Donald Trump is preparing to regain his favorite place, on the front of the stage. Without the electrified crowds he dreamed of, but with the White House as a prestigious setting.
After the Democrats’ week, which placed Joe Biden in orbit for the November 3 election, the US president will be the central figure – almost unique – of the Republican convention next week.
Donald Trump, who plays geographic mobility against a Biden stationed at home he qualifies alternately as “slow” (“Slow Joe”) or “asleep” (“Sleepy Joe”), will travel to North Carolina on Monday .
It is there, in the Convention Center in Charlotte, that some 300 delegates representing the 50 American states will once again formally nominate him as their party’s candidate.
The rest will be played online, mainly from Washington, culminating in the billionaire’s speech Thursday evening, from the gardens of the White House.
The choice of this place, a federal building loaded with symbols, for an eminently political show, in the service of a single party, made people cringe.
But Donald Trump is delighted with his coup, and loudly claims his decision.
“It’s a place where I feel good, it’s a place where the country feels good,” he told the New York Post.
And he hinted that he meant not to be alone. “We could have quite a few people. It’s very big, a huge lawn. We could accommodate a lot of people ”.
After having defended tooth and nail for a long time, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, a large festive convention with thousands of participants, the tenant of the White House has finally accepted a largely virtual format.
The next four days should be significantly different from the Democratic High Mass. Three former presidents – Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama – spoke out for Joe Biden.
George W. Bush, the only former Republican president still alive, has long distanced himself from the billionaire.
“Only rampart”
On Tuesday, First Lady Melania Trump will speak from the recently renovated White House Rose Garden.
She will try to make people forget the controversy of 2016.
His first big speech to America and the world, at the Republican Party convention, had turned into a fiasco. She had indeed plagiarized entire passages of a speech by … Michelle Obama, dating from 2008.
The “pen” of his speech had pleaded guilty, but the controversy had spoiled its great moment in the spotlight.
Particularly discreet in recent weeks, it will be eagerly awaited. The scenes of the First Lady refusing to take the hand of her husband on the descent of Air Force One, have turned on a loop, once again fueling speculation on the tensions within the presidential couple.
Vice President Mike Pence will deliver his speech on Wednesday from Fort McHenry, near Baltimore.
Donald Trump gave no indication of his speech, simply insisting that he would speak live after criticizing Michelle Obama for her pre-recorded speech.
His daughter and advisor Ivanaka Trump could, as often, be reserved a special place just before the presidential speech.
In July 2016, in Cleveland, Ohio, he gave a particularly dark speech, posing as the last resort.
Judging by his statements over the past few days, the tone should be similar, if not more apocalyptic.
“If our opponents win, no one will be safe in our country,” he said on Friday. “It will be a completely different country and, in the end, it will fail,” he added, predicting a recession “similar to that of 1929”.
“I am the only bulwark between the American dream and anarchy, madness and chaos”.