The Republican National Convention: Amidst Tragedy and Defiance

The Republican National Convention

This year’s Republican National Convention, where Donald Trump will be formally nominated for the presidential campaign, was originally going to be overshadowed by the former president’s conviction on 34 criminal charges. Instead, it is taking place just days after a very public attempt on his life that very nearly succeeded.

Trump has struck a defiant tone since the assassination attempt and insists the convention will be going ahead as normal, despite outrage at the failure of the security services to keep the ex-president safe from an armed assailant.

The US Secret Service has said security plans for the convention — in the works for more than a year — remain the same after the Saturday shooting, in which Trump’s right ear was pierced by a bullet. A nearby audience member was fatally shot, and two others were critically injured in the assault, which has prompted widespread calls to evaluate security measures.

Nonetheless, Trump arrived in the host city of Milwaukee on Sunday. City leaders reiterated their confidence in security plans as delegates, activists, and journalists started arriving in town.

• Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson said, “We take this matter very, very seriously. We take public safety very, very seriously.”
• Police Chief Jeffrey Norman mentioned that law enforcement was “working around the clock” to prepare for an estimated 30,000 people to descend on the city for the week’s events.

How it Works

US presidential conventions were once crucial parts of elections, but their role today is mainly ceremonial, positioning the parties for the final stretch of what has effectively become a two-year-long campaign cycle.

As far as formal proceedings go, the core event will be Trump’s nomination for the election by party delegates. The roll call vote will have no suspense whatever as Trump has already been the presumptive nominee for months, having clinched a majority of convention delegates on 12 March.

A vast majority of those delegates are already bound to support Trump. However, due to state party rules, at least a handful are still compelled to vote for former candidate Nikki Haley, even after she released her delegates.

Haley ran a surprisingly long primary campaign against Trump and eventually endorsed him. After Saturday’s shooting, she was unexpectedly offered her own speaking slot at the convention, and will appear on Tuesday in a show of party unity.

Among those to feature are some of the most hardline members of the Republican Party, as well as controversial figures like Charlie Kirk, a far-right activist.

The Main Event

The former president himself will give his own keynote speech on Thursday evening. Aside from that appearance, the most-watched speaker will appear on Wednesday night in the form of Trump’s as-yet-unannounced running mate.

It is not yet clear when Trump will unveil his choice. Several likely picks, such as South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem and Ohio Senator JD Vance, have been given speaking slots in their own right.

Even those speakers not chosen to run alongside Trump stand to benefit from the platform a convention speech offers them.

As for Trump’s main-event speech, in which he will formally accept the nomination, the former president could not ask for a more sympathetic audience or a bigger platform. The lengthy address will be broadcast live nationally in a primetime slot on Thursday evening.

Whether he will use the opportunity to call for a more peaceful political discourse, as others have done since he was almost killed at the weekend, is another matter.