OAK CREEK, Wis. — With prayers and chants for Donald Trump, Illinois Republicans on Monday kicked off the first day of the Republican National Convention with renewed vigor and a focus on uniting a fractured state party behind the momentum of the former president’s campaign.
News of a federal judge’s dismissal of Trump’s classified documents case arrived in the middle of the Illinois delegation’s breakfast speaking program, but their first priority was celebrating his survival two days after his attempted assassination at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Illinois Republican National Committeewoman Demetra DeMonte also thanked God for “sparing Donald Trump from almost certain death.”
“Surely you sent an angel to gently touch his face, to move it so ever slightly to avoid the fatal shot from the assassin's bullet. This is just your most recent blessing of this man of ultimate courage and resilience, who was injured and prevailed over his enemies,” DeMonte said in an opening prayer.
U.S. Rep Mike Bost, a Republican from Murphysboro, said voters “saw a strong leader go down and stand up with an attitude to fight to bring back what it is this nation is.”
Bost said they would spend the week “talking about the policy, and talking about the issues. We’ll talk about the greatness of this person we're running for president in Donald Trump, his experience and know-how in his fight. And then what we also do, is we stand united.”
Bost then singled out former gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey, whom he beat in a “tough” primary showdown in the southern Illinois district.
“Let me tell you something: both I and that man right there, Darren Bailey, we’re gonna stand shoulder to shoulder and help elect Donald Trump,” Bost said.
Bailey later said, “We have a priority, and it is to get President Trump elected. Let's come together. Let's make that happen. And again, maybe by working together and doing some of that, we'll learn enough from each other to be able to move forward and work together on other things.”
State Rep. John Cabello, R-Machesney Park, who said he was "the first person in the Midwest higher than a mayor to endorse" Trump in 2016, began a "Trump" chant among delegates.
"We need to put our energy behind each other and push Democrats back. That's what we need to do in this state," Cabello said.
U.S. Rep Mary Miller, a Republican from downstate Oakland, echoed that sense of intra-party camaraderie in contrast to months of squabbles between differing factions of a state GOP that has moved farther right.
“It's kind of like a family,” Miller said. “When you get a lot of personalities together, you have problems you need to work out, but bottom line, you’re a family and you stick together, and that's what the Republican Party in Illinois is going to do… We have an enemy, and it's the people that want to fundamentally transform America.”
Illinois Republicans roundly celebrated the dismissal of the classified documents case, viewing it as a sign of the former president’s innocence — despite the federal judge not taking up the legality of the actions. The case was dismissed because U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon ruled that the appointment of Jack Smith as special counsel was unconstitutional.
State Sen. Andrew Chesney, R-Freeport, said he was not surprised to hear about the classified documents case dismissal — and claimed “this is all because they don’t like the president.”
“Republicans have said that this is, you know, they’re weaponizing the judicial system and we’ve seen this and we believe that this should be settled at the ballot box and not in the courtroom,” said Chesney, an at-large delegate.
Bost, too, told reporters that he was “glad” to hear about the dismissal.
“The only person in this nation that can and have [sic] the ability to remove and or change the classification is the sitting president of the United States. That’s why it’s important that this was thrown out,” Bost said. “The powers of the president should not be infringed upon. He or she has to be able to run the country.”
