Republican delegates gathered in Milwaukee on Monday nominated Donald Trump as their candidate for the Nov. 5 presidential election, a mission the septuagenarian will formally accept Thursday in a speech that will be the highlight of the party convention. More than half of the roughly 2,400 delegates unsurprisingly chose the former Republican president, with voting continuing state by state.
Donald Trump had, shortly before, ended the suspense by announcing that he had chosen Ohio Senator JD Vance to be his vice president. A former military man and best-selling author, this 39-year-old elected official with an eclectic profile has constantly defended in Congress the causes dear to the former businessman, such as the fight against immigration and the defense of economic protectionism. He will give a speech on Wednesday evening.
Thousands of police officers
The announcement of the Trump-Vance “ticket” is the first highlight of an already historic convention: the tens of thousands of Republicans gathered in Milwaukee nearly lost their hero, targeted by gunfire during an outdoor rally on Saturday. Thousands of police officers are deployed in the streets of the former industrial city, under high tension. “If they’re not anxious, then neither am I,” confides Tim Hawkins, 57, who came from the other side of the country. The venue chosen for the convention is a huge sports complex, whose walls are covered with large photographs glorifying the 45th president of the United States, who also wants to be the 47th.
The major themes of the convention will be purchasing power, immigration, crime and the security guaranteed by a strong America. But the high point of this institutional and festive event will come on Thursday, when Donald Trump will be designated the official Republican candidate for the election. His coronation is no longer in doubt, formalized during a spectacular evening, punctuated by the release of 100,000 red, white and blue balloons. The septuagenarian Republican keeps his schedule extremely discreet, security requires.
“Prime-time evenings”
Because the image that everyone has in mind, and that has gone around the world, is that of a Donald Trump with a bloody ear, his fist raised, hastily evacuated by his bodyguards from a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. This attack shocked an increasingly polarized American society, angering the most radical Trumpist activists, who openly accuse the Democrats of bearing responsibility. With its more than 50,000 participants, the event already promised to be an ultra-secure event.
Entire areas of the city center are fenced off with large metal fences and patrolled by Secret Service agents, the elite police force that has come under fire for failing to adequately protect Donald Trump at his outdoor rally on Saturday. But the convention’s packed schedule remains. “Aside from increased security outside the perimeter, there will be no change to the schedule,” said David Bossie, a Trump insider who co-chairs the convention. “This is a four-night primetime television production that we’re extremely proud of, and we’re not going to change it because of a tragic event,” he added.
Shaking up his schedule, President Joe Biden worked to ease tensions during this weekend that will mark the country. “There is no place for this kind of violence in America,” the 81-year-old Democrat declared, before calling on the nation to “unite.” The attack on Donald Trump could be beneficial for the Republican electorally, experts believe. They note in contrast how Joe Biden is currently weakened by questions about his mental acuity, with elected officials from his own party calling on him to step down.
For Martin Kutlzer, a Milwaukee resident and Republican sympathizer, there is no doubt: the race for the White House is “over.” “Donald Trump is going to win, because we always tend to rally around those who have been affected,” the sixty-year-old proudly proclaims to AFP.