So the US president’s decision to close out this week’s first ever Republican midterm convention with a plea – treat November’s congressional elections as a referendum on Trump himself – was received by his Democratic opponents with glee. They saw the president’s core pitch as a combination of begging and bribery. First he urged voters to “pretend that I’m on the ballot”.
Then he promised $5,000 payouts to every US adult if Republicans retain control of the House of Representatives and Senate in November. Andy Beshear, the Democratic governor of Kentucky, told reporters on Thursday: “If Donald Trump wants to hold a convention saying this election is about him, I fully support his decision. He’s telling me to pretend that he is on the ballot – I want people to pretend that he is on the ballot.” But with hundreds of members of Congress and candidates staying away from the convention, most seats in the upper tier remained empty both nights.
Trump’s keynote speech drew a modest 2.5 million viewers on Fox News, according to Nielsen data. Some attendees expressed discontent over the cost of living and Iran war while starting to look beyond the president to potential successors in 2028. With Trump’s approval rating at a historic low, it was far from certain that the two-day “Trump-a-palooza” will have the desired effect of galvanising the party’s base and recreating the turnout that powered his 2016 and 2024 presidential election victories.
Holding a convention in a midterm year was an attempt to make history in order to defy history. The party that holds the White House typically suffers midterm losses: George W Bush’s Republicans took a “thumping” in 2006, while Barack Obama’s Democrats endured a “shellacking” in 2010. The omens this year are no less foreboding: the Decision Desk HQ website projects that Democrats are poised to capture the House of Representatives 229-206, with the Senate hanging on a knife-edge at 50-50.
The spectacle in Dallas was rapidly pulled together at Trump’s behest after the host committee raised $45m in three weeks. It had some familiar trappings, including tall state delegations on the convention floor, fiery speeches and a celebratory balloon drop at the end, but no nominations or formal business. And there was no doubt who was the star of the show.
Trump’s image was everywhere in the corridors of the American Airlines Center. Attendees wore clothes with phrases such as “Trump tribe”, “Trump has our back” and “Proud deplorable”. Speaker after speaker lavished him with effusive praise.
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