GOP confidence prevails on first night of Republican National Convention

MILWAUKEE (CN) — A buzzy atmosphere permeated the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Monday night as the Republican National Convention kicked off its first evening session days after the party’s presumptive nominee was injured in an assassination attempt.

Republicans had a busy first day at their party’s presidential convention, unofficially adopting Donald Trump as their nominee hours after the former president announced on Truth Social that he had selected Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate.

Vance — a populist and erstwhile political outsider in the former president’s mold who changed his tune after initially criticizing him — beat out fellow contenders like Florida Senator Marco Rubio and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum for the number-two spot on Trump’s ticket.

After a moment of prayer for Corey Comperatore, a former firefighter who was killed in the attempt on Trump’s life at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Saturday, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley called on delegates in attendance to help elect the Trump/Vance ticket to the White House.

“We must unite as a party and we must unite as a nation. We must show the same resilience as President Trump and lead this nation to a greater future,” Whatley said.

The roster of speakers in the evening’s first half featured multiple Black politicians throwing their support behind Trump, including North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, U.S. Representative Wesley Hunt of Texas, U.S. Representative John James of Michigan and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott.

These speakers blasted President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for what they described as an inflation-wracked economy that is suffocating struggling Americans, as well as for promoting a politics of victimhood.

James shared the story of his father growing up in the Jim Crow South, paying his way through college in Mississippi and then moving north to Michigan in search of work — work that, incidentally, had him hauling beer from Michigan to Milwaukee.

“My family’s story is the American dream story,” James said. “Joe Biden and Democrats have given up on the American dream.”

Scott, who was a presidential candidate for this year’s election before suspending his campaign in November 2023 and was once thought of as a potential vice presidential nominee, also shared anecdotes about his humble upbringing, and his mother who taught him to not feel like a victim.

To enthusiastic applause and cheers from those gathered in Fiserv Forum, Scott declared his oft-repeated line that “America is not a racist country."

“We’re not just the Grand Old Party of the past. We are the Great Opportunity Party of America’s future,” Scott said.

In keeping with the night’s theme of “Make America Wealthy Again,” other Republican politicians shared stories of overcoming upbringings in families with meager finances, corresponding those experiences to families today grappling with the high prices of things like housing, gasoline and food staples who have lost a similar faith in the American dream.

U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida, whose mother and grandmother sacrificed and scrimped so he could attend private school, said “the disastrous results of the Biden-Harris agenda trascend race, religion or income” as inflation persists due to the current administration’s economic policies.

“With Trump, our economy will boom again. You will have more money in your pocket again. And your children will have a future again,” Donalds said.

Meanwhile, at the convention’s official watch party held in a Wisconsin-themed pub just steps from the Fiserv Forum, there was an air of confidence among the attendees and delegates who had escaped the event space for the evening.

Few people were paying attention to the array of television screens broadcasting Fox News coverage of the convention. As the event’s second session got underway, attendees sipped on Wisconsin’s own Spotted Cow beer and shot the breeze. One pub patron — a delegate from Ohio, judging by his event badge — lamented that one of the few restaurants within the Fiserv venue was sponsored by CNN (Politico was the joint sponsor).

Some attendees expressed cautious confidence about the fallout from the weekend’s assassination attempt against former President Trump.

“The thing that happened recently, I hate to say it, it’s in his favor,” said Jerry Fisher, a convention attendee who sits on Texas’ State Republican Executive Committee. She told Courthouse News that tempers among her Republican colleagues were running high after the attempt on Trump’s life.

“They want to stop this,” Fisher said of Republican voters. “They want to back Trump, get him in there and stop this insanity.”

Following Saturday’s shooting, Republican lawmakers and political leaders were quick to pin blame on President Joe Biden and Democrats for what they said was anti-Trump rhetoric that put him in the crosshairs. There’s no evidence that the former president’s would-be assassin was inspired by Democrats — the FBI has said that information they have reviewed so far does little to establish the shooter’s motive.

Questions also swirled about the safety of this week’s convention. But Fisher said Monday that she felt safe in Milwaukee.

“We’re in the safest city in America right now,” she said, pointing to the throngs of law enforcement officers positioned throughout the convention venue.

“It’s when we go home, that’s when we need to watch it,” Fisher added. “It’s not a safe country anymore.”

Sporting a bandage on his left ear, Trump himself entered the arena late in the evening’s program, drawing rapturous cheers and applause from the crowd. To the strains of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA,” Trump pumped his fist to the crowd and saluted the band before taking his seat next to Vance.

“USA! USA! USA!” the crowd chanted. “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

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