A long, long time ago, Democrats briefly held midterm national political conventions, sometimes called “mini-conventions.” Republicans are having their own this year, and some Democrats may envy the initiative. They shouldn’t, as I explained at New York:
Democrats hope that midterm voters only have one thing when they head to the polls in November: their opinion of Donald Trump. If, as is usually the case, the midterms are principally a referendum on the job performance of the occupant of the White House, then Republicans are going to lose, barring some extremely unlikely revival in Trump’s popularity, which took a nosedive shortly after his second term began and has not recovered. Yes, Republicans have put a fat thumb on the scales via unprecedented gerrymandering of U.S. House districts and have a big financial advantage. But in the end, they can’t overcome any national fixation on giving Trump a bad report card for his tumultuous second term.
As it happens, the president is insisting on giving Democrats exactly what they want: keeping the attention on him. That is certainly the likely upshot of the first-ever GOP midterm convention being held in Dallas in less than three weeks, just before early voting begins in parts of the country. Check out this announcement from the man himself on Truth Social and ask yourself if there is any chance the mini-convention won’t be the most self-absorbed Trump-o-centric event ever:
“THE GREATEST RALLY OF THEM ALL
“THE MIDTERM CONVENTION is coming to Dallas, Texas, September 9th and 10th. It will be a Rally like never before — Incredible!
“For the first time EVER, Republicans from all across our Great Country will come together for a Midterm Convention to celebrate our Tremendous Victories and Success, showcase our incredible Candidates, and prepare for the most important Midterm Election in History. Our Movement is bigger, better, and stronger than ever before. We have MADE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, AND WE ARE GOING TO CELEBRATE THIS TREMENDOUS AND TOTALLY UNPRECEDENTED SUCCESS! The Radical Left Lunatics are trying to destroy our Country, but they have failed, and will never be successful, unless we allow that to happen — AND WE WON’T!
“We are going to WIN the Midterms, protect and cherish our Country, and make it GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE. Be there, September 9th and 10th — It will be like nothing else. The Music, Excitement, and Importance of this Evening will be at levels never seen at a Convention or Political Event. I will be with you both nights, and rarin’ to go. See you in Dallas! President DONALD J. TRUMP”
Other sources invariably describe the clambake in Dallas in similarly insular terms: It’s a celebration, a self-congratulation, and above all a rally to preach to the preassembled choir while also raising some money, the commodity the GOP least needs going into the midterm home stretch, notes Politico:
“Instead of a traditional convention in which the parties conduct business or elect delegates, the states parties are framing the convention slated for Sept. 9 to 10 in Dallas — which chairman Joe Gruters is calling ‘Trumpapalooza’ — as a way to raise money for local candidates.
“’It’s not just a convention. We’re not going to be voting on anything. This is to rally the troops,’ Denton County GOP Chair Melinda Preston said.”
Some state parties are distributing tickets by lottery and others are selling them for a pretty penny. But either way, no one is likely to be there who doesn’t believe Trump is the greatest president ever and that polls showing otherwise are all rigged. So when the president comes out for what are likely to be two long evening speeches, the spectacle will confirm that he entirely defines his party. If there is any swing-voter message at all, other than the ungrateful stupidity of people who don’t recognize we’re living in a golden age of peace and prosperity, it will be that the opposition “Dumocrats” are treasonous socialists or even communists who are consciously devoted to the destruction of the Republic. That won’t leave much time to articulate an affordability agenda or convince voters on the fence that the war with Iran will soon end.
Why are Republicans doing the opposition the favor of making the midterms all about Trump? For one thing, of course, the president’s ego demands it. But there is some method to the madness. Based on the poor results of the 2018 midterms and special elections for years now, Republican strategists are convinced that they need to functionally place Trump on the ballot to turn out his base. That this will also have a baleful effect on swing voters is considered beside the point: Without an energized MAGA base, Republicans won’t even be in the vicinity of victory. And so they are making a virtue of necessity with the biggest, loudest, most abrasive Trump rally one could imagine, while hoping that swing voters can be convinced to climb aboard or at least stay home by a savage crusade of lies about a Bolshevik takeover of the opposition party.
As the president says, it will be “like nothing else,” in the sense that the midterm convention will be exactly like every other MAGA rally you’ve ever seen but distilled to a raw essence. Since Trump will have to share the stage at the next actual Republican convention in 2028 with his proposed successor, the Dallas confab may be his last opportunity to strut his own stuff without a single distraction. And, for once, it will be a Trump show Democrats can enjoy.
