MILWAUKEE — There was something very strange about Monday’s opening night of the 2024 Republication National Convention.
Several strange things, in fact. Oh, there was the usual bashing of Joe Biden, the condemnation of what in reality is now a diminishing inflation, and the traditional GOP homage to private enterprise.
But who could ’a thunk that the most vigorous moment of the evening would be a Teamster official extolling unions and the working class and denouncing, in vivid detail, “greedy employers” and the evils of unbridled capitalism. Shocking as this lengthy speech was, it was clearly not aimed at the arena crowd, which gave it ever more tepid applause, but to a presumably largish TV audience containing Democratic and independent voters as well as faithful Republicans.
That speech had come not long after remarks from one Amber Rose, a “model and TV celebrity” and a self-proclaimed former “leftist” who could simultaneously praise Donald J. Trump and proclaim that Trump and his supporters “don’t care about Black or white or gay and straight. It’s all love.”
Another surprise was the culminating appearance of the hero/martyr himself, Donald J. Trump, ear heavily bandaged from a rifleman’s attempt on his life last week, sung onto the stage by Lee Greenwood.
Equally interesting was the creation of an ad hoc presidential box containing Trump, his new vice-presidential choice J.D. Vance, Speaker of the House Michael Johnson, Black Florida congressman Byron Donalds (one of several GOP African-American officeholders put on display Monday night), and — wonder of wonders — the exiled Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
It seemed to symbolize a new merging would-be GOP hierarchy.
All of the climactic events were an unexpected attempt at blending MAGA attitudes and Republicanism at large with a new approach to traditional Democratic voting blocs.
Can such a realignment hold behind a figurehead whose successful bout with potential death may have redeemed the image of a mad hatter given to reckless self-indulgence, who had clearly tried to sabotage the previous presidential election and endorsed violence, both verbal and physical, in the process?
The week and the convention were still young, and the Democrats have yet to have their own convention. We shall see what we shall see.
Consistent with this overarching effort at self-recreation was the Tennessee delegation’s Monday-morning breakfast, which featured its own efforts toward achieving an image of “unity,” though the mechanics of the process, at least as spoken to by Senator Bill Hagerty, the main breakfast speaker, were essentially limited to the idea of making nice to Nikki Haley.
A quote from the prominent Millington Republican Terry Roland, not a UT-Knoxville enthusiast, on being handed one of the conspicuously orange-hued MAGA hats passed out to all delegates: “I’d rather kiss a donkey on the ass than put this orange thing on my head.”
State Chairman Scott Golden of Jackson, on the other hand, as well as Senator Hagerty, in separate remarks to the state delegation, made a point of glorifying the color orange. It was, in fact, Orange Day for the delegation.
• Meanwhile, next week: a preview of the forthcoming local election and more, much more about the GOP’s dramatic week of refurbished public appeals.
