MILWAUKEE — The assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump instantly switched the political calculus heading into November even more into his favor, with the Republican National Convention Monday poised to welcome their nominee as the martyr he always portrayed himself to be.
The moment in our history is fraught.
The image of a bloodied Trump pumping his fist at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania Saturday and mouthing the word “fight” will become one of the iconic photos defining these charged political times. Trump, the impeached, convicted, indicted 2020 election denier whose base sticks with him no matter what, faces a rematch with a beleaguered President Joe Biden, struggling to rebuff pressure to step down as the Democratic nominee.
The contrasts are sharp. Democrats heading to their Chicago convention in August are divided over Biden’s fate. Republicans are solidly united behind Trump.
Illinois Republican National Committeeman Richard Porter didn’t back Trump during the GOP primary. He thought it was time for a change. That didn’t happen. So he’s with Trump.
Said Porter: “We’re all MAGA now.”
Trump said in a post the bullet "pierced the upper part” of his ear but the enormity of what might have been if the bullet’s trajectory was a smidgen different is obvious to everyone. One person at Trump’s Pennsylvania rally was killed and two spectators seriously injured.
News outlets reported an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle was recovered from the scene. At some point, not this week, the attempted assassination of a former president — who on Thursday becomes the 2024 Republican presidential nominee — may be able to inform some of the members of the GOP party who have stood firm against an assault weapon ban. These are the weapons of choice of so many killers.
Taking aim at Trump changed the conversation. For now.
The attempted Trump assassination by the lone shooter — killed by Secret Service personnel — restored in this polarized political climate some civility. The nation united, from President Joe Biden on down, against this sort of political violence.
“An assassination attempt is contrary to everything we stand for as a nation. Everything. It’s not who we are as a nation. It’s not America, and we cannot allow this to happen,” Biden said. “Unity is the most elusive goal of all, but nothing is more important than that right now — unity.”
As for Biden, the tsunami of news coverage over whether he stays or goes as the Democratic nominee after his disastrous debate with Trump has been subsumed by coverage of the attempted assassination.
Reince Priebus is the chair of the Milwaukee Host Committee, Trump’s first White House chief of staff and a former chair of the Republican National Committee. I interviewed him on Saturday, and again on Sunday, to learn more how the Trump shooting will impact the tone and mood of the convention.
Priebus, who talked to Trump on Sunday, said this convention will be “epic.”
“I think most people are pretty stunned and just trying to comprehend what happened.” Trump is “very grateful for the miracle but he's also pretty sad about the fact that someone died, tragically, people were injured. So I would just say it's a mix of emotions right now that people are processing."
No convention events have been canceled because of the shooting. “The President made it pretty clear that he does not want us to change what we were planning on doing and that, you know, he's determined to continue forward.”
When we talked Saturday Priebus said the working assumption for now is that Biden will be the nominee.
“I think Joe Biden's made it clear that he's not going anywhere. He's not made an announcement he's going anywhere. So I don't think there's any other choice other than to move forward as if you are running against Joe Biden," Priebus said.
“I'm sure, though, that the folks on the Trump campaign will have a small focus on Kamala Harris. But I think that the wisest thing to do would be just to double down on Joe Biden and move forward.”
The 2024 election marks the first time in eight years the parties are hosting in-person political conventions, with the 2020 convention, when Trump was president, mostly virtual due to the COVID pandemic.
Milwaukee, Priebus said, “will be more like an incumbent convention. This is a feeling of an incumbent president coming in for reelection in complete control of the party, the delegates, the operations, program, from top to bottom.”
