the Country Together, Republicans Returned to Their Aggressive Rhetoric: The Democrats Are Steering the USA to Ruin, Only Trump Can Save the Country.
Not long after Donald Trump entered politics in 2015, both opponents and supporters agreed: Trump would not change. Some said he couldn't help it. Others said why should he?
Trump was indeed successful at being Trump. His fans loved and love him: partly despite his racist remarks, partly because of them. Not even numerous accusations, from sexual harassment to rape, could end his political career. Why then should Trump have changed?
Instead of changing, Trump made the Republicans more Trump-like. The moderation of tone that Trump and his party imposed on themselves after the attempted assassination on the previous Saturday lasted only one day. By Tuesday at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, the usual slogans dominated.
Trump or Decline
A whole series of speakers accused the Democrats of steering the USA to ruin. Jim Justice, Governor of West Virginia and Senate candidate, warned that "the country will be lifted from the ashes if Trump is not elected in November." David McCormick, Senate candidate from Pennsylvania, said the November election was "between strength and weakness, between America's greatness and its sad, shameful decline."
Senator Ted Cruz spread insinuations that Trump himself had honored: "Americans are dying, being murdered, attacked, raped - by illegal immigrants that the Democrats have released." In 2016, Cruz had angrily reacted when Trump insulted his father and wife. Shortly thereafter, he endorsed him anyway.
In Milwaukee, Cruz claimed the Democrats were letting migrants into the country "because they've cynically decided that they'd rather have the votes of illegals than protect our children." Other speakers spread this conspiracy theory as well. Senator Rick Scott from Florida said it was easy for the Democrats to manipulate elections: "They just let all non-citizens vote."
Even Trump himself seemed to have switched back to attack mode. A video shown at the convention on Tuesday urged his supporters to "keep their eyes open, because these people will cheat."
"In the Interest of Our Nation, We Must Follow Trump"
Even Nikki Haley, the former UN Ambassador, portrayed the Democrats as "so far left" that they threatened our freedoms. Haley's appearance was meant to demonstrate that Republicans would unite in the election campaign against the Democrats. She was a sharp Trump critic in the primary campaign. As recently as February, she had called Trump "crazy" and "less competent" than in 2016. Now she directed her criticism at Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris - presumably to justify why she was now supporting Trump.
Haley sounded like those Republicans who see Trump as a savior, the only one who can save the USA from ruin. "I'm here tonight because we need to save our country, and a united Republican Party is essential for that," she said. "In the interest of our nation, we must follow Donald Trump."
Trump's daughter-in-law Lara Trump, simultaneously Vice Chairwoman of the Republican Party, admitted at an event on the sidelines of the Republican Convention that former President Trump has no plans to change, despite all the talk. "Donald Trump will never change, who he is," said she, according to the "Washington Post." It would not be authentic of him to do so, Lara Trump added.
Regarding moderate voters that the Republicans need to win elections, she said it was up to the campaign team and the party to reach them. After her appointment as Republican Vice Chairwoman, she had said that it was not just about right versus left or Republicans versus Democrats. "It's about Good versus Evil."
Trump had said after the attack that he had prepared an originally drafted speech before the Nomination Convention and wanted to "heal the country" now. The speech was planned for Thursday.
In the US Presidency Election 2024, it's expected that Donald Trump will once again be a prominent figure in the Republican party's campaign, given his daughter-in-law Lara Trump's assertion that he will not change his persona. At the Republican National Convention, several speakers, including Senator Ted Cruz and Senator Rick Scott, accused Democrats of letting illegal immigrants into the country and manipulating elections, painting a picture of the Democrats as a threat to the nation's safety and integrity.
