As the Republican National Convention drew to a close in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, it became obvious that the Party’s expected nominee for the 2024 U.S. presidential election in November, former President Donald Trump, is not only capitalising on the popularity boost that he has inevitably benefited from since surviving an assassination attempt a week earlier, but has now established total control of the Republican Party and is in a strong position to take on incumbent President Joe Biden in that regard. The Convention itself marked several firsts — not only was Mr. Trump’s speech the first major public remarks he delivered since the assassin’s bullet injured his ear but otherwise left him unscathed, but the Convention itself was held for the first time in person since the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the cancellation of all public political events in 2020. It would also appear that Republican strategists have deepened their appreciation of optics as far as Mr. Trump’s appeal among the electorate goes. There was a distinct attempt to project the political power of women at the event, almost as if to soften the former president’s image, which was in years past battered by revelations of his unflattering remarks about women. Mr. Trump’s wife Melania made a rare appearance at the event, as did his 17-year-old granddaughter Kai, his daughter-in-law and co-chair of the Republican National Committee, Lara, Arkansas Governor Sarah Sanders, Mr. Trump’s former Press Secretary, and Indian American Usha Chilukuri Vance, who is the wife of Mr. Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance.
There is much to analyse in Mr. Trump picking the 39-year-old Mr. Vance for Vice Presidential candidate in the upcoming race. Mr. Trump is evidently keen to win over younger demographic cohorts in this election; he is also aligned to white, male America, and what it stands for in the country’s fraught politics today. There is also a geographic message in the subtext — as the junior Senator from Ohio, Mr. Vance could also become a critical interlocutor for the Trump campaign’s engagement with the all-important Rust Belt states — swing states of the mid-western U.S. that can potentially make or break a presidential candidate. While there is no denying Mr. Trump’s overall strong position and lead in swing states according to several national polls, three months is a long time in politics, and that certainly applies to the U.S.
