redeﬁning party unity at the republican convent...

Redefining Party Unity at the Republican Convent... https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-0...

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Donald Trump Throws aHeckuva PartyThe GOP’s nominee for president puts on a wildshow—just maybe not the one he intended.by July 21, 2016, 3:00 AM PDTUpdated on July 21, 2016, 8:41 AM PDTFrom | Subscribe | Reprints

COVER STORY

Joshua Green


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Photographer: Jonno Rattman for Bloomberg Businessweek

The Republican National Convention in Cleveland was supposed to unify the

GOP after a long, contentious, lurid primary season that saw reality-TV star

Donald Trump easily best a field of 17 candidates for the White House. The

convention, Trump promised, would be a spectacular display of Hollywood

prowess featuring “winners” from all over. But the moment raw-nerved

delegates and politicos arrived in Cleveland, the city coursed with tensions

—between pro-Trump Republicans and #NeverTrump die-hards; between

Black Lives Matter activists and the pro-police Blue Lives Matter advocates

that sprang up to counter them; between Ted Cruz and the Trump supporters

who showered him with boos for refusing to endorse; and among the roiling

menagerie of doomsday preachers, conspiracy theorists, and zealots

shouting “Repent!” outside Quicken Loans Arena. “This is like protest


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bingo,” marveled Matt Pearce of the Los Angeles Times.

Behind the scenes and

offstage, these same tensions

played out among the most

powerful figures in Republican

politics. Despite Trump’s calls

for unity, many of his own

allies continued to assail

former rivals. Roger Stone, the

Nixon-worshipping bon vivant

who functions as Trump’s

Rasputin, called Governor

John Kasich of Ohio “a

pathetic stoner who will never

be president.” Though the

convention was in his home

state, Kasich refused to attend

on principle. Yet he was still a lurking peripheral presence in places like the

Sheraton Suites in Akron, where, already eyeing the 2020 race, he shared

with Michigan’s delegation his post-Trump vision of “a unifying, an

uplifting, and a hopeful party.”

At times, the mood in the main hall seemed apocalyptic. “What we witnessed

in Ferguson, in Baltimore, and in Baton Rouge was a collapse of social order,”

declared Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke Jr. on Monday night. To

amplify the evening’s theme, “Make America Safe Again,” a succession of

speakers seemingly molded in Trump’s image painted a picture of America

as a country overrun by Muslims, Mexicans, terrorists, and police killers.

Many delegates were uncomfortable with this. Some winced or shook their


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heads. Some marched out.

The closest thing to a unifying

sentiment was the conviction

blared through bullhorns and

splashed across T-shirts that

Hillary Clinton belonged in

jail. Retired Lieutenant

General Michael Flynn, who’d

been on Trump’s vice

presidential shortlist,

endorsed the idea from the

convention stage. Former

Trump rival Ben Carson

carried his indictment further,

suggesting Hillary admired

Lucifer. It fell to New Jersey

Governor Chris Christie, also

passed over for vice president,

to provide a more measured

response—at least, initially.

Asked at a Michigan delegate

breakfast to promise that he’d

prosecute Clinton “when Trump names you attorney general,” Christie

paused. “It is very tempting to give in to what I know would be an enormous

applause line,” he said. But he demurred: A Republican needs to “provide the

type of leadership as attorney general that doesn’t prejudge but lets facts

determine our course, not our politics.” The next evening Christie took the

stage and went for the applause, delivering his speech in the form of a

prosecutor’s brief against Clinton and leading a witch-hunt chant of


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“Guilty!”

Did any of this put off GOP stalwarts? Only a handful. Ronald Rabin, a retired

U.S. Army colonel from North Carolina, spoke for most delegates when he

said that throughout the campaign, “Trump was the only one who made

sense.”


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Slide Show: The Republican Convention You Don't See Photographer: Jonno Rattman for Bloomberg

Businessweek

(Updates with the reaction to Ted Cruz’s speech in the first paragraph.)


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redeﬁning party unity at the republican convent...

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