Washington Edition: Trump being Trump

Veering from the script [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Welcome to Washington Edition. Readers of the Balance of Power newsletter are also receiving this special edition. Bloomberg Businessweek national correspondent Joshua Green breaks down Donald Trump’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention. To get Washington Edition going forward, [sign up here]( and follow us at [@bpolitics](. Email our editors [here](mailto:dcnewsletter@bloomberg.net). Vintage Performance Donald Trump took the stage at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee last night as a conquering hero. It marked an incredible political comeback. Trump survived two impeachments; his 2020 election loss; the GOP’s efforts to exile him after the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection; primary challenges from would-be Republican successors; and, just last week, an assassin’s bullet. Perhaps most remarkable of all: The man who beat Trump in the last election, Joe Biden, looks[increasingly unlikely]( to make it through the Democratic convention next month, whereas Trump is now the undisputed Republican power. Trump Photographer: Hannah Beier/Bloomberg Trump’s domination of the party was evident throughout the four-day convention. In contrast to his first go-round, in 2016, Trump was no longer bound by stuffy Republican notions of decorum or obligations to appease evangelicals, foreign policy hawks, anti-abortion activists or any other conservative faction. Instead, last night’s proceedings had the trappings of WrestleMania — and many of the participants, too. Former wrestling star Hulk Hogan gave a pep talk and UFC president and promoter Dana White gave Trump’s introduction. In between was a high-decibel performance by Kid Rock that would have sent old-guard Republicans like his former vice president, Mike Pence, to the fainting couch, had Pence not already been ostracized from the party. [Trump’s speech]( was billed by the campaign as something new — not the dark “American carnage”-style red meat he’s famous for. It would be more a statesman-like call for national unity. Let the record show that Trump did utter pre-written words to that effect: “The discord and division in our society must be healed.” But his heart wasn’t in it. Trump seemed eager to mythologize Saturday’s assassination attempt, [recounting in elaborate detail]( the “providential moment” when the bullets whizzed past him and extolling the “giant audience of patriots” for not fleeing at the sound of gunfire. He quickly departed from the text on the teleprompter into the kind of free-association MAGA-rally riffs that makes those events so odd and entertaining (and often turns them into multi-hour affairs). Eventually, he got back to business and rattled off the rest of his script. This included promises to restore prosperity and safety, oust immigrants in the country illegally and finish his border wall, as well as vanquish the nagging economic problems like inflation that polls show have soured so many voters on Biden. By the time the speech rolled into a second hour, it was clear that this was less a traditional presidential acceptance speech than a vintage Trump campaign rally. That surely didn’t matter to the delegates, most of them die-hard Trump fans. It may not have mattered much, either, to anyone watching at home who managed to make it to the end of what was the longest acceptance speech of a major party candidate in modern times. Everything about the speech and the event differentiated him from Biden. And at least for now, as Biden lingers on the Democratic ticket, polls suggest that’s what most voters are looking for. —[ Joshua Green]( Key Reading: - [Biden Faces Mounting Speculation, Pressure to Drop Bid]( - [Republicans Confident in Chances Regardless of Democratic Ticket]( - [Understanding Project 2025: What It Says and Who’s Behind It]( - [Trump Asks $844,600 for Fundraiser Seat at Bitcoin Conference]( - [Trump’s Heir Vance Cements Populism’s Hold on Republican Party]( What’s Next Trump and Vance hold a rally Saturday in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The House is set to return to work on Monday and the Senate reconvenes next Tuesday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to address a joint meeting of Congress on July 24. The opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris is July 26. The Democratic convention is Aug. 19-22 in Chicago. 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