Republicans emerge from their convention thrilled with Trump and talking about a blowout victory

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The last time Republicans gathered for a full convention, they were plagued by internal division and fear. Morale was near rock bottom. And the party’s presidential nominee showed little desire, or capacity, to add new voters to his political coalition.

What a difference eight years make.

The Republican officials, strategists and activists who packed Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention this week expressed a collective confidence at levels not seen in decades. Boos and infighting marred Donald Trump’s first convention in 2016, but this one was defined by overwhelming displays of unity as GOP leaders — Trump skeptics among them — reveled in what most view as an all but certain victory come November.

Trump’s survival after nearly being assassinated at a Pennsylvania rally over the weekend, they said, was the last piece to bring everyone together in spite of the former president’s extraordinary personal and political baggage.

“It feels like 1980,” said a smiling New York GOP Chair Ed Cox on the convention’s red-carpeted floor this week, referring to Ronald Reagan’s landslide presidential victory. Cox pointed to a sense of inevitability building around Trump and the GOP. “We finally came completely together.”

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«RELATED COVERAGE» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-show-loadmore=«true»