Opinion: Eight years late, Trump finally gets his coronation | The party loved Reagan, but what it has come to feel for Trump is closer to religious veneration.

The Washington Post ^ | July 17, 2024 at 5:37 p.m. EDT | Karen Tumulty

[E. Pluribus Unum]

MILWAUKEE — When the Republicans put the final gavel to the wreckage of their convention in Cleveland eight years ago, they were in a state of nuclear meltdown.

Yes, they had a nominee in reality television star Donald Trump. But the party itself was a collection of warring factions that agreed on little by way of principles, beyond their collective desire to keep Hillary Clinton out of the White House.

Strategist David Urban, who helped organize the 2016 convention for Trump, recalls that the floor of Quicken Loans Arena felt like “enemy territory.” Tensions were thick between Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee. Even the normally rote process of passing a set of rules led to screaming matches between pro- and anti-Trump forces in the hall.

Story continues below advertisement

As one Colorado delegate told The Post: “I think the party is either in a major transition or in the throes of self-destruction.”

Advertisement

Now we know the answer: It was both.

At this week’s convention, voices of dissent are almost nowhere to be heard. Roaming the floor, I caught up with South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, who was one of Trump’s earliest backers in the GOP establishment. The governor has been to nine of these gatherings before, and “the spirit and enthusiasm in this one is the greatest I have ever seen,” he told me. “I don’t recall one quite like this one ever.”

On Thursday, when Trump formally accepts the Republican nomination for the third time in a row, the atmosphere on the convention floor will be euphoric. The ultimate showman will finally have the coronation that was denied him eight years ago and that had to be curtailed to an unsatisfying virtual event because of covid in 2020.

[popdonnelly]

It’s not “religious veneration”. It’s common sense.

[popdonnelly]

I would term wanting four more years of Biden/Harris as masochism.

[Robert DeLong]

They hated him from the start, that’s why they picked Ford in 1976 as their candidate, who lost to Carter in the General election.

[Retain Mike]

Ronald Reagan is the last president I voted for. Since then, I have voted against whatever creature the Democrats put forward. I like Harry Truman’s assessment when he said, “My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician. And to tell the truth, there’s hardly any difference.”

[dfwgator]

It’s called “Perseverance”.

[1Old Pro]

Thank goodness 2024 is not 2016, we did not have to put up with the fakes at the convention like Paul Ryan:
https://youtu.be/hUadzIuh8mQ?feature=shared

[ballplayer]

Hey Karen,deal with it,hag