‘It’s like a pep rally around here’: Republicans greet Trump as a hero, while Dems simmer over Biden

By the time he entered the convention hall on Monday night, his right ear bandaged, Donald Trump had grasped his party’s nomination and introduced a young running mate who could lay the groundwork for a long-term, populist conservative movement in his image.

His opponent, Joe Biden, was simultaneously fighting to keep his grip on his own party, put in the awkward position of calling his language in the lead-up to the shooting in Pennsylvania a “mistake.”

Between the assassination attempt on Saturday and the opening of the Republican National Convention two days later, what was clear was how sharply the shooting and its fallout had reshaped the contest at a critical point in the race, further rallying the GOP at the same time Democrats’ conversations about replacing Biden lingered.

“This attempted assassination of the 45th and soon to be 47th president of the United States has united our conference in a way that nothing else could have done,” said Rep. Mark Alford (R-Mo.). “You don’t hear about Never Trumpers anymore.”

There are still Never Trumpers, of course. The former president is viewed unfavorably by more than half of the country . And as Republicans look ahead to a prospective second Trump term, some of the more traditionalist among them are bracing for the same kind of political fallout he sparked during his first administration, when the GOP lost the White House and both chambers of Congress.

But not in Milwaukee. Even ahead of the shooting, Republicans were reveling in the infighting enveloping the Democratic Party over whether Biden is fit to serve another term after his disastrous debate performance weeks ago. And that freakout — while publicly frozen — has privately intensified in the wake of the assassination attempt.

“It made Trump harder to beat. And so a lot of people feel the only chance we have is with someone new at the top of the ticket,” said Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), one of almost 20 federal lawmakers who has publicly called for Biden to step aside. “Most of the calls I’ve received are from people who are even more concerned about our chances in November because of the attempted assassination and how to some voters, Trump will come out looking like a hero.”

And adding to Republicans’ jubilation on Monday: Judge Aileen Cannon’s dismissal of the case special counsel Jack Smith brought against Trump over his alleged hoarding of classified material — and obstructing the federal investigation into it. (He still faces other cases and will be sentenced in September in his New York criminal trial).

Trump’s string of victories led some Republicans to invoke the divine. As Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) put it in his convention speech: “If you didn’t believe in miracles before Saturday, you better be believing now.”

As the GOP convention opened here, some Republicans said the party hadn’t been so unified at any point since 2012. And even then, some questioned whether the GOP base was truly excited for Mitt Romney’s then-presidential campaign.

“There’s only been a handful of people who might have had differences of opinion,” said Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), who was floated as an early vice presidential pick. “But that was before Saturday. I think now we’re unified but the goal is not just unifying Republicans. It’s unifying the country.”

It’s a long way from 2016, when few in the party believed Trump would win, prompting last ditch efforts by Ken Cuccinelli and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to push a roll call vote on the convention rules — which some Trump allies perceived as a strategy designed to embarrass or even block the presumptive nominee. Four years later, during the full-bloom of Covid, the convention was hardly a convention at all.

“I can tell you everybody has an unprecedented level of excitement,” Speaker Mike Johnson told POLITICO on Thursday, days before the shooting. “It’s like a pep rally around here. And we’re really excited to get to Milwaukee.”

Asked when was the last time he saw this level of excitement, Johnson replied, ”probably the beginning of the Trump administration,” and said they are “feeling that kind of energy now.”

Democrats, meanwhile, emerged from the weekend just as fractured as — and perhaps more resigned than — before the bullet tore through Trump’s ear.

The assassination attempt has largely put the public revolt against Biden on ice. But it has not totally frozen talk by Democrats of removing Biden from the ticket.

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker opened the door to a new nominee on Monday, telling CNN that he would support “whoever our nominee is coming out of the convention.” And Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse told local reporters that he believes Biden’s status remains an open question, describing it as “a project that is still being considered between House leadership, Democratic leadership and the president and his team, and I don’t think there’s an answer for that yet.”

To other Democrats, though, the image of Trump as a martyr — one that is likely to be reinforced throughout the Republican convention that is being beamed into millions of voters’ homes on national television — is politically overpowering.

“The terminology ‘clusterfuck’ seems to consistently come to mind,” said one adviser to major Democratic donors, granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. “He’s going to win no matter what, so now it’s: How do you limit the damage? Maybe it’s that we keep all the people on the bench so we can run them in 2028.”

The question looming is whether Biden is baked as the candidate, with Republicans eager to challenge a slowed-down challenger they already know well.

Asked by NBC’s Lester Holt whether the shooting changed the trajectory of the race, Biden said “I don’t know.”

In an effort to dispel doubts about his fitness on his “ touch me, poke me, ask me questions ” tour, Biden will sit for three interviews this week, including his Monday sit down with Holt. Biden told him he regrets calling Trump “an existential threat” or telling donors last week that it was time to put Trump “in the bullseye.”

“It was a mistake to use the word,” Biden allowed. “I meant focus on him, focus on what he was doing, focus on his policies, focus on the number of lies he told in the debate.”

Still, if Biden himself was uncertain about the shooting’s impact on the race, Trump allies like Rep. Dan Meuser (R-Pa.) who attended the rally in Pennsylvania, had no doubt that it would.

“I have people calling me, [saying] ‘I was unsure before’ — business people, women business people, union people,” Meuser told POLITICO on the convention floor Monday. “They call me saying, ‘We’re convinced, we’re praying for him. We want him to do a great job.’”

A senior Trump adviser, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said Trump came into Milwaukee not looking to throw punches. “Given the experience of Saturday, he is looking to not only unify the party but unify the nation, and make sure that Americans understand his vision for where the country can go,” this person said.

But while Trump rewrote his acceptance speech, telling the Washington Examiner that he saw it as “a chance to bring the whole country, even the whole world, together,” his party’s new, post-shooting tone was not entirely uniform. Trump wrote on Truth Social that the assorted investigations into him were “witch hunts,” while the typically pugnacious Vivek Ramaswamy went even further.

“The truth is, I think we were a hair’s breadth away from a civil war just a few nights ago,” said Ramaswamy , who is raising his hand for a potential Senate appointment after Vance’s selection as Trump’s running mate.

Back inside the hall, Trump entered in primetime to a rapturous reception. When Linda Fornos addressed the audience, one of the “everyday Americans” the Trump campaign showcased to speak, the crowd booed when she confessed she had voted for Biden in 2020. Gone was the speculation — once rampant among Republicans — that Michelle Obama or some other Democrat would parachute into Chicago as the Democratic nominee. Instead, GOP delegates said they are convinced Biden will be the nominee. And that his presence on the ticket would pave the way to certain victory in November.

Reince Priebus, Trump’s former chief of staff, was bullish on Trump’s prospects — and the likelihood that it will be Biden who Trump beats.

“I would certainly take that bet,” Priebus told POLITICO .