They are calling it a midterm convention. It is a Trump rally with better catering and a refusal to put the war on the schedule.<\/p>\n
This week in Dallas, Republicans will stage what The Guardian reports as the party\u2019s first midterm convention. Donald Trump speaks Wednesday and Thursday. The marquee includes JD Vance, Scott Bessent, Todd Blanche, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Donald Trump Jr. Brookings\u2019 Elaine Kamarck \u2014 who watched Democrats swear off midterm conventions after the 1978 Memphis mess \u2014 called it plainly: \u201cThis is essentially a Trump ral<\/p>\n Allan Lichtman\u2019s line lands like a cold coffee: Trump cares that he will not be investigated and that his appointments clear the Senate. Loyalty is a one-way street with a velvet rope. Charlie Sykes calls it Trump-a-palooza \u2014 the bride at every wedding, the corpse at every funeral \u2014 while Larry Sabato says the upside is maybe Maga turnout, not minds changed.<\/p>\n Deb will text that we are not watching primetime pageantry on a school night. Buck will say \u201cjust turn out the base.\u201d I am a Gen X exile who got walked out of the You Know Who Post for caring too loudly, and I can still read a schedule that refuses to say \u201cwar\u201d out loud. If the midterms are a referendum on Trump, Dallas is not a strategy. It is a reminder, with lighting.<\/p>\n Source it: The Guardian, Sept. 7, 2026 \u2014 \u201cRepublican midterm convention will be \u2018Trumpist pageantry\u2019 \u2013 at the party\u2019s own risk.\u201d Then ask who benefits when the invoice stays off the teleprompter.<\/p>\n \u2014 Theo Ashford-Lindstr\u00f6m, allergic to rallies dressed as governance<\/p>\n ly that they\u2019re calling a midterm convention.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n The made-for-TV spectacle collides with the NFL\u2019s opening games. A Politico survey of more than 70 Republican candidates and members found 45<\/strong> who either will not go or are still thinking about it; some balked at the $25,000<\/strong> price of attendance. Unlike a presidential-year convention, there are no rules, no platform \u2014 just pageantry aimed at a base that historically stays home when Trump is not on the ballot.<\/p>\n Here is the cardigan-left reading of the spreadsheet: Reuters\/Ipsos has Trump at 33%<\/strong> approval. Democrats report more November enthusiasm, 46% to 31%<\/strong>. Tara Setmayer calls hitching a campaign to this presidency \u201cpolitical suicide.\u201d Candidates are scrubbing \u201cTRUMP CONSERVATIVE\u201d into \u201cPROVEN CONSERVATIVE,\u201d swapping \u201cSUPPORT PRESIDENT TRUMP\u2019S AGENDA\u201d for \u201cLOWER THE COST OF LIVING,\u201d and quietly deleting endorsement photos. The program, per The Guardian, highlights tax cuts, borders, and \u201ceveryday Americans\u201d \u2014 and makes no mention<\/strong> of foreign policy or the Iran war voters are paying for at the pump.<\/p>\n Allan Lichtman\u2019s line lands like a cold coffee: Trump cares that he will not be investigated and that his appointments clear the Senate. Loyalty is a one-way street with a velvet rope. Charlie Sykes calls it Trump-a-palooza \u2014 the bride at every wedding, the corpse at every funeral \u2014 while Larry Sabato says the upside is maybe Maga turnout, not minds changed.<\/p>\n Deb will text that we are not watching primetime pageantry on a school night. Buck will say \u201cjust turn out the base.\u201d I am a Gen X exile who got walked out of the You Know Who Post for caring too loudly, and I can still read a schedule that refuses to say \u201cwar\u201d out loud. If the midterms are a referendum on Trump, Dallas is not a strategy. It is a reminder, with lighting.<\/p>\n Source it: The Guardian, Sept. 7, 2026 \u2014 \u201cRepublican midterm convention will be \u2018Trumpist pageantry\u2019 \u2013 at the party\u2019s own risk.\u201d Then ask who benefits when the invoice stays off the teleprompter.<\/p>\n \u2014 Theo Ashford-Lindstr\u00f6m, allergic to rallies dressed as governance<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" They are calling it a midterm convention. It is a Trump rally with better catering and a refusal to put the war on the schedule. This week in Dallas, Republicans will stage what The Guardian reports as the party\u2019s first midterm convention. Donald Trump speaks Wednesday and Thursday. The marquee includes JD Vance, Scott Bessent, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":69,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thetheolowgen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/theo-gop-convention-pageantry.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetheolowgen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetheolowgen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetheolowgen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetheolowgen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetheolowgen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=68"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thetheolowgen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70,"href":"https:\/\/thetheolowgen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68\/revisions\/70"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetheolowgen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/69"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetheolowgen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=68"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetheolowgen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=68"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetheolowgen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=68"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}