The announced coronation of Donald Trump in Milwaukee

Photo: Patrick T. Fallon Agence France-Presse Donald Trump as he arrives for the second day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Tuesday, July 16.

Fabien Deglise in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Published at 0:00

• United States

When she remembers the arrival of Donald Trump on Monday at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, where the Republican national convention is being held this week, Cindy Spray, school commissioner of Manatee County, Florida, fully relives the emotional charge that accompanied the moment. “You could feel the tears coming up in the room,” said the Republican delegate crossed this week in the heart of the security perimeter surrounding this partisan high mass of the presidential campaign. “There was something powerful, something solemn, after what we experienced in the last days. »

Last Saturday, the populist survived an assassination attempt at a political rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. “It’s a tragedy that will change the course of things,” she added. The polls were already very good for him. But they will be more so. Many voters who were hesitant about him are no longer so, and they will support him. »

The 5,000 delegates from across the United States gathered in Wisconsin are preparing to celebrate with great fanfare Thursday evening the candidacy of Donald Trump for the Republican Party with a view to the presidential election in November, after having made it official at the beginning of week. A happening with speeches, music and balloons which risks taking on the appearance of a coronation and, above all, a coronation of the ex-reality TV star.

< p>“This nomination should be secondary to hero worship,” comments American politics specialist Kathleen Dolan, professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin, in an interview. “Since 2016, and his first appointment, the ex-president has remade the Republican Party in his image. He made it a tool of his incarnation, the vehicle of his political positions and his desires”, with now a reinforced martyr status.

« He was protected by God,” assures Carrie, a Republican activist from Missouri who came to Milwaukee to attend the event, while repeating the esoteric idea that has been circulating since Saturday in religious and conservative circles that an angel passed by to turn away the head of the ex-president and thus make him avoid the sniper's bullet. “This is a powerful sign that the Lord has just sent us. »

“We're going to stand up for him,” adds Julie Grubek, a Republican from Chicago. “He has been fighting for us for years, and has been doing so at the risk of his life since Saturday. We must remain strong and united so that he regains the White House. »

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Towards a toned down speech ?

Thursday evening, Donald Trump must speak in front of a crowd won over in advance and galvanized as much by the nature of the political gathering as by the drama that played out last week.

“I'm old enough to remember the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the assassination of Robert Kennedy and the 'failed attack on Ronald Reagan,' said Jim, a delegate from North Carolina. These are moments that marked history. Seeing this political violence return to the political landscape enrages me, and I know that it does not come from our camp, but from the left and the anarchists who drive it to get what they want. »

This is not entirely the opinion of Donald Trump Jr., son of the ex-president, who, during an event held this week by the media Axios on the floor of the convention, claimed to have gone through his father's closing speech for several hours with him in order to “tone down” the remarks that could call for agitation. “I think that’s enough,” he said. “There are events that change you for a few minutes, and there are events that change you permanently. My father will always be a fighter, that will never change, but I think he will do his best to moderate his speeches from now on, to place them where they need to be. »

In interview at Devoir, the former governor of Arkansas and opponent of Donald Trump during the Republican primary, Asa Hutchinson, also welcomed these calls to “put a soft pedal on harsh speeches”. “We need to reduce threats and anger,” he stressed. Joe Biden and Donald Trump have said it, and I hope they continue to do so. »

According to him, the Republicans will emerge even more united from the Milwaukee convention, which should allow “Donald Trump to enjoy even stronger support in November, in an election that is going to be very close.”

Between unity and complacency

On Tuesday, former United States Ambassador to the United Nations and fervent opponent of Donald Trump during the primaries Nikki Haley came to bury the hatchet by delivering a speech noted and warmly applauded by the crowd. “You don’t have to agree with Trump 100 percent of the time to vote for him,” she said. Our country is at a critical point. We have an important choice to make. If we have four more years of Joe Biden, our country will not recover. »

She was followed on stage by Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, another opponent of Trump at the start of the race, who now came to proclaim his allegiance to the candidate chosen by Republican voters to represent them in November.

The latest opinion analyzes conducted by RealClearPolitics still predict a victory for the right-wing candidate with autocratic overtones in five of the six Key states — including Wisconsin — that risk deciding the fate of outgoing President Joe Biden and his opponent Donald Trump next November.

“Donald Trump already had an extraordinarily loyal following before the assassination attempt, but the event has just transformed him into an even more heroic figure in the eyes of party delegates,” comments Barry Burden, professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin. A status which should be felt during his coronation on Thursday evening, in which no critic of Donald Trump will take part.

“His detractors, like [former vice -president] Mike Pence or [former Republican President of Congress] Paul Ryan, were excluded from the convention, he said. The only ones who are there are former critical voices who finally bowed to Trump's will. » The young senator from Ohio, J.D. Vance, chosen as his running mate by the ex-president on Monday, is also one of them.

“This approach might work well and secure a victory this year,” Burden continues, “but it also means there won't be much of the real Republican Party left once Trump leaves the scene. »

This report was financed with the support of the Transat- International Journalism Fund The duty .