RNC was hopeful celebration after near tragedy

The Republican National Convention was four nights earlier this month in Milwaukee, but those four nights were the center point of nearly two weeks of work by those who make an impact within the party.

“I arrived there on July 6 and didn’t come home to Jackson until July 19,” said Scott Golden, a Jackson resident and the chairman of the Tennessee state Republican Party.

The week before the convention is full of meetings among the party officials at the state and national level, but they’re not just meeting about the convention. They’re also setting the strategy and guidelines for how the party will conduct its business over the next four years.

“There are four committees that everyone is appointed to, and those four committees meet and have business meetings throughout that week,” Golden said. “Those committees are platform, rules, credentials and permanent organization.”

Once those committee meetings are finished, the state parties prepare for the arrival that weekend or early the following week of all their delegates.

It was as that work was wrapping up that everyone in Milwaukee heard about the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for President.

“I was actually preparing to go to dinner with [National RNC Chairman] Michael Whatley, when we heard,” Golden said. “And of course everyone there was concerned because the first we’d heard was something had happened, then we heard the Secret Service had rushed the stage, then we heard he’d been hit.

“So of course if we’re not gathered together in a lobby or somewhere watching the coverage, each of us were in our own rooms watching it trying to find out anything we could because the images on TV looked like he was OK, but you never know what they found when they got him in the car.”

Golden said the scare and the positive outcome probably changed the mood of the entire convention.

“We were already in a celebratory mood because Trump is our nominee and we’re excited about the prospects of him becoming President again,” Golden said. “But I think a lot of us were reminded of how fragile all of our lives are – even those who have an entire team of federal agents assigned to their protection.

“President Trump came literally millimeters – a light tilt of the head one way or another – from a national tragedy happening on live television.”

Trump’s running mate was named – J.D. Vance from Ohio – and the party was underway in Milwaukee.

“We averaged 6.5 miles per day of walking getting to and from our hotel and getting through tighter security, but it was worth it,” Golden said. “And it was so great to have so much of the Tennessee Republican family together to celebrate President Trump’s nomination and our hope for the future of our country.”

Golden spent time with all of the U.S. Representatives including David Kustoff, Senator Marsha Blackburn, Gov. Bill Lee, State Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton and others throughout the week. But he said there was a nice aspect to the week of state Republicans getting to know each other.

“For those of us who work at a state level, each of us knew almost everyone there,” Golden said. “But it was good to see fellowship among our people who probably didn’t know each other well if at all before last week.

“If you’re in Johnson City, you might not be as familiar with some of the delegates and other officials from West Tennessee. So that was good to see.”

Of course, the spectacle of the RNC in person was an experience by itself with President Trump, Vance, various national Republican personalities in politics, some of Trump’s former rivals in the primary and the celebrities like Kid Rock, Dana White and Hulk Hogan all in the building.

“It was definitely not your typical political experience,” Golden said with a laugh. “But it only happens once every four years, so it’s not a typical event.”

Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news