Republican convention: Donald Trump raises the profile to mobilize conservative grassroots

Paula lugones

08/24/2020 - 18:48

• Clarín.com
• World

The Republican party formally nominated Donald Trump on Monday as a candidate for president of the United States on the first day of a convention with few figures of the Grand Old Party establishment. The head of the White House already offered his first speech, accused the Democrats of wanting to "steal" the election and it is estimated that he will appear every day as an exclusive protagonist: the convention is intended as a meeting of "Trumpists" where everything revolves around of the Trump surname.

In an auditorium in Charlotte, in the state of North Carolina, just over 300 delegates gathered to take the vote in person. Although there were not the more than 4,000 who should have attended in non-pandemic times, it was a stark contrast to the Democratic convention, which was held last week in full virtual format.

The delegates began voting in the morning, outside the cameras of the big television networks, while Trump protested on Twitter against the media for the scant attention they paid to the meeting. In reality, the Democrats concentrated everything in two hours at night and the Republicans sought more hours of TV by extending the ceremony in the morning .

President Donald Trump appeared in surprise at the Republican convention. AFP photo

When Trump had enough votes, he appeared in the auditorium and gave a speech of almost an hour, something completely unusual given that the nominee, although he usually appears briefly every day, reserves his most important message at the closing of the convention, which will be Thursday .

But Trump likes to break the rules and in this case he has preferred to appear in high profile for the four days of the convention, when he is about 8 points behind Joe Biden in the polls. On the one hand, he knows that he is the one who can best revitalize his conservative bases in the interior of the country. But it is also a sample of where the magnate has led the party: to a group of loyal fans where nuances are not accepted. He who does not follow it leaves, it is not included.

That is why important figures such as former President George W Bush are not present, nor are former candidate Mitt Romney , nor the daughter of the late former candidate John McCain, nor former Secretary of State Colin Powell: the latter openly said that they support Biden and They were at the Democratic convention, along with several other Republicans who do not agree with Trump.

President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence at the convention. Reuters photo

Surrounded by US flags and greeted by the public with shouts of “four more years, four more years! "Trump asked voters to be" very, very careful "with the irregularities that can be committed with the vote by mail, a mechanism that will be very important due to the pandemic, and accused the Democrats of trying to" steal "the victory to the Republicans, a way to prepare the ground for a possible defeat. He warned that November 3 will be "the most important election in history" because "the country can go in a horrible direction" if Biden wins.

In a direct message to his more conservative bases, the president said that the economic numbers are "incredible" and promised that if he is re-elected he will "hire more policemen", strengthen the Armed Forces, appoint more judges against abortion and continue with its protectionist foreign policy with more tariffs for countries that "take advantage" of the US, such as China, which it once again blamed for the pandemic.

The match in your hands

Trump enjoys the contact with the people and the enthusiasm of his supporters and there were two moments that unleashed the most applause from the audience: when he promised to protect the right to bear arms and when, in reference to the Democrats, he said that the United States "never it will be a socialist country ”.

The audience, with little social distance and many without chinstraps, responded "hallelujah" and "USA, USA", the war cry of the Republicans. Finally, the speech ended with delegates dancing to the rhythm of the YMCA , the Village People's stainless hit, which is also a gay anthem. Singer Victor Willis has already expressed his opposition to the use of that song and others such as "Macho man" in Trump campaign events.

The first day of the convention will be closed at night by the former ambassador to the United Nations, the charismatic Nickki Haley, but, in the absence of well-known and popular figures, a Trump will always be the protagonist: today it is Donald Jr's turn, but the different members of the presidential family will speak every day . First lady Melania will close Tuesday and presidential children Ivanka, Eric and Tiffany will also be speakers and even one of their spouses. On Wednesday Vice Mike Pence will accept the nomination and on Thursday the president will close the party from the White House, with fireworks in Washington.

In a further sign that this year the Republican party was monopolized by "Trumpism " and that the candidate will not conform to written rules, there will be no new platform but the 2016 one will be used.

PB

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