At the RNC, Kentucky delegates say they’re united behind Trump, draw comparisons to Reagan
When Phillip Wheeler first took in Donald Trump’s face on the wide screens in Milwaukee’s Fiserv arena, he believes he witnessed evidence of a changed man.
“It seemed there was something about his face ... his look ... he really seemed moved. He kind of had a graver countenance about him,” said Wheeler, a state senator representing Eastern Kentucky and a delegate to the Republican National Convention.
Shelley Funke Frommeyer, a state senator and delegate representing Northern Kentucky, described an “air of humility and gentleness” that has suffused this year’s convention proceedings due to Trump’s restrained physical demeanor.
“Only when a lion is calm and resting do you see that sort of humility, but it’s beautiful,” she said.
Days after the attempted assassination of the former president, Kentucky Republicans are expressing unity in their party and enhanced confidence that Trump will defeat Democratic President Joe Biden in November.
That optimism is pervasive among delegates, even as Kentucky Republicans hold a diminished role at this national party gathering.
No Kentuckian has been selected for a speaking role in Milwaukee.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was absent from the presidential dais of GOP leaders surrounding Trump on the opening night after he was booed during the roll call vote on the floor.
Rep. Andy Barr is the only Kentucky House member in attendance.
And Sen. Rand Paul still hasn’t formally endorsed Trump, who will officially accept the Republican presidential nomination Thursday.
Alternate delegates were chosen to substitute for elected officials who declined their appointed slots.
“The only two [here] are Leader McConnell and Congressman Barr. I’m a little surprised that there weren’t a couple more of them,” Wheeler said. “A few of them were originally listed as delegates and then came off for one reason or another.”
The closest Kentucky connection to the 2024 GOP ticket comes from vice presidential nominee JD Vance’s familial roots. His great-grandmother lived in Jackson, the county seat of Breathitt County in Eastern Kentucky.
It was just four years ago that Daniel Cameron, then Kentucky’s attorney general, was one of the featured speakers at the 2020 Republican National Convention, hailed as a promising candidate for governor and future contender for national office.
But Cameron lost the 2023 governor’s race to Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, whose red state victory permitted him to begin laying the groundwork for his own potential White House endeavor in 2028, when there will be an open seat race regardless of the outcome this November.
State Treasurer Mark Metcalf, who has attended Republican conventions since 1980, said the energy around Trump’s re-nomination is reminiscent of the party’s adulation of Ronald Reagan, who also survived an assassination attempt.
“I was working on the Hill when President Reagan was shot by John Hinckley. In his memoirs [Reagan] stated he knew he needed to live his life more fully and with more purpose. I think Donald Trump feels the same way. He will lead in the same way,” Metcalf said.
Trump will have a rare opportunity to shift his normal rhetorical posture during his prime time speech Thursday, an address he said he upended in order to “bring the country together.”
Frommeyer said the contrast is glaring, given the unease in the Democratic Party right now around renominating Biden as Trump’s opponent.
“But candidly there’s not a tremendous amount of talk about Biden around here,” she said. “There’s more talk about the strength Trump will bring back as our 47th president.”
“Obviously on the outside looking in it would appear to be that they’re fractured,” Metcalf acknowledged.
But he added that Republicans won’t take their current favored position for granted, especially with more than three months left in the campaign.
“I expect a united Democrat Party before this is over, and I expect a tough race this fall,” he said. “I don’t take any encouragement from the problems they’re having right now.”
This story was originally published July 18, 2024 at 4:45 AM.
