SHORTLY after Donald Trump was confirmed as the Republican nominee, a pair of men wearing straw boaters wandered around outside the convention centre, weighing up the merits of tacos versus hot dogs. A man wearing an elephant hat was being filmed by a woman on her mobile phone, while two women wearing reed skirts with white elephants on them stood nearby. People held doors open for each other. This was a transformative moment in the history of one of the world’s great political parties, but it hardly seemed so to those enjoying Cleveland’s evening sunshine while the roll call of state delegates concluded inside. There was no Wagnerian soundtrack, just some snatches of KC and the Sunshine Band drifting out from the hall. This is how a big moment in history sounds.
At the beginning of the convention, Donald Trump’s campaign manager said that his candidate was planning to copy Richard Nixon’s 1968 campaign, presenting himself as the law-and-order candidate. That election saw the birth of the Southern Strategy, which exploited white resentment after the Civil Rights Act. It saw violence at the Democratic convention in Chicago, the race...Continue reading
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