It's hard to look away from gleeful Trump and the Republican Convention

The Republican national convention would be pure pantomime if it weren’t so sinister, and the Donald’s talk of uniting the US won’t last

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump with vice presidential candidate JD Vance at the Republican National Convention on Monday. Photo: AP/Paul Sancya

Reports from the first two days of the Republican national convention in Milwaukee suggest that the mood of the room isn’t merely energised but giddy. 

Some of us know that feeling; the sense of jubilation that comes after suffering a near-death experience (or, for those who haven’t, see losing then finding one’s wallet) that the Republicans and their leader are at present enjoying.