The podium is opened to people who participated in the assault on the Capitol in support of Trump
▲ Trump and his vice presidential running mate, JD Vance (right), during the second day of the Republican National Convention.Afp Photo
Jim Cason and David Brooks
Correspondents
The newspaper La Jornada
Wednesday, July 17, 2024, p. 25
Milwaukee. Immigrants and everything that crosses the border open with Mexico, they are the source of all evil in the United States, was the message on the second day of the Republican National Convention and it is what highlights one of the main axes of the electoral campaign of the candidate –and poet– Donald Trump.
The arena erupted with the famous slogan of Build the wall in interludes between speakers who emphasized the seemingly great existential vulnerability of this superpower on its southern border and the great danger posed by those who cross it.
Senator Ted Cruz of Texas told the convention: “We are facing an invasion on our southern border… 11.5 million have crossed illegally our border,” falsely implying that they entered during Joe Biden’s presidency. Cruz offered stories of the victims of criminals undocumented immigrants, repeating that “every day we are being murdered, raped and forced into sexual slavery… Every damn day.”
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis repeated such accusations and the consequences of open borders that allow millions of immigrants to enter.
“If you arrived in a way illegal “Under Joe Biden, you will be sent back under President Trump,” declared Jim Banks, a far-right Senate candidate from Indiana.
“Millions of foreigners illegal They cross our borders; they wave Hamas flags on our campuses,” the Virginia Senate candidate charged, prompting a response from the crowd chanting USA, USAlike Hung Kao, the son of refugees from Vietnam.
Brick Manwho dresses in a suit with images of bricks to promote construction of Trump’s border wall, milled around the convention, giving interviews.
The parade of speakers – former vice presidential candidates, candidates for legislative posts and well-known party figures – competed to offer a message combining how bad the country is invaded by criminal migrants and Mexican drugs with a message that the last hope is the return of the almost martyr to rescue the country.
Biden, puppet of the left
From time to time, the script shifted from the focus on migrants to other threats, such as socialism. House Speaker Mike Johnson told the convention that the left is seeking to impose a marxist socialist utopia in the United States, and that Trump will never allow such a thing. DeSantis accused Biden of being just a puppet of the left and insinuated that Bernie Sanders is the puppet master.
Johnson insisted that Republicans We are the party of law and orderapparently choosing to ignore that the party’s presidential candidate is now a convicted felon.
And while they were denouncing the lack of law and accused migrants of being criminals, the Republicans offered the podium to criminals who participated in the coup attempt promoted by Trump in January 2021 and invited to their convention others who have been criminally accused of fraud, conspiracy and fabricating false documents, among other crimes.
In fact, yesterday the first session of this convention was started with the oath of loyalty to the United States led by Debbie Krauldis, who participated in the rally that culminated in the assault on the Capitol, reported the Washington Post.
Again and again, speakers claimed that all the ills, from the influx of migrants, to crime, to drugs, would cease, magically it seemed, the day Trump was elected president.
Trump, for the second night, entered to the rhythm of the song YMCA (a gay anthem from the 70s), to the arena to sit in the VIP box and absorb the waves of praise and tributes with a monarch’s smile.
But Republicans are also seeking more votes with this spectacle, and on Tuesday they managed to offer an image of party unity with the presence of former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, who praised the candidate. She declared that You don’t have to agree with Trump 100 percent of the time to vote for him. I don’t.and stressed that We have a country to save voting for Trump.
Another former Republican challenger now seeking to be named his vice president, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, repeated the themes of the night, restoring the security at home and abroad and do “America Great Again.” By the way, all the top Republican leaders have come here to bow to Trump’s reign with the exception of one: his former Vice President Mike Pence, whose hanging was demanded by the fanatics unleashed by the then President to derail the election, as the Vice President refused the order to disrupt the constitutional process.
Perhaps the most eloquent speaker was a bulldogwho just looked at the audience without offering any misinformation or attacking any immigrant. He took the podium next to his master, West Virginia Governor Jim Justice, a politician who has faced multiple fines and criminal charges for corruption (he did not dare to blame a Mexican for his legal problems).
The poet
In the different stands Throughout the Fiserv Forum area, the arena where the convention is being held and the convention centers around it, all kinds of Trumpist propaganda products are being sold, but there was one that surprised: with a banner that said Trump poetry and the greatest poet of our generationand promoting that it be declared poet laureate In the United States, a book was sold that included all of the former president’s tweets and messages, praising how lyrical his message is.
The Democrats
Beyond the Trumpist Disneyland staged inside the fortress in downtown Milwaukee and broadcast to the country, the campaign of his opponent and US President Joe Biden continued to navigate an internal crisis of confidence as he tried to counter the Republican spectacle. Indeed, the campaign team sent representatives to Milwaukee to respond to and refute Republican attacks and to insist that Biden will remain the Democratic candidate for president.
But the crisis of confidence within the Democratic Party surrounding its candidate has yet to be overcome. To date, at least 19 Democratic federal lawmakers have called for Biden to cede the nomination to someone else, and the internal debate continues over whether or not the president should abandon his re-election effort.
Polls continue to show a technical tie nationwide, but with Trump holding an advantage in several key states that Biden won four years ago.
