How Trump used the Republican convention to shift the party his way
MILWAUKEE — From the passage of a party platform that de-emphasized longtime core conservative social issues to the selection of anti-intervention populist Sen.
MILWAUKEE — From the passage of a party platform that de-emphasized longtime core conservative social issues to the selection of anti-intervention populist Sen. JD Vance as his running mate, this week’s Republican convention underlined and bolded former President Donald Trump’s roadmap to take back the White House.
Abortion, gun rights and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol received little if any attention. The speaker lineup featured a union president, an OnlyFans model and disaffected Black and Latino Democrats, angered over crime and immigration, up and down the roster.
It was no accident. The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee, now fully under his control, are trying to entice traditionally Democratic-leaning constituencies that are disillusioned with the GOP, including working-class union members and young, relatively nonideological Black and Latino voters.
The convention marked the most direct appeal to them the party has ever made, bringing in speakers who were somewhat jarring to traditional GOP constituencies. This indicates that the Trump campaign believes it has a better chance at attracting those voters than at winning back the Trump-to-President Joe Biden crossover voters who left him in 2020 — most notably, the well-educated and suburban white voters who cast many votes for Nikki Haley in the 2024 GOP primary.
“This is not your father’s GOP anymore,” Mike Gonidakis, a Republican delegate from Ohio and president of Ohio Right to Life, told NBC News. “This is the Trump GOP now.”
Rating: 5