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POLITICO
Raised Fists, a Missed Kiss and Other Images from the Republican Convention
By Ian Ward and Photographs by David Hume Kennerly for POLITICO,
2024-07-19
Former President Donald Trump makes his grand entrance before his acceptance speech on Thursday. “This is how Trump sees himself,” said photographer David Hume Kennerly. | Photos by David Hume Kennerly for POLITICO
Republicans entered the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this week promising a new message of reconciliation and national unity after the recent attempt on former President Donald Trump’s life. Instead, the convention-goers embraced — quite literally — a different symbolic message: The raised fist, echoing Trump’s post-assassination attempt pose and transforming it into a visual shorthand for Trump’s latest message. “Fight, fight, fight.”
The symbol — held aloft on the floor — immediately stood out to David Hume Kennerly, the Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer who was shooting the convention for POLITICO Magazine .
“The raised fist was the overriding visual theme of the event,” said Kennerly, who has photographed over a dozen national political conventions since 1976. “It was the raised fist, God and ‘ divine intervention ’ — almost everybody talked about it.”
On the whole, said Kennerly, the convention was a relatively low-drama affair. Even the most suspenseful moment — Trump’s announcement of Ohio Sen. JD Vance as his running mate — ended up being a bit anticlimactic, with the news leaking on social media before it officially reached the convention floor.
Instead, Republicans — with their fists raised — rallied behind Trump. By the close of the convention on Thursday, Kennerly said, a type of unity was in the air.
“Unity, but not for anybody other than them.”
Former President Donald Trump and his Vice Presidential running mate pick Ohio Senator JD Vance and other participants are pictured at the GOP Convention in Milwaukee on July 15, 2024.
Former President Donald Trump and his vice presidential running mate pick Ohio Senator JD Vance and other participants are pictured at the GOP Convention in Milwaukee on July 15, 2024.
Former President Donald Trump and his vice presidential running mate pick Ohio Senator JD Vance and other participants are pictured at the GOP Convention in Milwaukee on July 15, 2024.
MILWAUKEE — JULY 16: Former President Donald J. True and his Vice Presidential running mate pick Ohio Senator J.D. Vance and other participants at the second day of the GOP Convention, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 16, 2024. (Photo by David Hume Kennerly/Center for Creative Photography/University of Arizona)
MILWAUKEE — JULY 15: Former President Donald J. True and his Vice Presidential running mate pick Ohio Senator J.D. Vance and other participants at the GOP Convention, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 15, 2024. (Photo by David Hume Kennerly/Center for Creative Photography/University of Arizona)
MILWAUKEE — JULY 18: Former President Donald J. Trump accepts his party’s presidential nomination. Wife and former First Lady Melania Trump joins him. Vice Presidential running mate pick Ohio Senator J.D. Vance on stage for balloon drop. and other participants at the final evening of the GOP Convention, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 18, 2024. (Photo by David Hume Kennerly/Center for Creative Photography/University of Arizona)
MILWAUKEE — JULY 18: Former President Donald J. Trump accepts his party’s presidential nomination. Wife and former First Lady Melania Trump joins him. Vice Presidential running mate pick Ohio Senator J.D. Vance on stage for balloon drop. and other participants at the final evening of the GOP Convention, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 18, 2024. (Photo by David Hume Kennerly/Center for Creative Photography/University of Arizona)
MILWAUKEE — JULY 18: Former President Donald J. Trump accepts his party’s presidential nomination. Wife and former First Lady Melania Trump joins him. Vice Presidential running mate pick Ohio Senator J.D. Vance on stage for balloon drop. and other participants at the final evening of the GOP Convention, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 18, 2024. (Photo by David Hume Kennerly/Center for Creative Photography/University of Arizona)
MILWAUKEE — JULY 18: Former President Donald J. Trump accepts his party’s presidential nomination. Wife and former First Lady Melania Trump joins him. Vice Presidential running mate pick Ohio Senator J.D. Vance on stage for balloon drop. and other participants at the final evening of the GOP Convention, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 18, 2024. (Photo by David Hume Kennerly/Center for Creative Photography/University of Arizona)
MILWAUKEE — JULY 18: Former President Donald J. Trump accepts his party’s presidential nomination. Wife and former First Lady Melania Trump joins him. Vice Presidential running mate pick Ohio Senator J.D. Vance on stage for balloon drop. and other participants at the final evening of the GOP Convention, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 18, 2024. (Photo by David Hume Kennerly/Center for Creative Photography/University of Arizona)
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