Dispatches from the GOP Convention

A Friend from Milwaukee Shares His Thoughts on the RNC in WI

Good morning PurpleAmericans! I am “not” Purple, who was gracious enough to delegate an article this week to me, since I actually happen to be in Milwaukee, reporting on matters here. A little about me— My name is Mike, I’m a 40 something male living in Milwaukee, politically active since college (its where I met Purple) and whereas Purple is a moderate, relative centrist, I’m much more liberal; I hope the great readers of PurpleAmerica don’t mind that fact, at least for a single post (or two if PA will have me back). I’m a huge Brewers, Packers and Bucks fan (Jordan Love will be MVP this year, trust me!)

So the Republican National Convention is invading Milwaukee this week. The hotels, bars and restaurants will be filled with high level decisionmakers, donors, rabid true believers, national media, a few thousand prostitutes (who always seem to come to towns when big conventions go there) and busloads of protesters against everything the RNC stands for. To be honest, I am not entirely sure why they chose Milwaukee of all places. I mean, I do “get” that Milwaukee is the biggest city in a very swingable and gettable state for Republicans, it’s been ground zero for the Republican Revolution over the past decade or so, as brought upon by insufferable skinflint Scott Walker. Trump winning Wisconsin in 2016 is a big reason he was able to get over 270 Electoral Votes and into the White House. Wisconsin is home to such Republican luminaries as Paul Ryan, Reince Preibus, the forementioned Walker, Tommy Thompson and Ron Johnson (although he sometimes gets confused as the Senator of Moscow). Not to mention, if the confines of the Badger state don’t make you happy, Chicago is a quick jaunt south of the Illinois border.

But Milwaukee is EXTREMELY liberal. It’s the only major metropolitan city to have elected four socialist mayors in its history (don’t believe me? watch the clip of Alice Cooper in Wayne’s World—you can’t argue with the guy who sang “Welcome to my Nightmare” which as it happens, is an apt description for me this week). It’s also one of the most segregated cities in the country, with many redlined districts lasting well into the 1970s, and few moving in or out since then. It is one of the reasons the George Floyd riots resonated so loudly here, culminating with the Kenosha protests/riots that turned Kyle Rittenhouse into a political somebody (something that on it’s own is pretty reprehensible). Racism is a big deal here— as seen when police tased Milwaukee Bucks player Sterling Brown multiple times for parking in a handicapped spot (with the engine still running) as he went inside a pharmacy to pick up a prescription.

But back to the Republicans. Events over the weekend may have tempered expectations some, at least for the first day or two. There is a subdued atmosphere here on Monday outside the Fiserv Forum; conventions after all are big party parties and right now it kind of feels like the parents are still here and everyone has to abide by being appropriate for the time being. The mood going into the weekend was “We’re going to kick Biden’s a**” but now it’s more akin to “We’re going to unite the country behind Trump.” What’s interesting is that the former is more in line with the way Trump acts and talks and the latter is the antithesis of everything Trump has done in his political life. We’ll see if it works, but call me skeptical on that one.

It also needs to be noted that we did not have a Republican Vice Presidential candidate announced at the start of the conference. I can’t remember ever, since the smoke filled back rooms of convention days past, going into any convention when there HASN’T been a VP nominee. Usually, they are announced the week or two before to help build momentum and set the speaking schedule; the VP usually speaks the night before the Presidential nominee does. But going into it, it could have been any number of possibilities. The most spoken about I heard here was J.D. Vance, who seemed to be the convention-goers favorite option, so it was no shock he was ultimately chosen Monday afternoon. Besides, Trump still hold things against Marco Rubio and Doug Borghum is. well, Doug Bourghum. Some interesting outside shots though still existed; Tim Scott, Nancy Mace, even serial dog killer Kristi Noem still attracted serious attention as possibilities. I even heard Nikki Haley was an option since she freed up her delegates to vote for Trump. But it’s seemed like it would be Vance for awhile now and well, Trump went with the obvious. ¹

Which brings me to the man of the hour, The Don. I don’t remember Donald ever getting this much sympathy and positive consideration since the last time he declared bankruptcy, or perhaps since Ivanka divorced him. There’s a lot of honest emotion on his side right now; regardless of how liberal one is you can’t help but temper your thoughts about a guy who was shot and within a centimeter of two of being outright killed. Sure, I’m still hearing the same dismissive comments and conspiracy addled ideas of the far left this morning, as PurpleAmerica documented in his excellent post on Monday. But to the everyday, ordinary, run of the mill voter, even a lot of Democractic ones, they seem to be willing to bite their tongues for the time being and just acknowledge that political violence is a step too far. It’s only the most diehard of liberals verbal enough at the moment to be casting shade at the former President.

Trump has the opportunity to bring people into the GOP tent at this convention; I doubt it will be successful, but at a minimum he is going to have the eyes and ears of the country on him when he delivers his acceptance speech on Thursday. Will it be conciliatory? Will it be humble? Will it be positive? Who knows, but that is unlike Trump has ever been in politics to this point. More likely we’ll see the firebrand return; how the American public reacts to that God only knows but I have a feeling that it’ll be all anyone can talk about politically for two weeks while attention shifts focus on the Olympics in Paris and then the Democratic National Convention following that.

In any case, it should be a very watchable RNC this time around. I just wish I didn’t live in Milwaukee and had to be there for it; I’d rather be anywhere else where I could just change the channel to the Brewers game and disconnect from our current political reality.

PurpleAmerica’s Obscure Facts of the Day

Mike wasn’t kidding when he mentioned Milwaukee was one of the most segregated cities in the country. Here is a list of the top 20 from 2019.

PurpleAmerica’s Final Word

Thank you Milwaukee Mike for your thoughts. Appreciate it.

—PurpleAmerica

Footnotes and Fun Stuff

1. There was some discussion about the VP being someone who would do what Mike Pence didn’t on January 6th, which was accept alternative electors. The thing is Trump’s VP this time around won’t get the opportunity; Kamala Harris will preside over the Electoral College in January 2025 as the current VP, and Trump is ineligible to run in 2028 because of the 22nd Amendment.