{"id":224022,"date":"2026-09-13T08:37:30","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T08:37:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/trump-personality-cult-alive-and-well-in-dallas-will-it-power-republican-midterm-success-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-09-13T08:37:30","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T08:37:30","slug":"trump-personality-cult-alive-and-well-in-dallas-will-it-power-republican-midterm-success-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/trump-personality-cult-alive-and-well-in-dallas-will-it-power-republican-midterm-success-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump personality cult alive and well in Dallas \u2013 will it power Republican midterm success? – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

President the star of the show at two-day convention, but party\u2019s plan to treat November elections as referendum on Trump himself poses grave risks
\u201cW<\/span>e\u2019re going to have a good time listening to music,\u201d Donald Trump<\/a> told thousands of supporters in downtown Dallas before handing the mic to an opera singer, \u201cbecause I\u2019m getting a little bit tired of politics now.\u201d
Millions of Americans seem tired of politics after a decade dominated by Trump. So the US president\u2019s decision to close out this week\u2019s first ever Republican midterm convention with a plea \u2013 treat November\u2019s congressional elections as a referendum on Trump himself \u2013 was received by his Democratic opponents with glee.
They saw the president\u2019s core pitch as a combination of begging<\/a> and bribery<\/a>. First he urged voters to \u201cpretend that I\u2019m on the ballot\u201d. Then he promised $5,000 payouts to every US adult if Republicans retain control of the House of Representatives and Senate in November.
Andy Beshear, the Democratic governor of Kentucky, told reporters on Thursday<\/a>: \u201cIf Donald Trump wants to hold a convention saying this election is about him, I fully support his decision. He\u2019s telling me to pretend that he is on the ballot \u2013 I want people to pretend that he is on the ballot.\u201d
But with hundreds of members of Congress and candidates staying away from the convention, most seats in the upper tier remained empty both nights. Trump\u2019s keynote speech drew a modest 2.5 million viewers on Fox News, \u2060according to \u2060Nielsen data<\/a>. Some attendees expressed discontent over the cost of living and Iran war while starting to look beyond the president to potential successors in 2028.
With Trump\u2019s approval rating at a historic low, it was far from certain that the two-day \u201cTrump-a-palooza\u201d<\/a> will have the desired effect of galvanising the party\u2019s base and recreating the turnout that powered his 2016 and 2024 presidential election victories.
Holding a convention in a midterm year was an attempt to make history in order to defy history. The party that holds the White House typically suffers midterm losses: George W Bush\u2019s Republicans took a \u201cthumping\u201d in 2006, while Barack Obama\u2019s Democrats endured a \u201cshellacking\u201d in 2010<\/a>.
The omens this year are no less foreboding: the Decision Desk HQ<\/a> website projects that Democrats are poised to capture the House of Representatives 229-206, with the Senate hanging on a knife-edge at 50-50.
The spectacle in Dallas<\/a> was rapidly pulled together at Trump\u2019s behest after the host committee raised $45m in three weeks. It had some familiar trappings, including tall state delegations on the convention floor, fiery speeches and a celebratory balloon drop at the end, but no nominations or formal business. And there was no doubt who was the star of the show.
Trump\u2019s image was everywhere in the corridors of the American Airlines Center<\/a>. Attendees wore clothes with phrases such as \u201cTrump tribe\u201d, \u201cTrump has our back\u201d and \u201cProud deplorable\u201d. Speaker after speaker lavished him with effusive praise.
Among them was Robert Kennedy Jr, the health secretary, who recalled<\/a> their meeting soon after Trump survived a shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania: \u201cI discovered a self-effacing man of superior intelligence, of empathy and compassion, with an encyclopedic grasp of the issues in molecular detail. And most of all, a near reckless courage to challenge vested interests and official orthodoxies.\u201d
But while the Trump personality cult was alive and well, another theme was just as prominent. Unable to point to falling grocery bills or peace in the Middle East, the convention leaned heavily into fear, painting a nightmarish portrait of what the US would look like with the Democrats<\/a> back in charge.
Images of the influencer Hasan Piker and other leftwing figures loomed ominously on giant video screens. A narrator\u2019s voice boomed: \u201cToday\u2019s extreme left hasn\u2019t simply moved away from Republicans<\/a>. It has moved away from Democrats in its own party. <\/em>Far beyond the common sense of the American people. This is no longer simply Republican versus Democrat or conservative versus liberal. Today, the choice is unmistakable. Extreme versus mainstream.\u201d
Numerous speeches sought to whip up a new red scare<\/a>. Treasury secretary Scott Bessent warned that Democrats wanted to transform the US into a \u201csocialist hellscape\u201d while House Speaker Mike Johnson framed the midterms as a simple choice between \u201ccommon sense and crazy\u201d.
Many speakers emphasised their own Christian faith while stressing the godlessness of communism and conflating it with threats from outside America\u2019s borders, at times invoking the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks<\/a>.
Senator Ted Cruz of Texas said<\/a>: \u201cWe are witnessing a new and dangerous red-green alliance \u2013 communists and Islamists coming together and sweeping over the Democrat party. They are united because they share the same enemies. They hate Christians, they hate Jews, they hate capitalism, they hate the constitution, and they hate America!\u201d
There were shouts in the arena<\/a> of \u201cHe should be shot!\u201d as Cruz singled out some leading progressives by name: \u201cWhen people tell you who they are, believe them. When Hasan Piker says, America deserved 9\/11, believe him. When Mamdani says he wants to seize the means of production, he means it. When Abdul El-Sayed says he has an \u2018obligation\u2019 to comply with Sharia law, he means it. And when James Talarico says he wants to dismantle capitalism, he means this.\u201d
On the convention floor, Republicans echoed Cruz\u2019s apocalyptic framing. Pavel Sokolov<\/a>, 33, vice-chair of the New Jersey Republican party, drew on his personal background to reinforce the point. \u201cI was born in the former Soviet Union; my parents and I fled that exact rhetoric,\u201d Sokolov said. \u201cIt always starts nice and friendly, saying everyone must pay their fair share. But it inevitably ends up the same. In the Soviet Union, ostensibly everyone was equal, yet somehow the party bosses ate caviar every day.\u201d
Conversely, most speakers swerved past voters\u2019 everyday concerns about the cost of living and Trump\u2019s war of choice in Iran. Trump himself claimed that concerns about \u200cinflation were exaggerated and the word \u201caffordable\u201d was \u201cfake\u201d. Interviews with more than a dozen attendees found staunch support for him \u2013 but with some reservations beneath the surface.
Gregorio Heise<\/a>, 59, a disabled army veteran from Texas, described Trump\u2019s second term as \u201cfriggin\u2019 awesome\u201d, explaining: \u201cI prefer to pay $5 a gallon [of gas] and put my head on a pillow and wake up knowing this country is still here than watching it go boom with a nuke. No, thank you. I\u2019m a vet and I didn\u2019t serve this country to watch it go to crap.\u201d
Joseph Ditto, a 50-year-old statistician from suburban Minneapolis wearing an elephant-patterned Republican tie, admitted his frustration with the administration\u2019s foreign policy. \u201cI\u2019m not a fan of the war in Iran. I hope it\u2019s over quickly,\u201d he said. \u201cI voted for the anti-war Trump, so that\u2019s frustrating.\u201d
Democrats, who held three midterm conventions in 1974, 1978 and 1982 with mixed results, have no plans for a rival event this time. But some travelled to Dallas to counter the Republican messaging.
Sydney Kamlager-Dove<\/a>, a congresswoman from California, highlighted what she saw as the fundamental disconnect of Trump\u2019s second term. \u201cLast night, Donald Trump was talking about how he wanted to build a big ballroom like they have in China,\u201d she said. \u201cThe average American family can\u2019t afford groceries or gas, and he\u2019s fantasising about a ballroom in the people\u2019s house. This entire event is built around one man who likes to hear himself talk.\u201d
To many political strategists, turning a midterm election into a direct referendum on an incumbent president whose national approval rating languishes in the low-to-mid 30s looks like a huge own goal. But Trump\u2019s energetic performance on Wednesday night buoyed Republicans who believe he retains a unique ability to galvanise people who might not otherwise vote at all.
David Hopkins<\/a>, a professor of political science at Boston College, said: \u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of journalistic dunking on Trump saying that making the election more about him is an ego trip winning out over smart strategy. That\u2019s not an unreasonable take but there\u2019s another way to look at it. The worst-case scenario for Republicans is that Republican voters stay home.\u201d
Hopkins pointed out that Trump commands a unique, low-propensity \u201cMake America great again\u201d (Maga) electorate that turns out passionately for him but frequently ignores down-ballot congressional races when his name is absent. \u201cIf they can\u2019t get those people out, it looks like a real national wipeout.\u201d
The midterm convention also offered an intriguing subplot: the question of who inherits the Maga movement when Trump, the 45th and 47th president, is gone.
Vice-President JD Vance was greeted by chants of \u201cJD 48!\u201d as he delivered Thursday night\u2019s keynote address<\/a>. He spoke at length about his family while describing Democrats as \u201cthe party that despises America and the people who built it\u201d. When a protester waving a Mexican flag briefly interrupted his speech, Vance drew thunderous applause with a sharp put-down: \u201cWell, my friend, if you love Mexico so much, get your ass over there. I\u2019ll buy you the plane ticket.\u201d
In the concourses, delegates were actively sizing up the potential 2028 field. While Vance commands a substantial lead in early polling among Republican primary voters, several other names \u2013 most notably secretary of state Marco Rubio and Florida governor Ron DeSantis \u2013 were frequently cited.
Heise said: \u201cMarco Rubio is doing everything. He\u2019s building on the foundations this country was created on in 1776.\u201d Chris Daniel, 44, from Houston, who has been a delegate at every Republican convention since 2004, echoed that sentiment. \u201cI prefer Marco Rubio over Vance if I had to pick one today. He has proven his ability to lead in any capacity.\u201d
Rusat Ramgopal<\/a>, 26, executive director of the Queens county Republican party in New York, envisioned a pragmatic resolution to avoid a damaging primary battle. \u201cInstead of a divisive primary between Vance and Rubio, I think the two of them and the president will sit down in a room and decide the ticket,\u201d he predicted. \u201cIt just depends on who is top of the ticket and who is vice president.\u201d
Republicans declared the convention a triumph. Outside the arena, the verdict was rather less enthusiastic.
Veteran pollster John Zogby<\/a> described the two-day gathering as an \u201cact of desperation\u201d that highlighted internal vulnerabilities rather than strength. \u201cThe president promised that the war in Iran would end by August, inflation would be down by August, fuel prices would be low again by August,\u201d Zogby noted. \u201cNone of those have been achieved. We have moved from the politics of anger into the politics of disappointment.\u201d<\/p>\n

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President the star of the show at two-day convention, but party\u2019s plan to treat November elections as referendum on Trump himself poses grave risks\u201cWe\u2019re going to have a good time listening to music,\u201d Donald Trump told thousands of supporters in downtown Dallas before handing the mic to an opera singer, \u201cbecause I\u2019m getting a little […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":224023,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-224022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}