MILWAUKEE — The Republican National Convention will kick off Monday in a very different world than the one we all expected when we left work on Friday.
Republicans are totally united. Even former governor, professional Trump critic, and longtime neocon Nikki Haley has joined the effort, slipping into a speaking slot at the last minute. The Blaze News has learned that rapper and businessman 50 Cent has begun calling this weekend to inquire about his availability for the celebration. “We’re trying to make it happen,” a negotiator told me on the way to Wisconsin.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party is in complete disarray. In the immediate aftermath of the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on Saturday evening, calls for the campaign to be halted went out. To the chagrin of concerned donors, the entire campaign strategy was centered on demonizing Trump as a “threat to the nation,” an “enemy of democracy,” and a “threat to the very soul of this country.” This would no longer work.
Republicans, meanwhile, are gearing up to dominate the news as Trump’s vice presidential announcement approaches, with the former president jetting off to Milwaukee on Sunday night — much earlier than the usual time when the nomination is confirmed — to ride a wave of party excitement.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party’s day-to-day plans are in disarray. Joe Biden canceled a speech scheduled for the Johnson Presidential Library in Austin, Texas, where he was scheduled to mark the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Rumors circulated in the nation’s capital on Friday that former President Barack Obama had pressured Biden to give a speech announcing his intention to drop his candidacy and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris, but Aaron Sorkin-esque Democratic fantasies will have to take a back seat. The White House appears to have decided that a legislative anniversary isn’t worth commemorating if it has to be done in a dignified, bipartisan way.
The corporate media will likewise be forced to tone down their rhetoric, if only because the Republican candidate only recently dodged a bullet to the brain by millimeters, a five mph wind, and the hand of God. Other innocent people in the crowd were not so lucky.
Since the gunfire rang out in Butler County, Pennsylvania, Democratic politicians have been calling for a new sense of unity not seen by most politicians in the past half century. They say political violence has no place in American society after fomenting race riots, inciting protesters and repeatedly denying the existence of the left-wing terrorist group Antifa.
Even the last political shooting (when a left-wing would-be assassin opened fire on a Republican baseball practice, nearly killing Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA)) had little impact on their rhetoric. If Democrats were serious this time, they would drop their legal war against Trump. They won’t, because all they care about is destroying Trump.
They know that any delay in the Democrats’ plans to oust Biden would come at a high cost to them, but in the words of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, “What’s the point of this?” The assassination attempt may revive calls for a change of candidate in a historic race, but it is far more likely to have a chilling effect on political rhetoric overall.
Americans aren’t used to seeing a candidate’s face smeared with blood. It’s been more than 56 years since former Attorney General Bobby Kennedy was gunned down on television while celebrating his victory in the California Democratic primary. His assassination, which came just months after war-weary Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson made the shocking decision not to run for reelection, helped fill the party’s fateful August convention in Chicago with tears, mayhem and tear gas.
“The presidential election ended last night.” One person NBC News After the instantly iconic photo was released of a bloodied and defiant Trump surrounded by Secret Service officers and raising his fist under an American flag, a senior Democratic leader said: “Now it’s time to focus on keeping the Senate and taking over the House. The only good thing about last night for Democrats is that we don’t get to talk about Joe Biden’s age today.”
“We’re so screwed,” the “longtime Democrat” added.
When Congress returns next week, with lawmakers just two weeks before their long August recess and less than a month until the Democratic National Convention, they’ll return to Chicago to try their fate. Don’t expect less chaos.
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Glenn Beck:Pray for Donald Trump, our leaders, and our Republic.
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In other news
“BlazeNews Tonight” comes to Milwaukee
Julio Rosas and I arrived in Milwaukee Sunday night for what is sure to be a historic event. We’ll be sprinting all over the Brew City, stalking politicians, covering protests and reporting the details every night on “Blaze News Tonight.” Tune in every night at 8pm ET on BlazeTV.com, YouTube or X for exclusive interviews with top Republicans hosted by host Jill Savage and edited by Managing Editor Matthew Peterson.
If you’re in town, let me know and I’ll buy you a Pabst.
Fires rising: Don’t crowd:Terrifying Echoes of 1968
A divided nation, the departure of an unpopular president, chaos at the Democratic Convention in Chicago and a political assassination caught on camera. If you missed the comparisons between 2024 and 1968 before the weekend, Saturday’s deadly violence will change that forever. Emily Jasinski reports on the wounds that have yet to heal.
“I was 10 years old when my uncle was assassinated, and I remember it like it was yesterday,” Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on Fox News, hours after a bullet grazed the side of Donald Trump’s head. Recalling the days after the 1963 tragedy, Kennedy said “healing took place.”
Less than five years later, Kennedy’s father was killed by an assassin, just months after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., and just one day after Andy Warhol was shot. More than half a century later, the Smithsonian Institution describes 1968 as “the year that shattered America.”
Anti-war demonstrations were rocking college campuses. The Democrats were holding a convention in Chicago. A man named Robert F. Kennedy was running. It may seem like we’ve been here before, but what if we’ve never actually left here?
