A 'humble' Trump? Former president may stress unity, but it won't mean watering down MAGA

MILWAUKEE — Eric Trump told the Florida delegation to the Republican National Convention Tuesday he has seen a "humbleness" in his father since a sniper's attempt on his life left him bloodied but defiantly unbowed.

The previous day, Donald Trump had said in a network interview that his shockingly close call has had "an impact."

America will meet Trump's "new persona," as his second-eldest son further described it, when the former president on Thursday evening accepts the 2024 Republican Party presidential nomination before what could be a Super Bowl-sized television audience.

If the preceding three days of speeches at this year's GOP convention have been any kind of preamble, Trump will appeal to unity — but not with any concessions.

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Republicans meeting for their quadrennial national summit, the first large-scale one since 2016, have championed the notion of the country coming together while pledging to do their part to lower the temperature in the red-hot rhetoric that has characterized this year's election season.

On Wednesday night, in accepting the vice presidential nomination, U.S. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, spoke of Trump's call for national unity and healing after being wounded in the devastating shooting.

"We have a big tent in this party on everything from national security to economic policy," he said. "But my message to you my fellow Republicans is we love this country and we are united to win."

Vance said that Americans' disagreements "make us stronger" and during his time in the U.S. Senate he at times persuaded rival Democrats and they at times persuaded him.

"But my message to my fellow Americans watching from across the country is shouldn't we be governed by a party that is unafraid to debate ideas and come to the best solution?" he said.

But Republicans gathered here this week have repeatedly stressed and made sharply clear that tone does not exactly equate with accommodation or compromise or a search for consensus with "radical" Democrats.

"Unity doesn't have to mean agreement," said U.S. Rep. Kat Cammack, a North Florida Republican. "Americans are never going to agree 100% on the policy."

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During her remarks at Monday's Florida delegation breakfast, Cammack quipped wanting to swap out the "all gender bathrooms" signs in the Baird Center, a convention hall just south from the Fiserv Arena, home to the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks and where the GOP's plenary work and prime-time speeches are delivered.

She later blamed Secret Service diversity, equity and inclusion policies for the failure to protect Trump and rallygoers sitting behind him on Saturday's stage from an assailant's bullets.

The country as a whole was shocked by the violence at the Pennsylvania rally, which unfolded on live television and with at least one set of the former president's young grandchildren watching. That said, there remains a wide, seemingly unbridgeable gap between what Republicans and Democrats want.

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At the RNC, there's been zero talk of Project 2025, a think-tank plan caustically criticized by Democrats and others as a blueprint for authoritarian governance in America. The RNC's evening lineup also has a more popular face in 2024.

MAGA stars like Mike Flynn, a key player in the "Stop the Steal" movement, pillow guy Mike Lindell and podcast firebrand Steve Bannon have not been prominently featured.

Instead, reality television stars Amber Rose, who spoke about doing her independent "research" to conclude Trump was her candidate, and Savannah Chrisley, whose parents are serving prison terms on bank and tax fraud charges, echoed Trump in blasting "rogue prosecutors" who brought the charges against them.

Unity? Yes. Dilute America First MAGA principles? No

Still, nightly speakers have made clear the Make America Great Again agenda — still seen by many Democrats, independents and undecided voters as an unpalatable, far-right brand of GOP politics — will neither be watered down or bleached to soften its hue. That's been the clarion call as well in the innumerable happenings around the convention hall, breakfasts, receptions, luncheons, parties and other social gatherings.

For example, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia sent this cutting signal to transgender people: "Let me state this clearly: There are only two genders."

The 2024 platform, approved on Monday, lists two all capitalized bullet point items in its introduction: The first is "SEAL THE BORDER, AND STOP THE MIGRANT INVASION" and the second, "CARRY OUT THE LARGEST DEPORTATION OPERATION IN AMERICAN HISTORY."

On the convention floor Wednesday, Valentina Gomez, a candidate for Missouri secretary of state, was "speaking her mind" in an interview with Canadian media in which she said her fellow "Show-Me Staters" are tired of being shown "gay garbage" before slamming Vice President Kamala Harris for "using the Black card."

Democrats have been striking back hard with their own emails and social-media statements fired off from a now provocatively sounding "War Room."

"The more the American people learn about Trump and Vance, and their terrifying Project 2025 agenda, the clearer the choice will be to choose President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ vision that protects our basic freedoms come November,” wrote Democratic National Committee Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd in one missive about the former president and U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, his choice for vice president.

“The RNC focused on crime tonight so perhaps they should’ve had their nominee and convicted felon Donald Trump deliver his keynote address early," wrote DNC Chairman Jamie Harrison in another. "The MAGA extremists on stage made clear why crime skyrocketed under Donald Trump’s leadership and why they cannot be trusted to make our communities safer if given a second shot in the White House."

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Floridians say the unity is found in core values, steadfast condemnation of violence

Unity, Florida's Cammack said, starts by embracing a fundamental point, and accountability.

"The thing we can agree on is violence has no place," she said, adding that those who have "engaged in incendiary rhetoric" must take ownership of it and "work to make right the situation you helped create."

Others say they have seen polarization turn familial relations frosty. Florida state Sen. Ileana Garcia, who represents a Miami district, said she was saddened by disagreements with her younger sister.

"Yeah, there was a given moment in which there was a complete divide, and it was sad," said Garcia. "That shouldn't have happened. We can have differences, but we have to unify on the basic values of this country, which are God, family and freedom."

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Garcia said she would like to see the "accusatory" talk toned down. She said her district, which Trump lost by 16 points in 2016 but won by 2 points four years later, is a textbook case of across-the-aisle reach.

"I'm there to serve everyone. I don't just serve Republicans. I serve Democrats and independents," she said. "What I try to do is to find that thread that we all have in common and then be respectful of the differences that we can have."

Jimmy Patronis, Florida's statewide elected chief financial officer, was holding court on the convention floor Wednesday still grappling with the events of the past week. Asked what he hopes Trump will tell the nation tomorrow, Patronis said he longs for a tone similar to the 45th president's first message to a joint session of Congress in March 2017.

"Each American generation passes the torch of truth, liberty and justice — in an unbroken chain all the way down to the present," Trump said that night. "That torch is now in our hands. And we will use it to light up the world. I am here tonight to deliver a message of unity and strength, and it is a message deeply delivered from my heart."

Patronis said "there's a little bit of that type of anticipation" for an address like that headed into Thursday night, when Trump will lay out his "vision for the future" at a moment that has more gravity hovering over it.

"When you look at how far we have taken to breaking point of emotions and hatred and the vitriol we saw this past weekend, where literally a person's life was taken because of political speech, that's not an America that any of us wants to identify with — Democrat, Republican, independent," he said.

"We need a little bit of healthy pause button, and unity." he said.

Watching the proceedings this week from the convention gallery, Florida political scientist and analyst Susan MacManus said she can appreciate the calls for unity, but there's a better word all should be employing.

"What they're talking about, really, is civility," said MacManus, who has been attending conventions since 1992. "People want to be able to talk to each other. They just want to be able to disagree."

Antonio Fins is a politics and business editor at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at [email protected]. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: GOP convention: A 'humble' Trump won't mean diluting the MAGA message