Reports from the first two days of the Republican national convention in Milwaukee suggest that the mood of the room isn’t merely energised but giddy. Some of us know that feeling; the sense of jubilation that comes after suffering a near-death experience (or, for those who haven’t, see losing then finding one’s wallet) that the Republicans and their leader are at present enjoying.
Two days after a failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump, delegates in Wisconsin crashed around with the hysterical relief of people whose plane just dropped 4,000ft, then discovered, after all that, they’re not going to die.
For Trump himself, this mood must be even more ecstatic. His appearance at the convention on Monday alongside JD Vance, his pick for vice president, and assorted other guest speakers, was an illustration of the largesse brought about by happiness. Trump hates sharing a platform. His speech is usually peppered with insults and mockery. He scowls and accuses, or sulks and slumps. So over the moon was he on Monday, however, that a man who has been known to sink to Fidel Castro levels of unfiltered ramblings in public simply sat there, beaming, apparently........