Republicans seek unity as Biden drops out of presidential race

It’s taken roughly a week for a seismic shift to occur in the 2024 presidential election.

Facing dwindling poll numbers and increasing fire from members of his own party, President Joe Biden said in a social media post on Sunday that he would end his bid to remain in the White House and step down as the presumed Democratic nominee.

His announcement comes just over a week after a gunman fired shots at his opponent, bloodying the ear of former President Donald Trump. In between those times, the GOP held its week-long national convention in Milwaukee, an event that took on a different shape than many predicted prior to the assassination attempt against Trump. The GOP standard-bearer himself accepted the nomination in unusually subdued tones, at least to start with, along with a call to unite all of a very divided electorate.

“We rise together or we fall apart,” Trump began from the convention stage. “I am running to be President for all of America, not half of America. Because there is no victory in winning for half of America.”

The crowd roared its appreciation. But away from the convention stage, there were very different views of what it means to fight to regain the White House or how to actually bring a wide swath of voters together around a presidential candidate long-seen as combative.

The delicate walk to unity

It was a feisty series of speakers at the 2024 Republican National Convention last week. Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers walked something of a political tightrope. The GOP had recast the convention after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump’s life to offer a more inclusive vision that would ostensibly bridge the huge partisan divide in the nation. But Rogers, a former Army officer, FBI agent and Congressman who chaired the House Intelligence Committee, was throwing verbal bombs at President Biden’s border policies and accused the administration of taking too soft of a stance on China.

“Our adversaries aren’t stupid. They know that all’s they need to do is wait until nap time at the White House to push the limit,” Rogers said in his speech. “Does anyone really believe that another four years of Biden-Harris and a Democrat senate will make us safer or more prosperous? I certainly don’t, and I don’t think Michigan does either.”

Drawing distinctions between unifying the electorate and criticizing political opponents, or even defining what “uniting” truly means, seemed to be on the minds of many at the event in Milwaukee — on and off of the convention floor.

“’Cause I wanna make America great again. Again.”

– Tim Walenga, Michigan Republican delegate

Michigan Republican delegate Tim Walenga traveled from Grand Rapids to the convention. He says the event has helped heal rivalries in both the state and national GOP parties. Walenga remembered a bloodied Trump raising his fist after the recent rally shooting, and is more energized than ever to fight for a conservative agenda.

Though not in the manner some pundits portray that battle.

“The media has pushed out another narrative that we’re all these evil people that wanna fight physically. When we say fight…we wanna fight like…work hard and get our voters to the polls and that sort of thing,” Walenga said. “That’s the fight — but the context they put it in is physical…and I just don’t think that’s correct.”

Other Michiganders walking along the convention concourse contend the GOP can convince voters beyond Trump’s base to coalesce around a Republican presidential ticket.

Livonia resident Rola Makki is an alternate delegate to the convention. She says many voters in metro Detroit and across the country share the same struggles.

“We have to look at the issues that are important to us. Do you live in a safe neighborhood? Where we live we have a drug problem. People are just having tough times. Nobody’s able to buy a home,” Makki said. “Somebody was telling me a story of how their rent is $2,000 a month but they weren’t accepted for a $1,200 month mortgage. There’s just so many issues that we can unite on.”

Standing nearby, Novi attorney Kayla Toma applauded Trump’s vow to launch a massive deportation effort if he becomes President again — a pledge touted on signs the crowd waved on the RNC floor. Toma argued such a move would not have to divide people along either political or ethnic lines.

“Americans — no matter what their religion or their background — there are commonalities that we all share. Values that we all share. And so long as that’s focused upon…we can definitely unite. It’s not a far-fetched idea,” Toma said. Toma believes calling out someone over their political beliefs does not have to devolve into a personal attack.

“Not everything is black and white. There’s a gray area and that’s what debate is. You don’t have to have hate rhetoric,” Toma said. “Just to criticize someone doesn’t mean that you’re a bad person. You can criticize someone without being disrespectful. It’s an art of articulation, an art of debating, an art of negotiation.”

But the GOP’s “kinder” campaign strategy was absent among speakers gathered on a stage in the festival area — especially from a man who is one of former President Trump’s closest advisors.

Donald Trump Jr. was there to promote an effort to get hunters to cast ballots for his father. The younger Trump claimed they’re often disengaged from politics — and believes their votes could mean the difference between winning and losing battleground states like Wisconsin or Michigan. Trump Jr. also targeted remarks made by the media and Democrats since the attempted shooting against his father.

“It was interesting after Saturday night you see the commentary, ‘It’s over. They have it in the bag.’ Nothing is over…nothing is in the bag. There is nothing the other side will not do to win,” Trump Jr. said. “If they could show up with four billion ballots in a country of 330-something million people, they will do it and they will tell us with a straight face that it is the freest and fairest election ever.”

It’s the kind of contentious tone the former president often delivered from the White House and at campaign rallies. And it still echoes within Michigan’s Republican Party, where chair Pete Hoekstra asserts that months of in-fighting on the state level are finally over.

“It’s nice that we are a united party and we are focused,” Hoekstra said. “We’re united in Michigan and we’re united nationally. I’m sure that the Democrats over time will work through the deep divisions that they have. Exactly when…I don’t know. I’m hoping that it’s around November 6.”

That would be the day after Election Day.