Thunderous chants of "USA" filled the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, where former president Donald Trump made his first public appearance since surviving an assassination attempt—his bandaged ear a reminder of how narrowly he cheated death just two days before at a rally in Pennsylvania.
The vibes were great again.
Trump on Monday night joined his running mate—Sen. J.D. Vance (R., Ohio)—among the crowd, and watched as an invigorated Republican Party made its case to American voters. Speaker after speaker hammed President Joe Biden's economic record, lamenting the soaring cost of gas and groceries due to inflation and urging Americans to remember how everything was better under Trump.
"Man, there's a different feeling at this Republican convention," wrote Steve Peoples, chief political reporter for the Associated Press. "Never seen the party this united and energized. Overwhelming feeling of inevitability in this room."
That wasn't the only difference compared to previous GOP gatherings. Video packages highlighted the concerns of "everyday Americans," such as "waitresses and waiters, drivers and doormen, bartenders and baristas." There was at least a hint of a populist, class-based appeal to working class voters, hammered home by the keynote speaker, Teamsters president Sean O'Brien, who urged both parties to stop taking advice from "corporate talking heads."
O'Brien went on to praise Trump's courage, both for accepting his invitation to speak at the RNC and for the former president's iconic reaction to Saturday's failed assassination attempt. "He has proven to be one tough SOB," the union leader said. It was a popular sentiment, emphatically expressed throughout the day. Sen. Tim Scott (R., S.C.) delivered impassioned remarks about the power of faith. "Our God still saves," he said. "Because on Saturday, the devil came to Pennsylvania holding a rifle. But an American lion got back up on his feet and he roared."
Scott was one of several black GOP lawmakers who took the stage and blasted the Democratic Party for taking black voters for granted. Polls suggest an increasingly receptive audience for this message, particularly among black men. Participants in a recent New York Times focus group of black male voters, for example, criticized Democrats for "treating them like victims." Rep. John James (R., Mich.) mockingly paraphrased Biden's infamous comments about black voters, suggesting "you ain't black" unless you vote for Trump.
Biden, meanwhile, sat for another interview in an effort to prove his fitness to serve another four-year term in office. "I’m on the horse," he told Lester Holt of NBC News. "What I’m doing is going out and demonstrating to the American people that I have command of all my faculties, that I don’t need—notes. I don’t need telepro—I can go out and answer any questions at all."
It's still an open question whether Biden will emerge as the nominee when Democrats hold their convention in Chicago next month. A series of polls conducted before the assassination attempt showed Trump leading Biden in a number of crucial swing states. Trump's prospects received an additional boost Monday when billionaire Elon Musk pledged to donate $45 million per month to a new super PAC supporting the GOP candidate.
Democrats are nowhere near as united and energized as Republicans appeared on Monday, and their presumptive nominee was not doing much to change that. Holt asked Biden what would happen if he suffered another humiliating senior moment like he did during last month's debate, which caused many Democrats to lose faith in Biden's ability to win the election. The president's response, according to the official NBC transcript: "What happened INAUDIBLE?"