MILWAUKEE — Former President Donald Trump’s acceptance of the Republican nomination on Thursday marked the party’s seismic lurch toward populism in a move to expand its base and lock in critical battleground state voters.
Mr. Trump is tailoring his campaign message to the working class and to traditionally Democratic blocs, such as Black, Hispanic and other minority voters.
In his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention on Thursday, the former president pitched the GOP’s big, new tent.
“I am here tonight to lay out a vision for the whole nation. To every citizen, whether you are young or old, man or woman, Democrat, Republican, or independent, Black or White, Asian or Hispanic, I extend to you a hand of loyalty and friendship,” Mr. Trump said.
In a relatively subdued and introspective beginning, he recounted Saturday’s assassination attempt but said it would be the last time he’d do so in public because telling it again would be “painful.”
He was still sporting the bandaged ear from the sniper’s bullet that grazed him and came within millimeters of killing him.
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As polls show the effort paying off in seven swing states, the Republican National Convention this week locked in the party’s transformation, sweeping aside once-dominant conservative social policy issues such as abortion in favor of an agenda centered on the economy, jobs, reducing crime and ending U.S. involvement in overseas conflicts.
Mr. Trump’s hourlong acceptance speech contrasted his agenda with Mr. Biden’s record, and he pledged to steer the nation back toward the prosperity that lifted up the working class during his first term.
“To all of the forgotten men and women who have been neglected, abandoned, and left behind, you will be forgotten no longer,” Mr. Trump said. We will press forward, and together, we will win, win, win.”
Mr. Trump also downplayed previous Republican rallying cries, making no mention of Second Amendment or pro-life issues.
He promised to secure the border, lower taxes and end the Biden administration’s runaway spending that he said has fueled inflation and caused high interest rates.
There will be no more electric vehicle mandates or other “Green New Deal” policies, Mr. Trump said, instead vowing that the country would ramp up oil and gas production to lower energy prices and create jobs.
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“Republicans have a plan to bring down prices, and bring them down fast. By slashing energy costs, we will in turn reduce the cost of transportation, manufacturing, and all household goods,” Mr. Trump said.
“We have more liquid gold under our feet than any other country — we as a nation will make a fortune with oil and gas,” he said.
Delegates gathered at the convention celebrated Mr. Trump’s remodeling of the Republican Party.
“He did shift the party,” said Jesus Marquez, a Nevada delegate from Las Vegas and head of the state’s Latino Americans for Trump organization.
Mr. Marquez said the changes have broadened the party’s appeal to people who might otherwise never consider voting Republican — not just minorities but also Americans struggling to pay rent and buy groceries on jobs that pay low wages.
“He has shifted to the needs of the American people,” Mr. Marquez said. “He’s not just talking to one group or the other. He’s talking to everyone, and that’s attracted a lot of people. Especially the working class.”
The convention speaker’s list, controlled by the Trump campaign, left little room for conservative social policy messaging, most notably excluding pro-life advocates who have long comprised an important slice of the Republican Party base.
Instead, the convention packed every night with the voices of “everyday Americans” affected by the nation’s lethal drug epidemic, sagging economy and soft-on-crime policies.
The convention’s opening night reserved the most prominent prime-time speaking slot for Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, who signaled that the union vote long dominated by Democrats is now open to the Republican Party.
On Monday, Mr. Trump took a major step to ensure the party’s populist shift endures by picking 39-year-old Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio as his running mate. Mr. Vance, once a staunch critic of the former president, is one of the most vocal proponents of Mr. Trump’s “America First” agenda.
Mr. Vance hails from Middleton, Ohio, the kind of working-class community in the industrial heartland that Mr. Trump needs to help him win back the White House in November. The two head to the battleground state of Michigan for a campaign rally on Saturday.
Mr. Vance, in his acceptance speech, described the Republican agenda as a “movement” aimed at single mothers like his, a former drug addict who struggled to pay the bills, and at Rust Belt families crushed by the domestic and foreign policies of Democrats.
“At each step of the way, in small towns like mine in Ohio, or next door in Pennsylvania or in Michigan and other states across our country, jobs were sent overseas and children were sent to war,” Mr. Vance said.
Mr. Trump’s speech, which he wrote himself, wove together the party’s populist theme with his personal story and reflections after an attempted assassination just days ago.
The former president walked onto the Fiserv Forum stage after an address by Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White, whose mixed martial arts events embody the working-class identity.
Mr. Trump is a regular attendee of UFC fight cards, and his entrance is always met with raucous receptions from the crowd and cageside kudos from some of the fighters.
In an interview on “The Pat McAfee Show” after the shooting, Mr. White called Mr. Trump — who pumped his fist and walked off the rally stage bloodied by a gunshot — “the legitimate, ultimate American bad a— of all-time.”
Paul Farrow, a Wisconsin delegate from Waukesha, said Mr. Trump has defined the populist positions that have become the new foundation of the Republican Party.
Mr. Farrow and other delegates signed off on an RNC platform that excluded a pledge to enact a federal ban on abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Instead, a shortened agenda was dedicated to “forgotten men and women of America.”
The party pledged to build a southern border wall, unleash U.S. energy production, cut taxes, restore law and order, and make housing and health care more affordable.
“We have listened to him,” Mr. Farrow said. “He is the one that said we’ve got to make some changes in our platform to get people to understand we’re ready to help everyone.”
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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