On night one, President Trump pledged to distribute $5,000 to every American adult if voters keep his party in power this November. On night two, he led the assembled crowd in a “pledge to the greatest president in the history of the United States”—him—that they will vote in November. The two-day spectacle may have been a curiously-timed festival of Trump worship, but Republicans must have been quietly pleased at the extent to which the president was jawboning the rank-and-file to get out and vote.
The scenes inside the American Airlines Center were surreal. At the crescendo of the second night, as Trump reminded the assembled of his promise to dole out checks if Republicans keep control of Congress, an excitable woman in a MAGA cowboy hat, on her feet the entire speech, waved her hands as if spreading out dollar bills and shouted “redistribute!” as though the logic of this proposal were eminently obvious.
When Trump wrapped up, balloons dropped slowly from the ceiling, blanketing the floor of the arena in red, white, blue, and gold. Christopher Macchio, Trump’s favorite tenor, sang “America the Beautiful” and “Nessun dorma.” It was an unusual spectacle when compared to your typical convention finale, where party leaders are joined onstage by their families and allies. In a fitting tribute to Trump as he stares down impotence should Democrats retake Congress, the president stood onstage alone, soaking it all up as Macchio belted out a song from Phantom of the Opera and the faithful streamed out of the arena, well-nourished and hoping to beat the traffic.
