A tale of two presidents as Trump claims his triumph and Biden’s hopes begin to fade

Milwaukee (CNN) — Thousands of supporters chanted “fight, fight, fight” and pumped their fists Thursday night as Donald Trump basked in the love of the new Republican Party he built and that hails him as a superhero touched by God.

States away, Joe Biden sat isolated and sick in his Delaware beach house as the party he led to victory just four years ago turned on the 81-year-old president and the possibility grew that a humiliating final chapter may be opening in a storied political life.

Trump and Biden have been locked in a bitter political clash ever since Biden vowed to launch a battle for the soul of the nation when White supremacists marched through Charlottesville, Virginia, seven years ago.

Their fates diverged sharply Thursday. Trump accepted the nomination of a united party convinced it’s cruising to victory in November, while Democrats splintered, with some fearing that their president could lead them to a landslide defeat after a cataclysmic debate performance sent his reelection campaign into freefall three weeks ago.

Trump spoke on the last night of the Republican National Convention at the end of a week that he might not have lived to see after narrowly escaping an assassination attempt – the second stunning twist in three weeks in a suddenly transformed election campaign.

“Just a few short days ago, my journey with you nearly ended, we know that,” Trump said. “And yet here we are tonight, all gathered together, talking about the future promise and a total renewal of a thing we love very much, it’s called America,” he declared.

“We live in a world of miracles.”

As the former president wistfully told the story of the horrific moment he came under attack in a Pennsylvania park on Saturday, he displayed rare vulnerability and reflection. “I’m not supposed to be here tonight,” Trump told the crowd, which broke into a spontaneous chant of “yes you are, yes you are!”

The eyes of people high in the stands of the Milwaukee Bucks’ arena glistened with tears as Trump described how he heard a “loud whizzing sound” and felt something hit him “really, really hard on (his) right ear.” He survived, he said, because he had “God on (his) side.”

Trump’s aides overpromised

All week, Republicans have carved a narrative of an iron man of destiny who would drag a wounded America up off the dirt, just as he rose bloodied from his brush with death and held up a fist of defiance.

But Trump’s aides promised their candidate had also changed in the aftermath of a shooting that wounded him in the right ear — and would respond to his new lease on life with a message of national reconciliation and unity. And early in his remarks, Trump did reach for a vision of national renewal. “The discord and division in our society must be healed. As Americans, we are bound together by a single fate and a shared destiny. We rise together. Or we fall apart.”

But the new Trump lasted just a few minutes before the old version returned. Soon, the ex-president was ranting about weaponized justice, claiming falsely that foreign nations were sending people from their mental asylums over the US border and accusing Democrats of cheating in elections.

The ex-president then tried to recreate the dystopian atmosphere of his searing 2016 convention speech – though the comparison with the intense night in Cleveland eight years ago served to underscore that Trump is eight years older and not quite the ferocious rhetorical force he once was.

In the end, it was the same old speech full of untruths and rhetoric that alienates moderates that has left Trump deeply unpopular with half of America.

The once and possibly future president painted a nostalgic and idealized vision of his term and accused Biden of driving into a ditch a country he himself left deeply divided and economically diminished. And he warned that perceived weakness abroad had created great danger. “Our planet is teetering on the edge of World War III and this will be a war like no other,” said Trump.

Clashing political messages

On a night dedicated to unity, the divisiveness of Trump’s warm-up acts undercut the message, hinting at the hardline authoritarian undercurrent of the “Make America Great Again” movement that might characterize the second term of a former president who thinks he is entitled to unchecked power. Wrestler Hulk Hogan painted Trump in the light of a developing third-world dictator wielding unaccountable power.

“All you criminals, all you low-lives, all you scumbags … what you gonna do when Donald Trump and all the Trumpamaniacs run wild on you brother?” Hogan roared.

In an election that could be won by invigorating the Republican base — with the help of new MAGA favorite JD Vance as his vice presidential nominee — Trump’s stark speech may serve its function. But it was hard to see how it would please swing voters and its tedious length, at 1 hour 32 minutes, stretched well past primetime. And for the Americans wondering how to pay for health care, how to afford a house or to send their kids to college, Trump offered no new details of what he’d actually do in a second term.

Trump’s low-energy delivery in the vast arena was far less compelling that many of his campaign rallies, and it represented the most undisciplined, off-script moments of the entire convention. To be fair, he just survived an assassination attempt. But at times, in an election that is increasingly turning on the vulnerabilities of Biden’s age, Trump looked every bit of his 78 years – and his rambling remarks could serve to embolden Democrats who believe that a more vigorous candidate on their side could thwart the ex-president’s hopes of becoming only the second defeated one-term president to return to office.

Still, in an age of social media and viral moments, it may not matter much that Trump went on so long. The most striking moments of the night – the ex-president’s grand entrance against a huge backdrop of lights reading “Trump,” his scripted recollections of the assassination attempt and video of the ex-president huddled with his grandchildren in his box may be all that most Americans remember – and represented valuable imagery for a campaign that is already ahead.

But there was also plenty for Democrats to fault and work with. And combined with Biden’s troubles, the second half of the speech may have served best to illustrate one of the defining characteristics of the election: Americans are deeply unimpressed with either option.

Biden’s campaign tips into deepening crisis

The speech followed a day of extraordinary developments in Biden’s ailing reelection campaign, which has foundered since his faltering debate performance that validated the concerns of millions of voters who doubt he’s fully fit to serve a second term that would end when he is 86.

Compounding his political woes, Biden this week has been forced to retreat to his beach house in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, with a case of Covid-19, at a moment when many senior-ranking White House and campaign officials have come to believe the president must abandon his campaign for a second term.

“The next 72 hours are big,” one Democratic governor in close touch with party officials relayed to aides on Thursday. “This can’t go on much longer.”

“People see and feel the walls closing in,” one senior Democrat said, CNN also reported.

Another top Democrat close to the White House described Biden as having become “exceptionally insulated and isolated” since the CNN debate in Atlanta on June 27.

In a critical sign of the party’s down-ballot concerns, Montana Sen. Jon Tester, who faces the toughest reelection of any incumbent, became the latest senior Democrat to say Biden should step aside.

“I have worked with President Biden when it has made Montana stronger, and I’ve never been afraid to stand up to him when he is wrong. And while I appreciate his commitment to public service and our country, I believe President Biden should not seek re-election to another term.”

Biden has argued that he’s still the best Democratic hope to beat Trump – and, on the evidence of a keynote convention address on Thursday, the ex-president indeed looks beatable.

But increasingly, events suggest that the mission may be entrusted to another, yet-to-be identified Democrat.

This story has been updated with additional details.

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