'Family squabble' over, GOP delegates say they're behind Trump
CLEVELAND — Donald Trump is having a much better week on the floor of the Republican National Convention than in the media.
Call it rooting for the underdog, or sympathizing for someone when he's down. Call it animosity toward the press corps or a visceral hatred of Hillary Clinton. Or just call it spin.
Whatever the reason, delegates who came to Cleveland to give Trump a springboard toward the White House are emerging even more determined to do that in the face of daily mishaps over slighted states, stolen speeches and sore losers.
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“A little bit of a controversy is good for the party, because it helps to solidify our positions,” Chris Yaudas, a delegate from Joplin, Mo., said. “The whole political season this year has been chaotic, so it’s not surprising that the convention has been chaotic, too.”
The mishaps began Monday with a floor fight organized by Trump's detractors. By Tuesday, the story had moved to portions of Melania Trump's speech the night before that clearly were lifted from Michelle Obama's 2008 address to the Democratic National Convention. And both of those incidents paled compared to the boos that rained down on Ted Cruz Wednesday night after he failed to endorse Trump.
But like many delegates here, Michael Osborn, the Republican Party chairman from Ventura County, Calif., took it all in stride.
“Every convention is the political equivalent of a Thanksgiving dinner,” Osborn said, recalling the 2012 battle between delegates pledged to Mitt Romney and Ron Paul. “Every convention I’ve ever been to starts off as a family squabble.”
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While Monday's floor fight over convention rules and Tuesday's brouhaha over Melania Trump's speech will blow over, Wednesday's boos for Cruz created a wellspring of support among delegates for the New York billionaire. In that sense, the Texas senator may prove to be a unifying factor.
"It probably fit right into Donald Trump’s strategy, because it got people like me who are not that warmed up to move (to) Donald Trump’s side," Nathan Leupp, a South Carolina delegate, said. "It got us to say, ‘That was a jerk move,’ and we’re defending Trump now."
Gary Simpson, a Delaware delegate and state senator, said Cruz helped bring delegates to Trump's side. "I think the dust-up was almost a good thing," he said. "Everyone wants to come out of the convention with a strong candidate. I think everyone is getting fired up."
It's not that delegates are naïve about the week's disputes, which have taken attention away from the infomercial that modern political conventions have become. But rather than fret and fuss over the altercations, they have decided to own them.
Steve House, chairman of the Colorado Republican Party, defended his delegation's partial walkout after convention leaders put down an effort to force a roll-call vote on the rules. "It was exactly patriotic and needed to be done," he said.
Minnesota GOP chairman Keith Downey said Melania Trump's speech, which stole phrases from Michelle Obama's 2008 address to the Democratic National Convention, should not be diminished. "But good grief," he said. "The delegates are looking at the composite of this thing, and you want to look at two or three 30-second segments out of a four-day cavalcade of speeches and really powerful messaging."
Some delegates blame the media, a popular target at GOP conventions. The coverage has been so dismal that Pennsylvania delegate Scott Uehlinger began to wonder, "Are we even in the same place?"
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“The mainstream media — I’m really talking about the television media — has been seemingly intent on showing the convention as being, you know, a time of division and some problems,” Uehlinger said.
But even if the media portrayal has been exaggerated, delegates are concerned about what the world outside the Quicken Loans Arena is seeing.
"This is about America," said Perry Hooper, a Trump delegate from Montgomery, Ala. "We need to be happy conservatives. We don't need to be angry, so we can all come together. And we will."
As the week has progressed, some delegates have seen increased excitement over Trump's candidacy, helped by his children's poised testimonials and effective speeches that have been overlooked in media reports. They cited vice presidential nominee Mike Pence's speech Wednesday night as the prime example, along with others by Newt Gingrich, Chris Christie and even syndicated radio host Laura Ingraham.
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"Monday the response was polite. People were happy to be at the convention. They were not necessarily happy that Trump was going to be the nominee," Crystal Berg, a Wisconsin delegate, said. "(Wednesday) night, the vast, vast majority of the people were screaming Trump's name, because they are excited about what he's going to be bringing, not just for the party but for the country."
South Carolina's Katon Dawson, attending his fourth consecutive Republican convention, said all the distractions fell under the category of "unforced errors" that "won't matter by the middle of next week."
That's when the Democratic convention will showcase Hillary Clinton, who proved to be just the salve Republicans needed this week to heal their wounds. Some delegates predicted that the former secretary of State, New York senator and first lady will have her own problems in Philadelphia.
"What makes our country great is that everyone gets to have their own opinion," said Jeff Sakwa, co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party. "Next week, with the Hillary people and the Bernie Sanders people, you'll have the same thing."
Contributing: Matthew Albright, Jessie Balmert, Christopher Doering, Joel Ebert, Craig Gilbert, Shannon Green, Edward Mahon, Deirdre Shesgreen, Todd Spangler, Bartholomew Sullivan, Bill Theobald and Mary Orndorff Troyan, USA TODAY Network.
