ANALYSIS | ‘A quasi-religious figure’: Republican convention becomes a spiritual celebration of Trump | CBC News

To some participants here in Milwaukee, this week’s Republican convention is no mere political gathering; it has taken on a religious significance.

And their party leader won’t just be your standard flesh-and-blood presidential candidate with his formal nomination in a roll-call vote Monday afternoon.

Donald Trump will step into a bath of adulation from thousands of party faithful, many of whom see the former U.S. president’s survival of an assassination attempt as a divine act.

The convention was abuzz with talk of miracles, even before a planned speech by preacher Franklin Graham, and before Trump’s first public appearance later Monday.

“There is so much more energy [here] now,” said Zina Hackworth, an attendee from the St. Louis area.

“We actually see the hand of God has protected former president Trump.”

Had he not turned, slightly, to stare at a screen while speaking onstage Saturday, a sniper’s bullet might have torn through his head, she said.

Another Republican who ascribed it to divine will was driving near the convention site with a “F–k Biden” sign on his red pickup truck.

“I believe that God wants Trump to bring the United States back to where it’s supposed to be,” said Craig Basile, a 62-year-old Wisconsin man who had just left church Sunday.

Trump has also described his survival as miraculous.

Trump on experience: ‘I’m supposed to be dead’

In his first interview after the shooting, he told the Washington Examiner he turned just the right amount, at just the right time, and credited it as incredible luck or an act of God: “I’m supposed to be dead. I’m not supposed to be here,” he said.

He insists it will change him. 

Trump said he’s ripped up his original convention speech, which he called extremely partisan, “brutal” and a “humdinger,” filled with rip-roaring attacks against the Biden administration and the Democrats.

“I can’t say these things after what I’ve been through,” Trump said, acknowledging that his political opponents include good people.

“I threw it out,” he said of the speech. “I think it would be very bad if I got up and started going wild about how horrible everybody is, and how corrupt and crooked, even if it’s true.

“Now, we have a speech that is more unifying.”

This reflects the official message of his campaign: His senior staff has ordered the campaign team to keep the rhetoric cool. 

One top official even deleted a social media post blaming U.S. President Joe Biden and the Democrats for the shooting. He later modified the message to say Trump’s opponents have made disgraceful remarks about him, and must be held accountable at the ballot box.

A number of other politicians — Democrats and Republicans alike — have been saying the heated political rhetoric in this country urgently needs some cooling. 

Trump’s wife Melania issued an uncharacteristically lengthy statement, urging Americans to start seeing each other’s humanity first, rather than partisan affiliation.

WATCH | More on the assassination attempt:

Trump assassination attempt: The reaction, investigation and political consequences

Former U.S. president Donald Trump left for the Republican National Convention a day after an assassination attempt at a campaign rally killed a bystander. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden called for unity as investigators searched for the shooter’s motive.

In name of ‘unity,’ forget Jan. 6: Trump

Will this talk of linguistic conversion stick? 

It faces tall odds. Trump himself has acknowledged that if his political opponents start attacking him, he might respond — and the moment of decency might prove ephemeral.

In fact, it’s been immediately tested.

After a Florida judge tossed out his classified-documents case Monday, Trump urged — in the name of national “unity” — the dismissal of what he called all politically motivated charges.

This includes, as per a Trump social media post, dismissing charges over the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters, which he referred to as the Jan. 6 “hoax.” 

The request struck his critics as a self-interested exploitation of the shooting: a demand in the name of healing democracy, to be absolved of trying to steal an election.

One protester at the convention site was livid at the news of the dropped documents charges. She said the convicted criminal belongs nowhere near the White House again.

“I’m shaking right now,” said Darlene Garms of Milwaukee. “He’s divided this whole country.”

On the other side of the political divide on Fox News, segment after segment blamed the Democrats and the media for hateful rhetoric around Trump. 

A ‘quasi-religious figure’ on the right

Prime-time host Jesse Watters blamed the media for likening Trump to a fascist. He did so in introducing his guest, Bill Barr, who happened to resign as Trump’s attorney general in 2020 as Trump was trying to undo that year’s U.S. election.

That unpleasant history did not come up.

Still, Barr said Democrats are overdoing it with the argument that American democracy will disappear if Trump wins.

“That is an apocalyptic and hysterical position that’s bound to lead to violence,” Barr said. “It’s ridiculous. He’s not the threat to democracy that they’re portraying.”

Another thing that did not come up on Fox News? Trump’s constant use of similar language, saying things like, “If we don’t win this election, we won’t have a country left,” or that the U.S. won’t survive another four years of Biden.

Trump has also joked repeatedly about the bludgeoning attack in former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s home against her husband.

Maybe things are different now. We’ll get a sense, perhaps, during this convention, where he will be celebrated for days, then speak Thursday.

“He has been made a quasi-religious figure for the party,” said Kathleen Dolan, a distinguished professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

And maybe American politics won’t change all that much. 

When asked about the vulgar insult against Trump’s opponent on his pickup truck, Basile, the Wisconsin man, replied that it’s a clear message — to the point — and there’s no shame in it.

“Best $25 I ever spent.”