There was a palpable sense of unease in Milwaukee on Sunday, on the eve of the Republican Nationwide Conference. The occasion was already positive to be a chaotic chapter in our ugly nationwide political drama. However the drama all of a sudden received even grimmer this week, when Donald Trump, who will finally settle for the GOP nomination right here, narrowly survived an assassination try at a Pennsylvania rally the day earlier than.
To some extent, enterprise has nonetheless been occurring as traditional: Journalists are descending on town; celebration officers are convening; and supporters of the previous president are giddily strutting round in MAGA swag. However the temper has unmistakably shifted: Trump supporters held a prayer vigil for him in a park close to the Fiserv Heart, house of the Milwaukee Bucks; and the Day by day Present, which had been slated to broadcast right here all week, canceled its on-the-ground programming. In spite of everything, who was in a joking temper?
On Sunday, legislation enforcement officers stood across the conference’s perimeter, sweating and speaking concerning the humidity. The occasion grounds had been so empty you would hear the squawk of gulls over Lake Michigan. At a bar close by, politicos gabbed over glasses of pinot noir and old-fashioneds. “Trump’s speech goes to be epic,” one predicted. “I really feel like we’re dwelling within the Nineteen Sixties proper now,” one other mentioned.
“To America,” they toasted.
Up till Saturday, questions surrounding the viability of President Joe Biden’s reelection bid—in addition to Trump’s vice-presidential choose and excessive right-wing agenda for a second time period—had been more likely to be the primary subjects of debate on the RNC. Nevertheless, a lot of that is now more likely to be overshadowed by the try on Trump’s life. Biden condemned the capturing—which claimed the life of 1 on the rally and wounded two others—and provided his ideas to Trump. “There isn’t a place in America for this type of violence,” the president mentioned. “Unity is probably the most elusive purpose of all. However nothing is as vital as that proper now.”
Trump, in the meantime, flew into Milwaukee Sunday, undeterred. “I can not permit a ‘shooter,’ or potential murderer, to power change to scheduling, or the rest,” he wrote on-line, because the political world turned its consideration to this metropolis of 500,000, located in a key swing state that helped determine the election for Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020.
On the evening earlier than this yr’s Republican conference, America stays a deeply troubled nation—culturally and politically polarized, its democracy teetering and its heart struggling to carry. This week in Milwaukee is ready to be sweltering; as for the nation, the temperature is already at a boiling level.
