Republican Party leaders have promised that their midterm convention, which begins tonight in Dallas, will be a primetime “Trumpapalooza” — a mega pep rally aimed at showcasing the president’s supposed successes and revving up his most hardcore fans so that they’ll turn out to the polls in November.
But judging by the event’s agenda, there appears to be at least one piece of our unpopular president’s record that’s so obviously politically toxic that his party is not even willing to pay it lip service in front of an adoring crowd. Across the two days of speeches, there is not one mention of national defense or foreign policy anywhere in the program.
Historically, the omission of these topics from a Republican Party convention would have been unthinkable. Since the late 1980s, voters have traditionally trusted Republicans over Democrats when it comes to keeping the country safe from international terrorism and military threats — at times by very wide margins. During those years, the GOP embraced the mantle of Reagan’s “peace through strength” Cold War legacy, and attached themselves to the rally-around-the-flag response that carried the George W. Bush administration in the months and years after September 11, 2001.
