DALLAS — President Donald Trump had his supporters recite a pledge of allegiance to himself — and promise to vote in November — as he teamed with Vice President JD Vance on the second and final night of the first Republican midterm convention.
The evening ended with red, white, and blue balloons falling to the convention floor. But for an event designed to fire up the MAGA base, there were concerning signs for the Republican Party.
Attendance was lackluster, and worries about GOP voter turnout to thwart a Democratic takeover of Congress were clearly on the president's mind.
Speaking at the American Airlines Center, where the upper level was largely empty, Trump nevertheless said the arena was filled to the rafters – a falsehood that drew laughter
from even some Trump supporters in the crowd.
But the most memorable moment at the convention on Sept. 10 came when Trump asked attendees to stand up, raise their right hands, and repeat after him.
Here are five takeaways from the second day of the midterm convention:
Trump's pledge and dwelling on crowd size
In his closing speech of the two-day convention, Trump seemed anxious about his voters turning out for the midterm elections, repeatedly telling the crowd to pretend he’s on the ballot and leading them in a pledge.
"I pledge to the greatest president in history of the country, that loves us so much that he can’t even breathe, that I will go out with my family, my friends" and vote, Trump said. He later added: "You know what happens if you don’t vote? You got to hell."
For a second night, an event centered around boosting party enthusiasm couldn’t gin up enough enthusiasm to fill the roughly 20,000-capacity arena.
That’s not what Trump said, though.
"The Democrats are getting nervous. They said if we did a midterm convention, nobody would show up,” the president said at the start of his speech. "This place is packed. It was packed last night."
As Trump spoke on the convention's first night, much of the upper level was empty. Night two was even worse. Entire upper-level sections had nobody in them as Vance, and then Trump, took the stage. Some lower-level sections also had pockets of empty seats.
Regardless, Trump said the arena was full and falsely accused the media of misrepresenting the crowd size.
"Look at that, the highest rafter, no empty seats," Trump said, pointing to the nearly empty upper areas.
Trump again touted his offer to send American adults $5,000 dividend checks if Republicans hold control of Congress. Vance, meanwhile, never mentioned the proposal in his remarks, which has drawn skepticism from some MAGA allies.
The president's second night speech was much shorter than his first, clocking in at 25 minutes after he spoke for nearly two hours the night before.
"I’m getting a little bit tired of politics," he explained.
Vance says Democrats are 'party of hatred'
Vance declared Democrats the "party of hatred" as he led the charge among Republican convention speakers to paint their midterm opposition as a dangerous threat to the country.
It was Vance’s debut at the convention, and it might have been one of the most pivotal speeches he will make ahead of a widely expected presidential bid in 2028. He arrived on stage to chants of "JD."
"I’ve gotta say, it’s pretty cool to hear a crowd that is this fired up chant your name," Vance said. "So go ahead and do it again."
Despite serving as Trump’s vice president – and, as such, the natural MAGA heir apparent - Vance has failed to clear the 2028 field of possible Republican contenders vying for the nomination. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas has strongly signaled plans to seek the Republican nomination for president, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio is considered a potential candidate as well.
Vance pounced on an impromptu moment that diverted him from his prepared remarks when he told a protester he said was holding a Mexican flag: "If you love Mexico so much, get your ass over there and I'll buy you the plane ticket."
The line ignited perhaps the biggest round of applause of the entire convention, though some observers later said it was a Palestinian flag. The protester was escorted out.
Fresh off a recent campaign visit to Michigan, Vance above all aimed at Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Michigan, who the vice president has attacked aggressively for invoking his wife, Usha Vance, on the campaign trail.
El-Sayed wrote in an Aug. 22 post on X: "So do we think JD is taking Usha with him back in time to meet Papaw, or no…" To El-Sayed’s critics, his remarks seemed to imply Vance’s white grandfather would not accept Usha Vance because of her Indian heritage.
"That fool looks at him, sees the color of his skin, seeks his background, and decides that he could never have loved my wife," Vance said.
"I'm not just here to honor my Papaw, I'm here to tell you this is who the Democrats are now," he said. "The Democrats are the party of hatred. The party that despises America and the people who built it."
Republicans: Fate of country at stake in midterms
Like the first night of the convention, Republican speakers worked relentlessly to paint Democrats as "communists," "Marxists," and "socialists" who represent a threat to the survival of the United States.
The onslaught of attacks was part of a larger Republican strategy on display in Dallas to raise the stakes of the midterm election to motivate MAGA voters to head to the polls in November.
"We’re not just living in a time anymore when the two parties are going to be debating over marginal tax rates or shades of regulation," said House Speaker Mike Johnson, calling the Nov. 3 election "very, very different" than previous midterms.
"It now falls to us to fight to preserve the country that we all love," he said. "It’s now being attacked from within."
Despite the success of some Democratic socialist candidates in primaries this election cycle, most Democratic midterm candidates aren’t running as socialists. But Republicans are going all in with the attack regardless as they try to overcome the enthusiasm gap with Democrats.
Johnson framed the election as a race between "extreme and mainstream" – a tagline embraced by other speakers as well – and warned that Democrats' radicalism extends beyond those who say they’re socialists.
"It’s the Democrats in swing seats who say one thing and then join forces and vote with the socialists they’re afraid of," Johnson said. "That is the dangerous part."
Cruz also warned that a "new red-green alliance" of "communists and Islamists" has united to sweep over the Democratic Party. "They are united because they share the same enemies: They hate Christians. They hate Jews. They hate capitalism. They hate the Constitution. And they hate America."
Above all, Republicans worked to make El-Sayed the boogeyman of an extreme Democratic Party, seizing on his relationship with liberal influencer Hasan Piker. If victorious in November, El-Sayed would be the first Muslim elected to the Senate.
"Folks, this is not just another Senate race. This election is about the soul of our country,” said Michigan Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers, El-Sayed’s opponent. "He wants to apologize for America. I want to defend America. He wants to represent Palestine. I want to represent Michigan."
El-Sayed responded to the GOP attacks in a CNN interview, saying Republicans are focused on "culture war issues" instead of the "issues that everybody faces all over the country."
"They’re pointing to me, pointing to my ethnicity, pointing to the way I pray, pointing to the fact that my wife wears a hijab, and trying to say that somehow that is less American," he said. "I think America is a place where all of us can come together."
Democrats contrast Trump's convention 'party' with Americans' struggles
Democrats rallied downtown and staged counterprogramming events as they pushed back on the GOP attacks coming from the convention stage, mocking the empty seats at the arena and saying Republicans are "obsessed" with socialism.
House Democrats held a news conference near the convention where they also highlighted the cost of the Iran war and affordability concerns.
"As Donald Trump and JD Vance party away for two days, the average American family can’t afford the groceries," said Rep. Robert Garcia, D-California, adding: "Donald Trump doesn’t care about the average American family or affordability."
Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colorado, said the glitzy convention contrasts with what is playing out in Iran as the war nears the seven-month mark.
“What also is happening right now is there are 50,000 U.S. service members in the Middle East fighting yet another quagmire, endless war,” Crow said of a conflict that convention speakers avoided.
Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pennsylvania, said Trump’s 'plummeting" approval rating is evident in the empty seats at the convention. Meanwhile, a coalition of left-wing groups held an evening "rally for Democracy" at Dallas City Hall as the convention closed.
Not all praise for Trump from swing state candidates
While the convention was full of glowing remarks for Trump, that wasn't the case when a pair of swing state candidates took the stage.
Trump’s low approval rating presents a challenge in battleground districts, threatening to drag down GOP candidates.
Some swing-district Republicans, such as Maine Sen. Susan Collins and Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan, choose to skip an event that risks tying them more closely to Trump. Others decided to show up and praise Trump as they work to fire up Republican voters in an election that could hinge on turnout.
Rep. Mike Lawler, R-New York, was somewhere in between, attending the convention but gently seeking to distance himself from Trump. Lawler is running in one of the most competitive districts in the country, one that he noted has more Democrats than Republicans. He said his speech was for "common sense Democrats and independents… who are deeply concerned about the rise of socialism and extremism on the left."
"They aren’t exactly sold on Republicans either," Lawler said. "I get it. I understand where you’re coming from. The truth is that the president and I don’t always agree, and that’s OK."
"After all, we’re both New Yorkers," he added. "We argue. We tell each other what we think, and I know this might be hard to believe, but there’s even some profanity."
Lawler’s efforts to thread the needle on Trump, who he also said is a president who will "listen," come as Trump's approval rating is at 39% in the RealClearPolitics average of recent polls.
Rogers didn’t mention Trump in a speech focused on attacking El-Sayed. Michigan is a top Senate battleground, with Rogers trying to flip the seat of a retiring Democrat in a state Trump carried, but that went to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
Contributing: Bart Jansen
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Pledging allegiance to Trump. 5 takeaways from the GOP convention
