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SALT LAKE CITY — The primary purpose of this week's Republican National Convention is to officially select the party's presidential nominee, but for some first-time attendees from Utah, the four-day extravaganza in Milwaukee has bordered on something more like a religious experience.
In the wake of Saturday's attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, the gathering of thousands of Republicans from across the nation has taken on additional import for his supporters. And in the current era of intensely polarized politics, the convention hall has offered a sort of safe space for conservatives.
"We're speaking freely, we're talking about the things without any of the concerns that what we're saying has been misconstrued or misunderstood," said Chris Null, an alternate delegate and chairman of the Salt Lake County Republican Party. "It feels really good to be among those people. We all have the same principles and values and it just feels really great to be here."
Null, who missed out on what would have been his first national convention in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, described his first few days in Milwaukee as an "uplifting" and almost spiritual event. Nearly eight years since Trump was first elected president, Null said the convention this year signifies a unity in the party not seen in recent years.
"It's exciting because it feels like the 'Never Trumpers,' that group is kind of dissolving, and they're kind of coming in line and unifying behind ideas instead of the division that we had before," he said.
'How do you look forward?'
Zac Wilson, a former congressional candidate and another of Utah's alternate delegates, described a similar feeling of unity within the party, especially in the days following the attempt on Trump's life. He described some mixed emotions early on, but said most delegates in attendance appeared ready to move on with a positive message.
"I'm trying to imagine how this would have been without last Saturday's events," he said. "I've heard multiple speakers now talk about unity, and how do you look forward? How do you reach out? It's been very positive and uplifting."
As for the former president himself, Wilson said he seemed "more somber and more sober" when he took to the convention floor Monday as Lee Greenwood sang "God Bless the U.S.A."
"There wasn't any flashiness, it was just a very serious and somber guy," he said.
Ahead of Trump's scheduled speech Thursday evening, Wilson said he hopes the former president will continue to lean into a positive message, saying he believes it would be best for the country and for his reelection prospects.
Null echoed what many Republicans have said following the assassination attempt, that he feels "blessed that the outcome is what it is." He said the former president showed "resilience" in his response to the shooting, and believes Republicans' resolve to support Trump has only grown since Saturday.
"I think we're all feeling a little bit relieved, but also very strengthened by it," he said.
Utah Republicans have just endured several bruising primaries in the state that have pitted different factions of conservatives against one another, but Null said the national convention has helped restore party unity.
"It's nice to see — now that there's less tension — how similar we all are," he said.
Party of the workers?
Trump's selection of Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, as his running mate and a speech from union leader Sean O'Brien have continued the trend of economic populism within the Republican Party. The message is one that is likely to appeal to working-class voters in Midwestern swing states, but Utah Republicans welcomed the union leader while keeping his politics at arms length.
"The Republican Party and its platform and principles has elements that will create a positive future for all Americans, and so if there's something that he had to say that was engaging to folks that come from the labor community, that's fantastic, I'm glad that they heard that," Utah Republican Party Chairman Rob Axson told the Wall Street Journal. "That doesn't mean that the party platform has to match up exactly with what he had to say. There were certainly some things that weren't my opinion and that I don't agree with, but again, that's OK. We are a big enough party for a lot of diverse perspectives."
Wilson said O'Brien was met with a mixed reaction from the crowd, and said some free-market conservatives were "pretty shaken by the speech."
"I don't think that message is going to go very well in Utah," he said.
Null said the speech by O'Brien doesn't necessarily signal a change in Republican policies around labor, but criticized President Joe Biden for his handling of the economy.
"When you say populist, I think what's happening is Americans want to be successful," he said. "And I think that everyone recognizes that we can't go back to the last four years."
