We are all Trumplicans now - By Emily Maitlis

The endorsement of Donald Trump could not have been more full throated. Nikki Haley, former Republican candidate for president, was on the stage last night trying to reassure a crowd that sat somewhere between sceptical and hostile, she is now fully on board.   

“I’ll start by making one thing perfectly clear,” she told attendees of the 2024 Republican National Conference. “Donald Trump has my strong endorsement. Period”.

A lifetime ago, back in February of this year, she was mocking the colleagues who were coming to ‘kiss the ring’ because they were scared of Trump. Now, she’s joined them.

On paper, she’s trying to unify her stubborn tranche of the party behind Trump. In practice, her speech is calculated to put her in a good place to fight the 2028 election without Trump killing her chances.

Her story is the story of what’s happened here this week. This is Trump’s convention. Trump’s party. As one Nebraska delegate told me excitedly: “We aren’t Republicans. We are Trumplicans now”.

Last night on the stage we saw from many of those who had tried (and failed) to take on Trump for the Republican candidacy.

Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio back in 2016. Haley, Ron de Santis and Vivek Ramaswamy in 2024.

I grabbed a word with Vivek to ask if he was disappointed not to be the VP pick: “I’m only human.” he tells me, before insisting JD Vance is a great choice.

That’s what you have to say if you want a place in Trump’s party. Or a job in his cabinet.  

Others – who used to represent the Grand Old Party – such as former Governor of Arkansas Asa Hutchinson are here because they’re determined to keep the pressure on.  

Hutchinson is another presidential candidate who stood up to Trump on the TV debate stage. He’s trying to warn his old party what’s happening to them now.

“I’m not going to vote for a convicted felon,” He tells me. “So where do I belong?”

But he cuts a lonely figure here now.

He’s one of very few voices to call Trump a convicted felon.

And his body language tells you he’s a politician on the outside. A man no longer secured by minders pacing out his every step.

That division between old style Republicans and new-look Trump acolytes boiled over last night.

A row broke out on the convention floor between former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy – once Republican Royalty – and the Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, who is currently being investigated for underage sexual misconduct. McCarthy has vowed to stop Gaetz running for Florida governor.

When I caught a few minutes with Gaetz he told me McCarthy would get “booed on stage”. That’s worse, in this brave new world, than being investigated for underage sex. It means the Trumplicans dont like you.

I’m wondering about those trying to straddle both worlds right now, such as Ohio Governor Mike DeWine. He’s someone who cares passionately about America’s international obligations and has fought to get Congress to give aid to Ukraine.

Now he faces the unpalatable fact that one of the fiercest critics of aid to Ukraine has just been anointed Trump’s running mate.

When we talk he says there’s room in Congress to make the case, as if trying to reassure himself. But he strikes me as a worried man.

The first Republican convention I came to was 2016 – a scrappy, insurgent affair, when none of us really understood what Trumpism was, or how long it might last. This time, the operation on the floor is slick, scripted, controlled. There are no long winded speeches. Few gaffs.

I catch up with Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s first campaign manager all those years ago, and remind him of how different things now feel.

He tells me this is Trump’s party now. And Trump’s election.

Certainly Trump is a lucky general. Not every candidate survives a bullet aimed for his brain. Not every candidate gets to fight an opponent that many in his own party have lost faith in.

The Democrats have refused to pull the emergency cord that would mean swapping Biden out. One senior diplomat seems to read my mind when they tell me: “No younger, ambitious Democrat wants to fight this election, right now, against a resurgent Trump. They’re happy to leave it to Biden to take the flak, sit it out until 2028."

And maybe that is the other universal truth of these extraordinary political moments. While we’re all concentrating on November 2024, the real players are four years into the future.

They’re thinking about the next time. The next round. The presidential cycle is the agnostic infinity knot. It never stops.