Donald Trump banking on Republican convention ‘surprises’ to dazzle party into unity

As Donald Trump gears up for this week’s Republican convention, one thing is clear: recorded speeches, empty halls and fireworks in car parks will not cut it.

“I think it’s pretty boring when you do tapes,” Trump said of his convention speech during an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity. “I’m going to go live.”

Trump is looking to outdo the Democrats’ mostly virtual convention with live speeches and at least a small group of supporters to energise speakers. He is also teasing the promise of a few surprises.

But creating a festive atmosphere will be particularly hard amid the sustained flow of dismal news that has hammered Trump’s campaign. He has for months trailed Democratic challenger Joe Biden in polls, as public opinion soured over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and nationwide unrest over racial inequities.

The tone of the convention, for a president who spoke of “American carnage” at his inauguration and who has accused Biden of seeking to destroy American suburbs, is likely to be largely negative.

And last week, Trump drew criticism from within his own party for embracing the QAnon conspiracy movement, a tension that may reverberate at an event intended to demonstrate Republican unity.

In his August 27 speech accepting renomination for the presidency, Trump said he will claim credit for his administration’s overlooked successes, in hopes of turning around voter opinion.

“We’ve done a great job,” Trump said Friday in remarks to the Council for National Policy, a conservative group. “We have not been recognised for what we’ve done. We’ve done a great job.”

The convention, which kicks off on Monday, represents one of Trump’s last chances to make that case and right his sputtering campaign. And with the pandemic forestalling the throngs of supporters that have fuelled his rallies in the past, he is banking on the power of American symbolism to deliver that emotion.

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Trump will deliver his acceptance speech on the White House grounds, after Vice-President Mike Pence warms up supporters with a speech the night before from historic Fort McHenry in Baltimore, the site of a War of 1812 battle that inspired Francis Scott Key to write “The Star Spangled Banner”.

The convention’s theme is “Honouring the Great American Story”, according to a person familiar with the planning.

Party strategists want Trump focused on the pandemic and the economy, the top concerns of the electorate, throughout the week to counter widespread public disapproval of his handling of the outbreak.

But the convention comes at a moment when Trump has grown more vocal in making baseless allegations. He has accused Biden of being part of the most corrupt administration in history and has repeatedly claimed voting by mail is equivalent to election rigging.

“He needs to take on those issues that are at the top of voters’ minds,” said Republican strategist Matt Gorman.

Trump spent last week travelling to swing states – including Minnesota, Wisconsin, Arizona and Pennsylvania – addressing gatherings of hundreds of people at the stops. Officials have considered putting the president and other speakers in front of similar limited crowds during the convention.

There will be a mix of live and pre-taped appearances from Washington and around the country, and planners are seeking to keep a more traditional format, believing it will be more compelling than the Democrats’ presentation, which featured celebrity hosts and musical performances by pop stars including Billie Eilish.

The Republicans are planning moments designed to shock viewers, anger opponents and air the president’s grievances against Democrats and the media.

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White House counsellor Kellyanne Conway called the Democratic convention a “Hollywood produced” and “dour and sour” event, and said the Republican convention by contrast will feature “people whose lives have been impacted and measurably and consequently changed due to the efforts and policies of President Trump”.

Speakers include Nick Sandmann, a Kentucky man who sued media outlets for libel over coverage of his role in a confrontation with a Native American man in 2019, when he was a high school student; and Mark and Patricia McCloskey, a St Louis couple facing criminal charges after brandishing guns as Black Lives Matter protesters marched through their gated community.

People who formerly lived under socialist governments in Cuba and Venezuela are also invited to speak, according to a person familiar with planning.

The event will also brim with possible contenders for the 2024 Republican ticket who are looking to set the stage for their rise. That group includes former US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, US Senators Tim Scott, Joni Ernst and Tom Cotton, and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem.

But officials say Trump is unlikely to cede the spotlight for long. He plans to appear each night of the four-day affair, including one event where he will honour front-line workers responding to the pandemic.

Trump’s 2016 convention was full of distractions, including disputes between Trump’s supporters and other Republicans and the candidate’s own behaviour. At one point, he called into a prime-time Fox News talk show during convention programming.

His 2020 convention may be more disciplined simply by virtue of being constrained by the pandemic. But keeping the president on message may prove a challenge; Trump routinely strays into issues that risk alienating a substantial segment of the party.

Most recently, the president embraced adherents of the QAnon conspiracy theory, which posits – without any basis in reality – that Trump is secretly fighting a powerful cabal of Satan-worshipping Democratic paedophiles.

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During a White House news conference on Wednesday, Trump said QAnon believers are people who “like me very much”. He also called a QAnon adherent who won a House primary in Georgia as a rising Republican star.

“This is just another example in a long effort of him reaching out to these groups for his own political benefit,” said Joseph Uscinski, a University of Miami political science professor who studies conspiracy theories. “He has no incentive to work against conspiracy theories. He uses them, he weaponises them. This is his calling card.”

Yet Trump’s embrace of the movement angered some Republicans ahead of a convention intended to promote party unity.

“QAnon is nuts – and real leaders call conspiracy theories conspiracy theories,” said Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse.

“If Democrats take the Senate,” he added, “garbage like this will be a big part of why they won.”