There are times when being a fan, ally, or voter of Donald Trump is not easy, comfortable, or cheap. The president and leader of the Republican Party demands absolute and permanent loyalty and commitment from congressmen, senators, governors, his ministers and high officials, from influencers and media stars of the conservative world. Without nuances or doubts. But he also demands proofs of faith and sacrifice from supporters, admirers, and the curious, especially those who want to see him up close. Trump arrived this Wednesday in Dallas to be the sole star of the unique Republican Convention he has pulled out of the hat to mobilize his followers ahead of the November midterm elections, which look very bad in the polls. An event tailored but also in the image and likeness of the leader, with his favorite headline singers, his fetish music, his colors, his merchandising products everywhere.
Read more All of Pedro’s dogs
The president is the center around which everything revolves and that is why attendance when it officially started was very low, less than a third of the American Airlines Center in the Texas city, since he had not arrived yet, as his controversial plane, donated by Qatar, had a problem with an inflatable slide and its takeoff from the capital was delayed. But his name was the only one repeated over and over. And all the photos that run through the center’s hallways are of the president, not of the candidates aiming to reach Congress in a few weeks. His image is also on all the credentials and tickets, those of the celebrities and VIP guests and those of the journalists and the public. His face is on t-shirts and caps, and there was even a completely golden car, with his last name, at the pavilion door, to make it clear to everyone that the meeting of these two days has only one protagonist.
Those who are not lucky enough to have been invited, or those who cannot pay the thousands of dollars demanded from the already faithful to be in the rows closest to the president, were gathered early Wednesday morning at Lone Star Park in Grande Prairie, 20 kilometers from the city, to stand in a line at over 35º to get tickets for the event, dubbed by the Republicans as Trump-a-Palooza, a festival with little politics and much fetish. From there, without backpacks, food, or computers, and after four hours of waiting, buses departed, full of red caps with Make America Great Again, huge red boots defying the temperatures and, above all, endless American flags.
The Convention called by Trump comes at a very delicate moment for the party and for the first time in a long time anonymous voices are proliferating in the media. Complaining about the president, that his obsession and total confidence in himself are damaging the chances of his candidates in November. An official cited in Washington’s main newsletter in the morning, Politico’s, said he prayed that the counter-programmed events of the day, especially the start of the football season, would ensure “that no one sees this embarrassing spectacle.” Others spoke, with similar hopes, of the Guns’n’Roses concert in Arlington, a few miles away and almost at the same time as the president’s speech, in another stadium that holds twice as many spectators.
Zuby, born in India and living in Dallas for a decade, did not know that Trump and the Republicans were coming to the city and showed his surprise with an equal mix of horror and fascination. “This president is ‘crazy’,” he said, stumbling over Spanish. “But now I understand the messages I was getting, I have to go see him no matter what,” he added. Fausto, a Mexican son of a Murcian, who has been in Texas for six years, was the same. Little fascination, he said while eating, but some curiosity because he had heard something on the radio.
But the fear of part of the party is not only the potential drag effect of a president who in 2024 mobilized masses, but who is now at minimum popularity. It is everything that the event entails, the reactions it provokes, the characters it viralizes. This Convention has some color similarities with the official ones, and even with the usual rallies of the MAGA movement leader, but also visible differences. There are prayers, anthems, many flags, and some costumes and shows. But the main audience is different, older, much more formal. Party members from all over the country, seeking prominence, contacts, positioning for the future.
Different were those willing to stand hours in line to get close to Trump, even if at a distance. Among them was the sadly famous Micky Larson-Olson, an agitator and believer in the Qanon reptilian pedophile conspiracy theory, who participated in the Capitol assault, dressed from head to toe in red, white, and blue, wig included, denouncing her conviction. In the pavilion hallway, for example, delirious signs made with AI were seen, saying “Remember The Alamo,” with the addition “Don’t Sharia My Texas” referring to Islam and the faces of figures like the convicted conspiracist Alex Jones and visual references to series like Sons of Anarchy or Yellowstone. And at a nearby event was James Fishback, an emerging figure from Florida, 31 years old, with an ultra-right and anti-Israel agenda, who made the Republican establishment very nervous, and although he lost the primaries, is capable of pushing thousands of radicalized teenagers to the streets.
The opposition also took advantage of its moment. Texas is generally a conservative state, but Dallas is a very progressive area. And a Democratic candidate, James Talarico, is well positioned for the first time in decades to snatch a vital Senate seat from Trumpism. While the Republican ‘delegates’ arrived in the city, he counter-programmed with ‘Love Your Neighbor,’ an event closely followed by cameras to feed disadvantaged people in a local parish, promoting “a contrast with Trump’s billionaire dance.”
His party also surrounded the convention center with vans with screens saying “Paxton protects pedophiles,” referring to Talarico’s controversial rival. And at the same time, the organizers of a traveling exhibition on the Epstein papers brought to Dallas their tens of thousands of documents on the case and the investigation of the pedophile financier to emphasize his friendship with Trump. “Dallas has a world-class clinic specialized in dementia, so it offers easier access and opportunities for a president who clearly has deteriorated health,” boasted Kendall Scudder, state leader of the Democrats in a parallel event.
