With Republican Convention, Trump Hopes to Pull His Party Out of a Tailspin

No one asked for it.

Not the Republicans struggling to campaign amid a war against Iran that seems to have no offramp. Not the voters who can’t understand why energy costs are through the roof and trips to grocery stores feel like extortion. Not the business owners who can’t forecast quarter-to-quarter outlays because tariff policy seems as capricious as the weather.

Yet here we are, about to start an unsolicited Republican Convention for the midterms, programmed around President Donald Trump, whose polling is in the gutter and who many of his party’s leaders view as nothing short of an annoyance. The spectacle is set to start Wednesday in Dallas, where the cheap seats start at $25,000.

The GOP has a total of 12 hours of programming scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday nights—the vast majority of it set to be speeches by Republican candidates and incumbents about what’s at stake in these upcoming elections. Almost every aspect of the convention has been designed by Trump. The first night will end with a keynote address from Trump. The following night is to conclude with Vice President J.D. Vance’s address—and closing remarks from Trump.

This sort of half-time extravaganza by a political party is not normal in midterm election years and even political diehards aren’t conditioned for it. The fact that it’s coming as Trump is deeply unpopular and Democrats are enjoying tremendous tailwinds suggests the President is chasing a dopamine hit more than staging a useful rally. 

As Republican contenders are trying to build distance between themselves and the White House, Trump has vowed to make himself the fulcrum of this election season. “Pretend, please, that I’m on the ballot,” Trump told a crowd in South Carolina in August. 

The White House is operating as though there’s no greater force in American politics than the boss because, frankly, they’re not wrong. But the enthusiasm gap is real. A University of Massachusetts Amherst poll released last week found 68% of Democrats enthusiastic about the election, while that Republican figure stood at 59%. The same poll found an eight-point gap favoring Democrats in a generic ballot. Gallup research, meanwhile, shows Democrats have their largest edge over Republicans in party ID since 2008, a full 10 points. 

Republicans can’t say they didn’t see this coming. Trump has been consistently polling under 40% job approval for months. Nonetheless, candidates in some of the most competitive Senate races plan to join Trump in Texas for his two-night affair. (Notable exceptions are Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska, and former Sen. John E. Sununu of New Hampshire, none of whom are favorites of this President. Also, Senate Majority Leader John Thune was not listed among the speakers the Republican National Committee distributed over the weekend.)

Trump is not deterred by the environment even as he seems oblivious to it. He is sitting on a $400 million political warchest that Republicans are eyeing as it, well, just sits there. While Trump will never again appear on a ballot, he has readied campaign-style ads highlighting what he sees as his accomplishments. 

As Democrats are stopping just short of measuring the drapes to take the majority in the House and perhaps the once-unthinkable Senate, Trump is helping them make every race about him through a convention that is siphoning donor cash away from imperilled candidates, sidelining battleground contenders off the field in the fourth quarter, and drawing focus from local issues. 

With all objective measures pointing toward a Democratic wave, Republicans are huddling amongst themselves in Texas. Many have little optimism that two nights of Trump-centered entertainment will persuade voters who are clearly unhappy with how GOP control of Washington has operated for the last two years. A made-for-TV infomercial is unlikely to provide the course correction Republicans need.

How to Watch

CSPAN intends to air and stream both nights of the Republican convention. The Republican Party also intends to stream the convention on YouTube.