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Donald Trump<\/strong> made a rare call for unity in his address Thursday to the Republican National Convention\u2014before returning to some of the more standard \u201cAmerican Carnage\u201d fare that gets standing ovations among his ecstatic base.<\/p>\n Still wearing a bandage on his right ear, where he was injured in a shooting at a rally in Pennsylvania days earlier, Trump began his remarks by recounting the incident that claimed the life of one of his supporters. \u201cI\u2019m not supposed to be here tonight,\u201d he said, calling his survival a \u201cprovidential moment.\u201d After his supporters chanted \u201cyes you are,\u201d he responded: \u201cThank you, but I\u2019m not,\u201d and said that he was now \u201cmore determined than ever\u201d to be \u201cpresident for all of America, not half of America.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOur resolve is unbroken and our purpose is unchanged,\u201d he said, in a restrained voice.<\/p>\n But soon, he pivoted to some of his greatest hits, including rants about the \u201cChina virus\u201d and Democrats who are \u201cweaponizing the Justice Department\u201d against him and the \u201cillegal immigrant invasion.\u201d He also couldn\u2019t help but attack his opponent, President Joe Biden<\/strong>, whom he suggested he wouldn\u2019t mention by name in the speech. \u201cThe damage that he\u2019s done to this country is unthinkable,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n The keynote was preceded with fawning remarks<\/a> by Tucker Carlson<\/strong>, a surreal speech by Hulk Hogan<\/strong>, an insanely obnoxious performance by Kid Rock<\/strong>, as well as introductions by his son, Eric, and Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White<\/strong>.<\/a><\/p>\n The mood in the Fiserv Forum, home of the Milwaukee Bucks, was ostensibly celebratory. But it also tinged with an undercurrent of hostility, as the crowd pumped their fists and chanted, \u201cFight, fight, fight\u201d\u2014the same words Trump mouthed to his audience as he was escorted from the rally stage Saturday. \u201cLess than four years ago, we were a great nation,\u201d Trump told his faithful. \u201cWe will soon be a great nation again.\u201d<\/p>\n The speech capped a week that was equal parts carnival and quasi-religious revival.<\/p>\n For four days, Republicans\u2014some wearing a white bandage on their ear, in solidarity with the former president\u2014strutted around Milwaukee\u2019s Deer District, showing their love of Trump with elaborate outfits, mingling with MAGA celebrities like pillow salesman Mike Lindell<\/strong>, and even mixing it up here and there with the occasional friendly reporter. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t subscribe to Vanity Fair<\/em> if it was free,\u201d American Conservative Union President Matt Schlapp<\/strong> told me one afternoon, and he wasn\u2019t going to let me spoil his good time. \u201cIt might be the best Republican convention ever<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n Here, you could snap a picture behind a mock-up of the Resolute Desk, get a book signed by Marjorie Taylor Greene<\/strong>, and listen to former White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley<\/strong> spin a humorous yarn about the time Trump spritzed him with hairspray after trying to get the former president to focus on the raging pandemic one day instead of tweeting. You could see a service dog in a MAGA hat, hear as much Lee Greenwood<\/strong> as you could handle, or encounter a guy in a shirt advertising his \u201cUNVAXED SPERM.\u201d You could buy Trump-themed mugs, stuffed animals, fine china or apparel that lets people know: I\u2019M VOTING FOR THE CONVICTED FELON. You could even pick up a stately green book of Trump tweets in verse form, called the Collected Poems of Donald J. Trump<\/em>, sold for $45 by Gregory Woodman<\/strong> and Ian Pratt<\/strong>, who wore \u201cCovfefe\u201d shirts but insisted they were familiar only with Trump\u2019s literary work. \u201cGood art,\u201d Woodman told me, \u201ctranscends politics.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course, politics was the actual business this week\u2014and the substance of it all was exceedingly dark, in stark contrast to the festive atmosphere and jocularity among attendees. Even as Republicans spoke of \u201cunity\u201d and decried Democratic rhetoric following the Trump rally shooting, they showed little restraint themselves. \u201cThe left wants to groom children,\u201d Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey<\/strong> claimed of Democrats at a Moms for Liberty event<\/a> here. \u201cThey want to sexualize children. And they want to do it in the name of diversity.\u201d \u201cI can\u2019t explain the level of vitriol in our politics today,\u201d Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson<\/strong> shrugged at the same event. \u201cI can\u2019t get inside the mind of a leftist. It just makes no sense to me. But I know it\u2019s destructive.\u201d Lindell, hawking discount mattress toppers on Real America\u2019s Voice one afternoon outside the Fiserv Forum, cast the election as a \u201cbattle of Biblical proportions,\u201d suggesting, as others here did again and again, that Trump survived his assassination attempt thanks to divine intervention. (Thank God, Ted Cruz<\/strong> said in his convention speech, for turning [Trump\u2019s] head on Saturday as that shot was fired.\u201d)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n