Energy 'off the charts' at Republican National Convention, Westmoreland attendees say

Jill Cooper thought there was a lot of energy swirling around at the 2016 Republican National Convention during Donald Trump’s initial candidacy for president.

That was before attending this week’s convention in Milwaukee.

“The energy was off the charts,” said the state representative from Murrysville, who attended the convention as an alternate delegate. “It was very organized, it was very Trump.”

This is Cooper’s third time attending the convention, having gone in 2012 and 2016. She said the difference with the past two has been stark.

“In 2012, the Romney convention was very organized as well, and they had their set way of doing things — the nominee doesn’t show up until the final night as sort of a grand finale,” Cooper said.

In 2016, Trump was on the convention stage the first day, introducing his wife before her speech.

“It was just a crazy convention,” Cooper said. “Trump had never done one before, there was still some division over him being the party leader. And everyone was shocked that he would come out so soon. But that’s him.”

Pennsylvania Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward, R-Hempfield, also was at the convention, as a delegate-at-large. Ward echoed Cooper’s thoughts on the convention’s organization.

“You knew where your bus was, you knew where to go,” she said. “I’ve never seen security like this at anything I’ve done, and I worked on the Bush-Cheney campaign running a bunch of counties. They had officers from 117 cities there. Even in our hotel and when we got on the bus to and from the convention center, there were two officers in full garb on the buses.”

Cooper said friends expressed concern over her attending the convention so soon after the assassination attempt at the July 13 Trump rally in Butler Township, which left one man dead and two in the hospital.

“I told them, ‘It’s going to be the safest place in America,’” she said.

Cooper said the security presence was strong all week at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee. “You saw the Secret Service come out all around Trump, and things were definitely tighter.”

Cooper said one thing she noticed was a change in the way seating was monitored.

“At the other conventions, you had assigned seats on the floor as delegates and alternate delegates,” she said. “And this time, it was open seating. No one was checking where you were sitting until the final night, which I thought was unusual.”

Cooper characterized Trump’s acceptance speech Thursday night as subdued.

“He was a different person in his delivery, but he was still very Trump,” she said. “Some people complained a little about the length, but I wonder if he was thinking that he didn’t get to give his whole speech in Butler, and I wonder if he was thinking, ‘When am I going to have my next rally?’ ”

Cooper said just as in 2016, Trump’s address was not the typical convention speech.

“His story of how he was impacted by the shooting was very moving,” she said. “My sense is he was trying to show that America is a place of strength.”

Ward agreed.

“He didn’t talk about his opponent,” she said. “He talked about what he’s done and what he wants to do for the country. I thought it was a very unifying, positive message.”

And despite the serious nature of the events leading up to the convention, the mood in the Fiserv Forum was celebratory, Cooper said. And that extended to some of the outfits.

Courtesy of Jill Cooper

Attendees at the Republican National Convention pose with outfits made for the occasion — including a dress printed with the Associated Press photo of former President Donald Trump moments after being grazed by a bullet, and Allegheny County delegate Mike McMullen in a suit designed to look like a brick wall.

“There are some wild outfits, let’s leave it at that,” she said with a laugh. “But there were beautiful ones as well. A lot of the women were talking about (Thursday anthem singer) Mary Milburn’s red, white and blue dress.”

Ward said she was mostly checking out attendees’ footwear.

“There were some really cool, different kinds of shoes, like people wearing gold sneakers,” she said. “But I did like the Wisconsin delegation’s fashion choice of wearing the cheese heads.”

Ward said she was also able to catch up with colleagues from her days working in the state Republican party.

Cooper got a chance to spend some time at the convention with her daughter, who recently made a temporary move to Milwaukee for work.

“We had the chance to attend a private concert afterward with Jason Aldean,” she said. “Although I did have to explain to her who Hulk Hogan was after he spoke.”