In reversal from 2016, GOP projects unity while Democrats scramble

MILWAUKEE — Republicans find themselves in a somewhat unusual position: fully in sync, while Democrats hash out a major internal disagreement in public.

It’s been a remarkable split screen playing out this week. Republicans are gathered in Wisconsin, unified and energized behind former President Trump’s candidacy, while Democrats are in open disagreement over whether President Biden should remain atop the ticket in November.

On Tuesday, Trump’s fiercest primary rivals, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, took to the stage to urge Republicans to unite behind his candidacy. On Wednesday, Biden tested positive for COVID-19 and reportedly was told by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to step aside.

It’s a far cry from the 2016 Republican convention, when Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) — who also spoke this week — urged delegates to vote their conscience, and some in the party were resigned to defeat in November against then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

“I think they learned something” from Cruz’s non-endorsement in 2016, said former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R), who attended this week’s convention but did not speak on stage.

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said this week’s convention was “flawlessly executed.”

“In 2016, we weren’t running somebody who’s been president and has a record to prove his competencies. The other was, while we were unified, we weren’t as unified as we are right now,” he told The Hill. “I mean, we’re not just unified, we’re a growing party, our base is bigger than ever. It’s getting deeper than ever.”

Republicans could hardly have asked for a better series of events as they gathered in Wisconsin. 

Trump on Saturday survived an assassination attempt, inspiring his supporters when he rose to his feet, blood streaked on his face, and pumped his fist. On Monday, a federal judge dismissed what was widely considered the most serious criminal case against him. He then announced Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) as his running mate, providing another jolt to the party.

Biden, meanwhile, canceled a Monday event following the shooting at Trump’s rally. On Wednesday, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) called for him to “pass the torch,” and Biden was forced to scrap a rally with Latino leaders after he tested positive for COVID-19.

It’s often been Republicans in a state of disarray ever since Trump came down the escalator in 2015 to announce his candidacy. 

Polling indicated Trump was likely to lose to Clinton in 2016, and some Republicans disowned him as the candidate after the "Access Hollywood" tape was released that October.

His four years in office were marked by GOP lawmakers distancing themselves from incendiary statements from Trump and struggling to come together on long-held promises like repealing the Affordable Care Act.

House Republicans have been beset by infighting for stretches of the past 18 months since regaining the majority, struggling to elect a Speaker and facing repeated blowback from the right-flank of the conference.

But this week’s convention has had an entirely different vibe as the party has been galvanized both by political events and the assassination attempt.

“There’s no comparison, and probably never will be again in history, to the emotion of this week that started with Saturday and started with the episode in Butler, Pa., that our standard-bearer was within a millimeter or two of death, and is now with us,” Cramer said. “That has given such wind in our sails, it’s hard to almost describe.”

Republicans were almost uniformly on message throughout the week. Haley, who was Trump’s most formidable rival during the primary and did not endorse him upon dropping out, took to the stage Tuesday and made clear the former president had her “strong” support.

Nearly every speaker was on message either praising Trump as a strong leader or hammering Biden on the border, inflation and foreign policy, or over his fitness to serve four more years. Former critics of the ex-president — like Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Cruz and Vance — delivered some of the highest profile speeches of the week in support of him.

Polling has shown Trump leading Biden in national polls by a narrow margin. By comparison, a RealClearPolitics average of polling data showed Trump trailing Clinton by 2 percentage points nationally at the conclusion of the 2016 GOP convention.

But party leaders have been adamant that victory in November is far from assured, with more than three months until Election Day. Some nodded to Trump’s own underdog status in 2016 as evidence that the state of the race could dramatically shift in Democrats’ favor.

“​​You can never take anything for granted. I mean, look, you look at the polling from 2016 and it would have suggested that Donald Trump should have never had a shot at becoming president,” Republican National Committee co-Chair Lara Trump said this week. “And we all know how that turned out.” 

“So, look, we feel like we have the wind in our sails. We feel a lot of momentum as a party right now. This is a great environment,” she continued. “There's a lot of energy, but we have to play the game up until the buzzer sounds the last second of that game on Nov. 5.”