Trump’s Dallas Visit: What to Expect

You are looking live at the Republican National Convention midterm at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, and they are awaiting the arrival of President Trump, which will happen sometime later this afternoon. But the people who have paid to attend are buying souvenirs, they're chatting each other up, they're getting ready for what is being called by the Republican National Convention chair, Trumpapalooza. It's a two-day event in downtown Dallas designed to rally the faithful and also raise money as the midterm election approaches. I'm Clarice Tinsley in the Foxhore Digital Studio with Dr. Matthew Wilson, political science professor at SMU, and our Shawn Rapp. Gentlemen, welcome. Glad to be here. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. Now, President Trump was supposed to land at 2.50 this afternoon at DFW Airport. However, there was a situation with Air Force One on the ground before the president was able to depart. So let's take a look at this. This is Marine One, and the camera is going to pan over, and in just a few seconds, you're going to see the reason why his departure was delayed. The emergency slide, for some reason, on Air Force One, the new Air Force One, deployed. And you see right there, there you see. We don't know why the slide deployed, but this delayed the departure of the president. So we don't know what time he'll be arriving at DFW Airport, but that is a super fast jetliner that can do a lot of things, so they will certainly get him here as soon as possible. Yeah, because before he speaks tonight at the American Airlines Center, there is a high-level meeting with Republicans at the Anatole Hotel. Some people I know in that meeting with the president to make plans going forward, but all of that would be pushed back or either not happen, depending on how late his arrival is. And Matthew, this is highly unprecedented, and President Trump willed this into existence. That's right. This whole event is not typical. That is, usually you don't have midterm conventions, but President Trump has been thinking for a while that he wanted to do something like this, because he would like to use the force of his own personality and the loyalty that he commands among the GOP base to rally the troops and to deliver a focused message in advance of the midterms and hopefully energize Republicans to match the level of voter energizing that we see on the Democratic side. And you were saying earlier that you were surprised the level of interest from international media is very, very high. Right. So if ultimately we want to judge whether this convention is a success or not, one metric is whether it managed to generate attention. Well, at least on that metric, it has succeeded, because I can tell you just this week, I've spoken with media folks from Japan, Switzerland, Russia, I mean, Mexico, countries all over the world have sent media to cover this event. So it shows that American politics matters to people around the world and that love him or hate him. There's tremendous interest globally in what Donald Trump does and what he says. Let's listen to what he said outside the White House there by a gaggle of reporters talking about what was going to happen tonight and tomorrow. Let's listen now. So we're heading over to have a tremendous drive tonight. So that looks very big, looks very exciting. And we're going to explain what we've done. We've done things that have never been done in the first term or the second term, frankly, of a president. Mr. President, several Republicans in competitive races are not coming to the convention. Do you understand why they're deciding not to come? Everybody is coming to the convention. Everybody wants to come. But we only want, and the people that are coming, by the way, we're going to be sold out tonight, just so you understand. Who are you with? ABC News, sir. ABC Fake News. What are the worst? You are the worst of all, in my opinion. The reason that some people are not coming is because we don't have room for 500 politicians. We have room for the ones that have a close race, if they're slightly behind or slightly ahead or tied. But we don't have room for people that are 35 points up and don't need to be there. We said stay back in campaign. Every politician that we've wanted to be there is there. You heard that question about people, candidates not being there. But the president went on X a few days ago saying that candidates in contested races, he wanted them to be here in Dallas. He wanted them showing their faces in those contested races. Yeah. They've got a lot of things to weigh. Part of it depends on the electoral context in which you're running. If you're a candidate running in a red state, then you're probably fine to appear side by side with Donald Trump. But candidates who are running in blue states, Republican candidates running in blue states or purple states, they have to think long and hard because Trump is pretty unpopular in those jurisdictions. Their Democratic opponents are almost certainly trying to link them with Donald Trump. Appearing side by side with him at this event reinforces that portrayal. On the other hand, Republicans around the country want Trump's campaign money because Trump's political action committee has hundreds of millions of dollars in the bank that they can, if they so choose, deploy in support of Republicans around the country. But it would be tough to ask President Trump for money out of that account if he didn't show up at his event this week. So there are a lot of competing considerations for these Republican candidates. And money matters at this point, heading to November 3rd, right, Matthew? It really matters now. That's right. I mean, money is not necessarily decisive. It's certainly not the case that whoever spends more money always wins the election. But it's really helpful for things like get out the vote efforts, canvassing, obviously political advertising. A lot of the things that make a campaign go rely on financing. And President Trump is somebody who has, if he so chooses, a lot of money that he can deploy in these races. The president originally was scheduled to speak just one night. Now he's going to speak two nights. So he's going to headline tonight and tomorrow. In terms of rallying the base, and you talked earlier about perhaps low motivated voters, how much do you think having him in Dallas speaking directly to them is going to make a difference in November? Well, Republicans are hoping it makes a significant difference, especially in Texas. I mean, this event is taking place in Texas, where we know we have a closely contested Senate race. And one of the interesting things about Trump's own victories in 2016 and in 2024 is he relied on a lot of people, people who often don't show up. And he got them to show up. And here we're talking principally about a lot of blue collar men without college educations, not the most reliable folks in terms of voter turnout. A lot of times these are people who don't vote in midterm elections. Trump is trying to convince them to show up during the midterms as a method of conveying their support for him. Right, as if he were on the ballot. As if he were on the ballot, right. So he'll say, look, you showed up for me in 2024, now show up for my party in 2026. We'll see how much headway that argument makes. And of course, I would argue also that the Democrats are hoping his presence makes a big difference as well. Yeah, that's exactly right. Because Democrats want nationally to make this election a referendum on Donald Trump, because we know that Donald Trump's approval ratings have fallen. They're around 40% now. So he's relatively unpopular. And Democrats would like to channel some of the anger and frustration about the Trump administration into a midterm electoral outcome. And by the way, this is not unique to Donald Trump. It's pretty typical. That is when we look at president's second midterms, it is very common that their party takes a beating. Why is that, Matthew Wilson? I mean, it's a strange political phenomenon. It is. But after a while, people get frustrated with those in power. We've seen this happen around at any level, at any level. And in any country, we see it happen around the world, that the incumbent government, whether it's a government of the left or a government of the right, has a really hard time making voters happy. And voters are restless. They look for change. The other thing is that typically the people in the out party are more motivated by their anger at the incumbent than the incumbent party supporters are motivated to bolster them. We've got an example of that. Let's listen to what Governor JB Pritzker of Illinois had to say today with the counter protest from the Democrats. Texans are known for their fierce independence and for their resistance to oppression. And I expect that we'll see that in the results in November when Texas voters cast their ballots for Gina Hinojosa and James Tallarico. This bizarre Republican midterm convention here can't paper over the fact that Republicans have done nothing to earn your vote. That's the other side of what you were talking about, the pro and the con. Absolutely. We know that we're a very polarized country. And it's also quite clear that the Democratic base despises Donald Trump with a white hot passion. So they are motivated to show up and vote. They want to register their displeasure with the Trump administration. So I think a robust Democratic turnout in these elections is pretty much a given. That's partly why President Trump wanted to have this event to try to generate a similar level of enthusiasm among Republicans to match what he knows is going to be a pretty significant turnout from Democrats. And Texas, I mean, if this were a fight card, this fight between Tallarico and Paxton would be the heavyweight fight of the night, the last battle on the card. For sure. Absolutely. Even though we also have a governor's race, which is pretty significant, but it's pretty clear that the Senate race is getting more attention, and especially nationally. And enormous amounts of money have been and will be spent. Texas may well be the linchpin in securing control of the Senate for one party or the other. And so it's not by accident that this event ended up in Dallas. There are a variety of different reasons, but the importance of the Paxton-Tallarico race is definitely one of those. And I don't think we should leave out the amount of money Republicans in Dallas are able to raise in a short amount of time. $45 million in two months. Yes, that's right. Dallas is a real epicenter of Republican financial support for efforts around the country. And so there are some deep-pocketed Republican donors that the Republican national committees would really like to get to step up to an even greater level than they already have. And that'll be one of the goals out of this convention. And more money in some races has to be spent because whether the candidate is considered, well, Paxton, the issues, the moral issues that some people are looking at with Ken Paxton, that's making the Republicans need to put way more money into that race. I'm saying not just the, you know, if you listen to President Trump, President Trump had some criticism of Paxton as recently as last week. His appearance, how he gives speeches, he's kind of kind of dull, doesn't have charisma, all of that. But they want to overcome that because they don't want a Democrat to win the Senate. Right, right. I mean, if we go back to the spring, what's interesting is John Cornyn previewed all of this. He said, look, if Ken Paxton is your nominee, this is going to be a hotly contested race. It's going to be one that Republicans could lose. Republicans are going to have to dump a lot of money into it. Ken Paxton's got weaknesses as a candidate. I mean, Cornyn wasn't wrong about any of that. He certainly previewed that. But despite all of that, Donald Trump and more importantly, Republican primary voters in Texas said, we're willing to roll with this. And Trump endorsed Paxton. Republican primary voters chose Paxton. And so now we've got a close race on our hands. Absolutely. Sean, you spent some time this morning covering what the Democrats were doing. Yeah. So they are planning. They had a news conference today. They're going to have another news conference tomorrow. They are not going to allow the Republicans to speak without having a counter voice today. Of course, the big voice for the Democrats, J.B. Pritzker coming here, the Illinois governor who was asked about his dreams for the White House or his intentions for the White House. He says, look, I'm running for my third term as governor of Illinois. You would expect that answer. I'm concerned about my state and whatever other decisions will come in the future. It's the right answer. But the way he spoke today, not only about Trump, but about J.D. Vance, the vice president, the way he talked about that party, it was as if he was practicing a campaign speech on a national level. He was attacking the leadership of that party. And of course, J.B. Pritzker in Illinois, they've had their battles with the Trump administration, right, over federal troops coming in, the whole immigration enforcement. And so it's not like they're on friendly terms at all. And he was clear about that today and called the Republicans out. You know, he talked about the redistricting in Texas and how after it happened here, six other states followed suit and goes on to say they want to suppress the vote. And here's how they're trying to do that. So he was really the voice, the big voice of the Democrat Party today, along with Chairman Scudder. But it was J.B. Pritzker who was the big voice today. A very big stage for both sides. Well, that's right. And a couple of things to note about Pritzker. Yeah, he pretty clearly does want to run for president in 2028. He's a billionaire, so he will have the resources to do that if he decides to make a bid. He is practicing some messages and trying to signal to Democrats out there that, hey, I'm a fighter, I'm an effective communicator, et cetera. There's all of that. I will say there's a certain irony to the governor of Illinois criticizing Texas for partisan biased redistricting. Illinois is arguably the most gerrymandered state in the country. Illinois has a grossly biased Democratic leading map. But it's been Democrat for decades. It's not the first time we've seen hypocrisy in American politics. Right. But, yeah, it was interesting to hear today. And the Democrats have a lot planned, right? So tomorrow especially. Well, tonight, there is an event at Paul Quinn College. It's called the Interfaith Service of Moral Resistance. Bishop Vashti McKenzie, Freddie Haynes, Jasmine Crockett, and other voices. This will be probably a very emotional, stirring speech event, choir singing, community choir, because for many in the African-American community, African-American politics are not separated from faith. Right. Absolutely not. And here's the other interesting dimension to that. One of the key things to watch in this Texas Senate race is whether African-American voters can get excited about James Tallarico. Because so far, the answer to that has basically been, eh, not so much. Right. And not many voices. Rodney Ellis in Houston said, look, let's put this pettiness aside. We got to support Tallarico. But that hasn't been echoed as loudly by all. And especially by Jasmine Crockett. I mean, she's not going to say bad things about Tallarico, but she's pretty lukewarm at this juncture. And she still has power. Her voice still resonates with many. But so that event is tonight. Then tomorrow, the Democrats have another news conference. One o'clock tomorrow, Dallas action against the Trump agenda, having this protest march from Pike Park, which is about a half mile north of the convention center. They're going to march down that way towards the American Airlines. And I mean, it's totally understandable that they would want to do this sort of counterprogramming. Right. It makes sense. You want to you don't want to just totally seed the airwaves. Exactly. But the reality is that all these things Democrats are doing are going to be a minor footnote to the big story. Oh, absolutely. The big story is going to be what goes on in that arena, what the president of the United States says, the vice president, others like the mayor of Dallas who are going to speak. So the Democratic counterprogramming is worth noting, but they're not going to get an equal share, nor should they of media coverage compared to what the Republican. Right. And because it is a midterm, it's not the traditional national nominating committee. However, we do have video of some of the things that are going on in terms of things for sale, things that we can see that some of the people who will be. Yeah. In that regard, all of the paraphernalia for sale, the jackets, the caps, of course, all of the car mobile, you can say he's riding into the midterm convention in that way. That is an extraordinary vehicle. Yeah. Gold. Wow. It has changed this whole area around Victory Park. And there is an interesting kind of. Coexistence right now between the political party and those putting it together and the folk who live there and the security measures that have gone up. I mean, the fence, though, in the bike ramps, there are law enforcement road closures and it's extending out of the kind of flight regulations, restrictions that are in place are greater than a presidential trip in for a fundraiser and how it's over a three day period. Put your assessment down for the next three days. Right. And don't think about your drone. Don't even think about putting that. Right. There is definitely. And that's federal. Yeah, that right. Federal charges. Secret Service deploying their drones along with FBI drones, DPS and Dallas police drones, a lot of drones in the air, just eyes in the sky. Right. Yeah, absolutely. Because you've got not only the president of the United States, but all of these other cabinet officials and dignitaries and senators and members of Congress. I mean, there are a lot of potential target targets. Right. So you have the Secret Service, you have the Capitol Police. Right. Because they're protectees all the time. And now all these people are here moving around at different times, which is why the flight restrictions extend beyond Love Field. Right. Up 18000 feet, 10 miles and further until Friday night. Well, you got state level officials, too. You've got Governor Abbott, you've got Senator Ted Cruz, these Texas level people who have their own security operations. And that adds into this. And so there's just a lot. And a lot to coordinate. Right. Exactly. And speaking of coordination, you're not just rolling up at AAC, right? You've got to go to Grand Prairie, get on a bus. You need to have your ticket, then get on the bus and then you get bused in to the AAC. That's going to be for what would you call it, Clarice, for people who have a general admission ticket. There are folks at the Los Anatole Hotel who will go directly from the Anatole. They'll go directly from the Anatole to the American Airlines Center. They'll go underground and they'll enter in the basement. That's what's happening in the underground parking garage. Now, those folk who have to take the buses, the convention ends at 10 o'clock ish. And then you have to get on your bus and, you know, drive back, let that bus take you back. It's going to be a long night. It won't be as long as for folks at national conventions, because oftentimes you're at a national convention, you are actually parked a long way away and you take a shuttle bus to get to the venue. Sometimes those go on until midnight. Two or three in the morning. Yeah. So I'm pretty safe, I think, in saying that if you are a six, seven, eight figure donor to the Republican Party, you're not taking a bus from there. But if you're just an ordinary convention goer, yeah, you're going to have to bus from out there. Yeah. You are wearing a very interesting tie. I am wearing a tie. Tell us about that. So that depicts Republican campaign. Let's see your camera. Yeah. It depicts Republican campaign posters from years past, way back in the 19th century. I actually got this from the gift shop at the Sixth Floor Museum. They also sell a Democratic version. But of course, today it's the Republican Convention. So I'm wearing. Representative. That's right. But yeah, it's got, you know, all the way back to people like James Garfield, Rutherford B.A. I kind of love that. Historic campaign memorabilia from Republican conventions past. Very cool. Are you surprised the RNC chair is using the term Trumpapalooza for this? I mean, I suppose you can't avoid it. So lean into it. Right. Right. That is this event is inescapably about Donald Trump, because anything that Donald Trump is associated with is inescapably about Donald Trump. And he has said that one of his goal that he Trump has said explicitly one of his goals is to convince people that he is effectively on the ballot. So if that is the president's own stated objective, then, yeah, I mean, I suppose you just as soon lean into it, particularly if your goal is to really rally that 2024 MAGA coalition that got Donald Trump elected. Then you want to emphasize the things that drew those people to Donald Trump less than two years ago. Right. And so I think that that is a signal that that is the objective. And there is there is some kind of magnetic charisma about Donald J. Trump. You can't deny it. If you've ever been around him, the way he talks, the way he commands the room, you might think what he's saying makes no sense. But more than half this country believe in everything he said. Yeah. I mean, one thing one word you really cannot use to describe a Trump rally is boring. Trump rallies are not boring. They may be depending on your own perspective. They may be exciting. They may be thrilling. They may be outrageous. They're not boring. And he definitely does have that ability of a showman to command a room, to vibe with the crowd. And I think we'll probably see that on display today. As the one of the gentlemen out at the National Medal of Honor Museum said, he brings Donald Trump brings magic. And that's a way to describe it. You know, he brings magic. The list of speakers, Attorney General Ken Paxton, Governor Greg Abbott, Senator Ted Cruz, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, who ran as a Democrat and then went over to the Republican Party. He's expected to speak tonight. And, of course, Vice President J.D. Vance, RFK Jr., the health secretary. And there is going to be Blanche. Thank you. Attorney General Do attorney generals normally speak at these kinds of events? Well, we don't normally have these kinds of events at a national convention. They could. I mean, it just depends on who in a cabinet party chooses to highlight. I suspect he will talk about successes in terms of immigration, border security, the fact that crime rates are down all over the country. Those are things that I think the Trump administration would like to emphasize as its successes, particularly the border control piece, which is widely popular, as opposed to the ICE enforcement piece, which is more controversial. Right. But Border Patrol and then crime being down just yesterday, the FBI locally and throughout the country held news conferences about violent crime numbers being down. Yeah, it's really remarkable across the country. This is regardless of your partisanship. This is just an American success story, something for us to be happy about as Americans, how much violent crime is down in cities around the country over the last several years. In terms of the war, though, that's different. We will be hearing very little about that, or you think hearing nothing about that? I mean, I don't know if it will be entirely ignored by every speaker, but it's certainly not going to be a major theme of this convention because it is less popular significantly than those successes that I just talked about. And also, to some extent, it divides the Republican Party. There are elements within the Republican Party that are opposed to the projection of American military power abroad, and particularly in this specific case. So I don't think the party wants to mention things that are divisive. So I don't think you'll hear a lot of talk about the Iran. I think we've got a soundbite. Let's play that right now. Make a deal. We're so far down the line. They have very little country left right now, so we're not looking for it. Yes, a negotiation could possibly happen, but it's not something we're looking at. This war will end immediately after our election. Thank you very much. So I think we're going to hear what we have always heard from Mr. Trump, and that is gas prices are going to go down. Everything's going to turn around as soon as the war is over. It may take a little longer than we thought. Now it's going to be beyond the midterms. It's going to take some time beyond the midterms before it's over. We're not in a position of power with Iran right now. We're not. Six weeks has become six months, and that's problematic. I did a report this week. Diesel fuel for truckers, well over $6 a gallon. People spending over $1,000 a gallon to fill up their rig, yet the freight, what they're getting for their freight, those prices haven't changed. And so that's an issue because everything that we touch is on a truck at some point. That's right. I mean, look, Iran is suffering to a vastly greater degree than the United States is from the results of this war, no doubt about it. But it's not clear that the Iranian government really cares about that. That's the difference. That's not a democracy. The Iranian people are not in a position to hold their government accountable in the way that the American people are through democratic elections. So it's really apples and oranges when you talk about, I mean, there's no question the United States can make Iran suffer and is making Iran suffer to a vastly greater degree than Iran can make the U.S. suffer, but the accountability mechanism is different. And so here, voters who are dissatisfied because of, let's say, higher gas prices, higher diesel prices that are at least in part a result of the war can take that out on the president's party in the midterms. That's the kind of result that Republicans are hoping to mitigate and to limit in this midterm. We're going to wrap up as we get ready to transition, but 20,000 people in the AAC for the two-day Trumpapalooza. And the extent of that reach, however, is what they want to get far and wide. He gets what he wants, I think, out of this event. Yeah, I mean, certainly, as I said, one thing is already clear that he's getting, which is widespread media coverage and publicity. The question is, that's more open, does he manage to reach and to mobilize those low-propensity voters? Right. Not the political class. Yeah, the Republican activists, they're on board. They're going to be cheering here in the arena. But, you know, the truck driver who lives in Lufkin, is that guy paying attention? Yeah. Is he motivated by this? Because that's who Trump needs to show up and vote for Republicans in this cycle. It's going to be interesting, right? It's going to be interesting. And really, what happens after this? Where is the momentum? Where does it go? How long does it last? How long does the bounce, how high is the bounce, if there be one coming out of this? You know, and of course, the Democrats are going to immediately begin, I think, spending even more money trying to thwart whatever comes out of this for the GOP. And they have no shortage of money. I mean, Tallarico's got enormous amounts of cash. Right. And Democrats are now, a lot of people don't realize this, but by and large, Democrats are now the better funded party in a lot of ways, because Democrats have a lot more medium-level donors. So typically, Democrats outspend Republicans in campaigns these days. Now, Republicans certainly have enough money to compete. But, you know, Trump was outspent massively in both of his election victories, 2016 and 2024. Democrats spent more than Trump did. But, you know, the Democrats have no shortage of money. This has been a fascinating conversation. Dr. Matthew Wilson, SMU political science professor, thank you so much for your expertise. Oh, thanks for having me. Sean Rabb, as always. Glad to be here. Wonderful working with you. And this has been our look at Trumpapalooza, the two-day Republican midterm national convention in Dallas at the American Airlines Center. We're going to continue our coverage with Battleground Texas. Stephen Dial, Greg Bruggen, and Rudy Kosky will be joining you live, coming up in less than 10 seconds.