The RNC from the cheap seats

I’m back from the Republican National Convention and getting some deep, much-needed sleep.

Haha, just kidding! As you may in fact be aware, Joe Biden isn’t running for President anymore. Here’s our emergency NPR Politics Podcast that we cranked out yesterday on a not-so-lazy Sunday afternoon.

A friend messaged me this morning offering prayers for the firehose of news that we are dealing with it. Those prayers are much appreciated.

But before that firehose washes us all away - and our memories of last week - here are a few images from Milwaukee - both from the Republican convention and, in the upper left-hand corner, from the Democratic National Committee, which sent a rolling digital billboard on a truck through Milwaukee last week, calling out the Republican presidential and vice presidential nominees for their opposition to abortion rights:

A few pics from Milwaukee. which hosted the RNC last week

As you can see, former President Trump got an enthusiastic reception at his convention - which was basically a week-long Trump celebration. Joe Neglia, lower left, of Tempe, Arizona, was among the first delegates to sport a faux bandage in solidarity with Trump after he survived an assassination attempt just days before the convention began.

Covering a political convention means working almost around the clock (sleeping whenever and wherever feasible, including, in my case, on the couch in the ladies’ lounge at our wonderful NPR member station in Milwaukee, WUWM). This is my absolute favorite building in Milwaukee, which you can see from one of the station’s windows.

It also means hanging out in the cheap seats - AKA the media broadcast section way up in the top of the convention center - and milling around the floor, talking to delegates, and attending sideline events with advocacy and interest groups of all sorts.

The view from Radio Row, as it’s occasionally called.

• So, TL;dr: here are my big takeaways from the RNC.

• Among many other things, I closed the book (for now at least) on my coverage of former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley by writing about her speech at the RNC - in which she, like so many before her, came full circle and gave Trump her complete endorsement

• I also looked at the fight over the party’s abortion platform language and what it says about the politics of abortion for Republicans now, post-Dobbs

• I also spent some time with Never Trumpers on the sidelines - a shrinking group of current and former Republicans who oppose him.

  

  Former RNC chairman Michael Steele appeared at an event in Milwaukee last week hosted by the anti-Trump conservative group Principles First

  For a sense of just how much things have changed in the Trump era, former RNC Chairman Michael Steele was among the attendees at an event hosted by Principles First, a group of anti-Trump conservatives. Steele told the audience gathered at a brewery near the convention center that despite President Biden’s COVID diagnosis last week, he was undeterred in his plans for November.

  “Joe Biden could be in his underwear, sitting in the corner drooling with COVID, and I'd still vote for him.”

  ~Michael Steele, former RNC chairman

  After this weekend, he won’t have that option come November. It’s looking more and more inevitable that Vice President Harris will be the nominee, as Democrats rally around her.

  We’ll be covering all of it at NPR.org and on the radio.