Scott Lucas: Show of 'unity' by Donald Trump and the Republicans falls a bit flat

With a ‘changed’ Trump giving an anti-climactic speech and Biden dealing with covid for a few days, the Democrats must act fast, writes Scott Lucas

A bandaged Donald Trump was centre-stage on Thursday, addressing the crowds at the Republican National Convention. Picture: Julia Nikhinson/AP

In the past week, a gunman has fired at Donald Trump, killing a firefighter and injuring two others at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

The Republicans have held their national convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. JD Vance, who threatened Dublin last December with a rupture in US-Ireland relations, is the vice presidential nominee. Mr Trump and his ear bandage have addressed the faithful, and yet we are at the same place where we sat last weekend.

Will president Joe Biden stand aside soon to ensure that Mr Trump does not return legally to the White House in January?

America’s party conventions are always spectacles. This week’s Republican get-together was reinforced by the darker show of the assassination attempt and Trump’s immediate response to “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

That ensured the Republican Party — more accurately, the Trump Party —would be untroubled by any discussion, policies, or the critical issues facing the US.

But the Trump camp had a problem

Their candidate’s aggressive reaction to the shooting threatened to alienate the voters who will decide November’s election not only for the presidency for control of Congress.

So the spinners told journalists on Monday that the theme of the convention and a “changed” Trump would be “ unity”.

The bombast and insults would be replaced by a chastened candidate, “touched by the hand of God”, who would represent all Americans.

Mr Vance played his part. He would not appear as the politician who said “Islamists” now run Britain and control its nuclear weapons, who blamed childless women for US decline, who champions the working class but has a 0% voting record on issues affecting the working class, and who is opposed to abortion in all cases — including rape and incest.

Buried was the man who, in 2016, said Mr Trump was a “moron” and “America’s Hitler”, exploiting the problems and concerns of Americans.

Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance stands on stage after speaking at the third day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. Picture: Evan Vucci/AP

Instead, Mr Vance played up his Hillbilly Elegy personal narrative, hailing God and family and bringing his recovered-addict mother onstage. “JD's mom!” chanted the faithful.

For 15 minutes, Mr Trump stuck to the script, narrating his near-death experience last Saturday.

However, for the next 77, he returned to his rambling default position: Declaring the 2020 election was stolen from him, assailing the US justice department and the legal system, insulting politicians, and pushing false claim after false claim about migrants and asylum seekers, drugs and crime, the economy and taxes, and foreign affairs.

This was standard Donald Trump but, because he was at a lower volume and because he went on so long, the performance felt a bit flat.

Even the big finish, with Melania alongside him — because no one wants to recall 34 felony convictions over a payoff to a porn star, or an $85m payout for sexual abuse and defamation of a New York City writer — was far from climactic.

So what of Mr Biden? By yesterday morning, less than six hours after Mr Trump’s speech, the news cycle had jumped to the embattled president.

Had the shooting not occurred, the pressure from Democratic politicians, donors, strategists, and activists might have been conclusive

Now Mr Biden’s circle seized upon the event to project their own version of “unity”, emphasising that you cannot remove your candidate when he is the one leading that display.

The firewall held for 72 hours. However, on Wednesday, the dissents resurfaced. Prominent Democratic representative Adam Schiff called for Mr Biden to step aside. So did political strategist David Axelrod, who is close to Barack and Michelle Obama.

Even more important were the leaks. The media was left in no doubt that current House speaker Hakeem Jeffries, his predecessor Nancy Pelosi, and senate majority leader Chuck Schumer had all told the president that he could not overcome the polls and the media’s narrative .

By the afternoon, Sidney Blumenthal, the senior advisor to both Bill and Hillary Clinton, was appealing to Mr Biden to withdraw.

Then, through Thursday’s Washington Post, came the signal in the political sky: Barack Obama was telling confidants that “president Biden’s path to victory has greatly diminished, and he thinks the president needs to seriously consider the viability of his candidacy”.

President Joe Biden is likely to be away from the campaign trial for several days after he contracted covid-19 in Las Vegas. Picture: Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP

Meanwhile, it was announced that Mr Biden — having stumbled through an appearance in Las Vegas — had contracted a mild case of covid and was returning to his home in Delaware.

At the very least, he will be off the campaign trail — if not out of the searchlights — for several days.

This now appears to be when, not if, the president will be replaced for November. Whether or not covid is cited, he can go before the US nation and hail — rightly — the most significant domestic achievements of an administration since the 1960s.

He can restate Mr Trump’s threat to democracy, but say that he will 'pass the torch' to a younger colleague to guard the White House

That colleague is likely, if not certain, to be vice president Kamala Harris. While she is publicly behind Mr Biden staying in the race, she is doing this through a series of high-profile speeches to elevate her stature and, belatedly, her place in the administration’s accomplishments.

For while the Democrats have the luxury of talent — governors Whitmer of Michigan, Shapiro of Pennsylvania, and Newsom of California, as well as Cabinet members like Pete Buttigieg and Gina Raimundo come to mind — they do not have the luxury of time.

The new candidate has to be estimated before the Democratic National Convention opens on August 19, not during it, to avoid any messy, divisive process and to establish the nominee’s character, policies, and ability to knock back Mr Trump’s daily invective and lies.

Otherwise, come January, the man with the bandaged ear can drop the pretence of “unity”, pursuing his vendettas from behind the desk in the Oval Office.

• Scott Lucas is a professor of international politics at the Clinton Institute, University College Dublin.