How to watch Trump at the RNC — and the key thing to keep in mind as it unfolds
The Republican National Convention was always going to be a coronation.
Now it’s going to be a canonization.
The whole thing has been constructed from the start as being All About Trump. As in Donald Trump, the former president of the United States who is seeking a second term after losing to Joe Biden in 2020. Trump has long claimed he alone could solve the nation’s problems, and his MAGA base — along with the Republican politicians who increasingly serve at his pleasure — seem perfectly happy to go along with that notion.
But even by those standards, Saturday changed everything. And then Monday changed it all again.
When is the GOP Convention?
The Republican National Convention will be held Monday, July 15, through Thursday, July 18. It will stream across several online platforms, including X (of course) and YouTube. Broadcast and cable networks will offer varying coverage, depending on the night.
Conventions used to be filled with drama, but in recent years have become nothing more than a perfunctory exercise in nominating a candidate. There are few surprises.
This time, the drama is back.
That’s largely because of the assassination attempt on Trump on Saturday, during a political rally in Ohio. Trump was injured but apparently unbowed, raising his fist as the Secret Service led him off the stage and shouting, “Fight, fight, fight!” The dramatic images captured by photographers are already being sold on T-shirts, the New York Times reports.
Already something of a cult figure among his base, Trump’s survival and defiance strengthened that devotion and added a quasi-religious element, as well. Jessie Watters on Fox News said Sunday that there was “an angel in Pennsylvania last night. Donald Trump has been blessed.” This echoed the sentiment of many Trump followers, and Trump himself.
Then Monday, in a stunning ruling, a Florida judge dismissed the classified-documents case against Trump. Reporting from the convention in Milwaukee, cable-news outlets described an already electric scene with already-worshipful Trump supporters even more elated by the unexpected news. CNN predicted that when Trump appears at the convention he will receive an ovation unlike any other, and there’s no reason to think otherwise.
A lot of attention has been paid to Biden’s gaffes lately, but CNN’s Jim Acosta made one Monday morning that seemed fitting, when he mistakenly referred to the former president as “Donald Luck.” So it seems.
How will Trump and J.D. Vance's tone change?
Both Biden and Trump, in the wake of the assassination attempt, have called for a toning down of political rhetoric. Biden did so from the Oval Office on Sunday, Trump in social-media posts and interviews. Trump has said that he threw away his acceptance speech Thursday and will write another, with a different focus.
The question will be whether anyone at the convention listens to Trump — or if he follows his own newfound guidelines. These are people who generally employ a tone of persecution, blame and retribution in their remarks. Political rhetoric has always been charged, but Trump’s popularity has given license to more openly negative and accusatory language. He referenced “American carnage” in his inaugural address in 2017, after all.
Trump’s response on Truth Social, his social-media network, to the dismissal of the documents case — “witch hunts,” “zombie case,” “election interference conspiracy” — suggests that toning things down will be a challenge for him.
On Monday, Trump announced that he had chosen Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate. Shortly after the shooting Saturday, Vance blamed the rhetoric of Biden and Democrats for the assassination attempt. Will he continue to? Or will he strike a different tone?
No one expects Republicans or Democrats to stop fighting to be elected. No one wants them to. The question is how dirty the fight gets, or whether recent events can indeed cool things down. We’re about to find out.
Even Fox News and CNN agree: Biden's speech was needed
How to watch the GOP Convention
All times are for Arizona:
ABC: 7 p.m. Monday-Thursday.
CBS: 7 p.m. Monday-Thursday.
NBC: 7 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, 6 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday.
CNN: Daily coverage.
Fox News: Daily coverage.
MSNBC: Daily coverage.
Reach Goodykoontz at [email protected]. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. X: @goodyk. Subscribe to the weekly movies newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: How to watch Trump at RNC — and the key thing to keep in mind
