'Wide, sleepy grin': Columnist describes 'content' Trump lapping up former enemies' praise

This year's Republican National Convention featured a parade of former Donald Trump enemies kissing the former president's ring as he accepted the party's nomination.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who pointedly refused to endorse Trump at the 2016 convention, offered prayerful thanks to the Almighty for saving the ex-president he once opposed from a gunman's bullet last weekend, while other former critics and foes like Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and ex-South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley each took the stage to shower praise on the nominee, wrote Slate columnist Jim Newell.

"Why is it so different this time?" Newell wrote. "How has Trump — who, since the previous election, has tried to overthrow that election result, blown a midterm election cycle for Republicans, been indicted up and down the Eastern Seaboard, and been convicted of felonies in New York — drawn everyone back under the umbrella so smoothly for his third Republican presidential nomination?"

Newell pointed to the consistently strong poll numbers Trump has enjoyed among GOP voters and the four indictments lodged against him since entering the race as reasons that would-be challengers were unable to gain a foothold or even a perch from which to offer criticism.

"Republicans rallied around their natural leader," Newell wrote. "Republicans have embedded government persecution of their leaders into their DNA. Peter Navarro, the former Trump adviser who was imprisoned for contempt of Congress, came directly to the convention upon his release from prison Wednesday morning, receiving a raucous reception during his speaking slot."

The apparent attempt on Trump's life at a western Pennsylvania rally sealed the deal for any remaining doubters inside the party.

"I spent a lot of time watching Trump during the convention," Newell wrote. "He would enter most nights around 9, take his seat, and watch the last couple of hours of speeches as a cast of family, old friends, and old enemies rotated through the Trump family’s box for a chance to get into a photographer’s shot near the king.

"Trump has been described during this convention as bearing a 'serene' and 'pensive' expression. I’d say he looked content, with a wide, sleepy grin — perhaps with some pharmaceutical assistance related to his ear’s recovery."

That gossamer glow lasted into the early minutes of his record-long speech, which came after testosterone-fueled appearances onstage by Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Fighting Championship’s Dana White, and Kid Rock, as Trump mawkishly described his brush with death.

But he soon offered up the same sort of speech that got interrupted by gunfire just days ago.

"The speech, after another half-hour of off-script acknowledgments, would soon devolve into typical Trump fare, bouncing around from one thing to another for what seemed like an eternity," Newell wrote. "You would not hear during this speech, as you would not hear for a minute during this convention — undoubtedly the most tightly run of his three, until the second hour of Trump’s speech — an iota of dissent within the arena from Trump’s fellow Republicans. The next generation of feuds could wait another night."