Even in the midst of a nationwide pandemic that has severely curtailed Republicans’ ability to restrict party, the convention that the new president ordered next week will still include moments designed both to surprise viewers and triggers violations of Trump’s opponents – both defining features of Trump’s political style.
Depending on how the November election goes – and how Republicans reshuffle themselves if the president loses – the new week’s procedures may reflect the same on the latest shock of that market of politics as an illustration of the new GOP that formed in his image.
Details in flux
Details for the week remain fluid and some of the key elements were still being worked out between the White House, Republican National Committee and convention planners. Trump aides were reaching out to potential participants, including a long line of Americans whose personal stories they believe will resonate with voters.
This includes those who have benefited from some of the administration’s initiatives, such as opportunity zones and school quality, and those who have experienced trauma or suffered in ways that the president says he is trying to combat.
“I think it’s probably the biggest thing is the untold stories that will be told next week,” White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told reporters aboard Air Force One on Tuesday when Trump returned from a visit to Arizona. “I think those will be the biggest surprises.”
Within the White House, Trump’s senior adviser Jared Kushner has taken a leading role in taking his father – in – law’s ideas and demands into account and trying to make them a reality. He was joined in those efforts by former adviser Hope Hicks and members of the campaign team, including GOP party chairman Ronna McDaniel. Although Kushner was not originally planning to speak at the convention like the other prominent members of the family, it is now considered, a source familiar with the planning told CNN.
Speakers for the president were drafting an address that adviser Kellyanne Conway said Wednesday would amount to a “progress report” of Trump’s first term.
“It’s going to be an exciting week,” she told reporters at the White House. “Only the president can provide that from here, only the first lady can be here who provides her address.”
Although the coronavirus pandemic will provide an unspoken subtext for the drastically changed convention, Trump advisers said they did not expect the health crisis to be a heavy focus of the procedures, as it has done during the Democrats. Trump’s response to the crisis has been widely criticized.
What we know
After exhaustive deliberations on potential locations, most of the convention in Washington will be central, including on the White House lawn and at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, located around the block of Trump’s hotel (which Republicans said they expected to act as a social hub for the week and will likely benefit financially). Some employees have begun to refer to the Mellon Auditorium as the place where “Mnuchin got married,” meaning the rich treasurer was in 2017 married actress Louise Linton.
In pre-pandemic times, the historic auditorium can seat up to 1,000 people. But because of Covid-19 restrictions, the president’s device dares to have an audience with restrictions. “There will be under 100 people in the building,” a person familiar with the planning told CNN, adding that it could be as few as 30 people, including staff and production crews.
Trump still plans to travel to Charlotte, North Carolina next week at some point, the original site selected by Republicans for its convention more than two years ago. Delegates were still planning to call there to conduct the party’s formal business and hold meetings.
The fireworks display that Trump ordered for the National Mall after his speech for acceptance is still in flux as of Thursday. Planners are awaiting approval by the National Park Service.
A roster that includes bit-players in several Trump-era controversies – including the pair-toting couple from St. Louis and the high school Catholic student who accuses major media companies of libel – is yet to come together.
And speaking slots for Trump allies and members of Trump’s immediate family – including the president’s first lady and adult children – are being allocated.
The White House itself appears set as a major backdrop. Massive theatrical jetties and rigs for lights began flying up the South Lawn this week, preventing the president from using his helicopter to fly to Andrews Joint Base for his out-of-town trips. Trump is expected to deliver his acceptance speech there on Thursday.
Final touches are being made in the restoration of the White House Rose Garden, which is expected to be completed by next week in time for first lady Melania Trump to deliver her speech on Tuesday.
Vice President Mike Pence, who recently scaled up his own campaign trip, will speak at Fort McHenry in Baltimore. The site, which Trump visited on Memorial Day, was the inspiration for the Star Spangled Banner. And Ivanka Trump plans to introduce her father to the White House next Thursday.
A counter-punch
With less time to plan their events after Trump abruptly canceled a personal convention months ago, Republicans were now in a hurry to realize his visions of an extravagant and striking Trumpian affair.
Trump is watching hours of the Democrats’ conference this week, and Trump has conveyed to employees what he thinks works well and what he does not want to see replicated – in particular the tapped speeches that some officials have delivered instead of live addresses.
Trump also does not particularly like watching on tape. Several sources have described the president as someone who becomes impatient and frustrated when tapping at pre-recorded addresses. He prefers to graze instead of an audience.
There will be a hybrid of applied and live programming in the early hours of the convention, but most of the primetime speeches will be done live, a person familiar with the planning told CNN.
However, in insisting that almost everything happens live, Trump risks what some GOP conventional planners fear as technical issues such as timing of inconvenience that cannot be edited – just the scenario that Democrats sought to avoid in pre-tap speeches, such as the former first ladies.
Whether it’s live as a carpet, the convention, as described by people familiar with its planning, will include a presidency and a candidacy built on divided cultural battles, made for television flash and a motto-like attraction for controversy.
Richard Grenell, the outspoken former intelligence officer and US ambassador to Germany; Nikki Haley, the former United States Ambassador to the United Nations; Andrew Pollack, the father of the victim of Parkland Meadow Pollack; anti-abortion activist Abby Johnson; South Dakota Gov. Christ Name and Pennsylvania congressional candidate Sean Parnell will also be among the speakers.
Similarly, Alice Johnson, a former federal criminal whose life sentence was imposed by Trump on the urgency of Kim Kardashian West.
A list of lawmakers who have supported Trump, including Sens. Joni Ernst and Tim Scott, will speak Monday. The themes will be “land of chance”, “land of promise,” “land of heroes” and – for the night the president speaks – “land of greatness.”
Aides have pointed to Trump’s speech in July on Mount Rushmore as a model for the tone they are trying to set in Trump’s remarks, which they say will resonate with familiar themes the president has. hammered in official and political events for the last month.
That dark speech fell heavily into the divisive culture wars that Trump has staged this summer amid a nationwide racial development. In many ways, it reflected his first conventional speech in 2016, in which he intonated the words “law and order” four times.
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