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Lee Greenwood’s ‘God Bless the U.S.A.’ Has Become a Trump Rally Anthem
Lee Greenwood’s song “God Bless the U.S.A.” has been former President Donald J. Trump’s fanfare since he became the leader of the Republican Party, embracing its status as an anthem in Grand Old Party politics dating back 40 years.To Mr. Greenwood, a Grammy Award-winning country music star, it is a match made in heaven. He sold the rights to the song for $1 in 1984, thrilled that Sig Rogich, responsible for creating ads for former President Ronald Reagan, had said that the campaign wanted to use it. More recently, it has been played to commence scores of Mr. Trump’s rallies, often to cheers and singalongs from the thousands in attendance.But as Mr. Greenwood took the stage at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Monday night, minutes before Mr. Trump’s first public appearance since surviving an assassination attempt, the singer-songwriter, like the millions of Americans glued to their TVs, had no idea what to expect.“All I could do was guess what his emotions could be, what his physical condition would be,” Mr. Greenwood said in an interview. “I was like everybody else in the arena looking at the jumbotron, showing him walking down the hallway.”Mr. Greenwood, a self-identified conservative, is both Mr. Trump’s personal friend and business partner. He spent time late Wednesday afternoon taking pictures with adoring fans and signing wide-eyed supporters’ “God Bless the USA Bibles,” Trump-promoted bundles that come with lyrics from Mr. Greenwood’s song and foundational American documents. Mr. Greenwood said that he was “naturally emotional” and shocked when he learned that the former president would not be delaying his arrival to the convention after a bullet pierced his upper right ear on Saturday at a rally in Butler, Pa.That information came in a phone call the day after the shooting. Mr. Greenwood was told to make sure that he was in Milwaukee by Monday morning — enough time to prepare for the live performance accompanying Mr. Trump’s entrance into the convention venue, Fiserv Forum, that evening. When Mr. Greenwood started singing, his voice competing with the cheers of attendees elated to see the former president — his right ear wrapped in a white bandage as he walked to his V.I.P. box, pumping his fist and mouthing “thank you” to his supporters — the two friends made eye contact for just a brief moment.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More
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Brother of Rachel Morin, Mother Killed While Jogging, Speaks at R.N.C.
As Republicans focus on crime and immigration during the second night of their convention, Michael Morin, the brother of Rachel Morin, a 37-year-old mother of five who was killed while exercising on a scenic trail in Maryland last August, took the stage. The death of Ms. Morin, who the authorities said was raped, has become one in a series of deaths that Republicans have seized on in criticizing the Biden administration’s immigration policies. An unauthorized 23-year-old immigrant from El Salvador was arrested in the killing, according to the police. “Open borders are often portrayed as compassionate and virtuous, but there is nothing compassionate about allowing violent criminals into our country and robbing children of their mother,” Mr. Morin said to the crowd in Milwaukee.Erin Layman, Ms. Morin’s 49-year-old half sister, said Tuesday ahead of the convention appearance that the “Biden administration does not do anything to protect us Americans,” and that the federal government’s immigration policy is “not fair to immigrants who came to our country legally.” Ms. Layman, of Abingdon, Md., said the family was attending the convention “to show the American people that we do have a crisis.” Facing record levels of border crossings and under pressure from some in his own party on the matter, President Biden toughened America’s immigration policies in the last year. A spokesman for the Democratic National Committee, Alex Floyd, argued in a statement that “Donald Trump represents nothing more than empty words and broken promises when it comes to creating safer communities and securing our border.’ More
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Speaking at Trump’s Convention: Former Democrats, a Rancher and Trump Employees
The Republican National Convention will feature more than two dozen “everyday Americans” as speakers who will help hammer home former President Donald J. Trump’s campaign themes and policies, including four people who previously backed Democrats, according to convention and campaign officials.All four are from key constituencies that the Trump campaign is eager to win over from Democrats in November as Mr. Trump tries to reverse his election defeat in 2020 by chipping away at the coalition that elected President Biden, including Black voters, Hispanic Americans and blue-collar workers.The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee have yet to fully announce a speakers list for the convention, which starts on Monday in Milwaukee. The testimonials from “everyday Americans” are expected to be peppered in between elected officials and candidates, party officials and Mr. Trump’s family members, though the convention has not provided a schedule for when any of its invited guests will speak.On the list announced Friday is Linda Fornos, an immigrant from Nicaragua who attended Mr. Trump’s rally last month in Las Vegas, where she said she had been repeatedly disappointed by Democrats she had supported previously, including Mr. Biden. The Trump campaign has made winning over Latino voters a priority this year, particularly in battleground states like Arizona and Nevada with sizable Hispanic populations.Also on the list is Robert Bartels Jr., known as Bobby, an official in a New York union who attended Mr. Trump’s visit with construction workers during the former president’s trial in Manhattan and said he was a “lifelong Democrat.” Mr. Trump has pressed for the votes of blue-collar union workers since 2016 and has sought to divide them from union leaders who often support Democrats.Annette Albright, a Black woman and a former school employee who convention officials said was a “lifelong Democrat,” spoke earlier this year at a town hall in North Carolina hosted by the political organization Moms for Liberty.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More
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Trump Erodes Biden’s Lead in 2024 Election Fundraising After Conviction
Just two months ago, President Biden appeared to have a daunting financial advantage. Then Donald Trump was convicted of 34 felonies, and Republicans’ wallets opened.Former President Donald J. Trump out-raised President Biden for the second consecutive month in May, outpacing his successor by roughly $81 million in donations over the last two months as he rode a surge of financial support after his felony conviction.In May, Mr. Biden’s campaign and its joint operation with the Democratic National Committee raised $85 million, compared with $141 million for Mr. Trump and the Republican National Committee, according to the two campaigns. In April, the Trump team also brought in $25 million more than the Biden team.The Biden campaign said it entered June with $212 million on hand combined with the party. The Trump operation and R.N.C. have not released a full tally of their cash on hand since the end of March. A partial count on Thursday, revealed in Federal Election Commission filings, showed that Mr. Trump had amassed a war chest of at least $170 million with the party.Overall, Mr. Trump was a daunting $100 million behind Mr. Biden at the start of April. In two months, he cut that cash deficit by at least half.The full accounting of both sides’ finances will be made public in federal filings next month. But the combination of Mr. Trump’s improved fund-raising and Mr. Biden’s heavier spending on advertising this spring appears to put the two sides on a path to enter the summer relatively close to financial parity.“Yes, Trump is raising a lot more money now, and that should scare people,” said Brian Derrick, a strategist who founded a Democratic fund-raising platform called Oath. “But at the end of the day, Biden has the funds that he needs to run a really strong campaign.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More
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What Happens When You Knock on 8,000 Doors
Milagros PicoIn 2018, the district judge for our area of south-central Montana was retiring and encouraged my husband, Ray, to run to fill his seat. Ray, a lawyer with 30 years of experience in civil and criminal practice, was new to politics. He expected to be the underdog. While all judicial races in the state are nonpartisan, we were not members of the dominant Republican Party. And we had lived in Montana for only 20 years, long enough to know we would still be considered newcomers.I told Ray: “They just need to get to know you. Then they’ll love you.”The district covers three rural counties, too big to gather all those voters together at a campaign event, so wooing them with Ray’s barbecued brisket was out. We would, we decided, go to them.Over six months, we knocked on the doors of over 8,000 registered voters from across the political spectrum. We didn’t know what to expect, but we certainly didn’t anticipate how eager people were to share very personal stories — not just eager, but, it seemed, compelled.There’s an immediate intimacy in having a conversation on someone’s doorstep. It is, after all, a threshold between public and private, but who would have thought that political canvassing would be so conducive to such unvarnished honesty? Perhaps because of the fracturing of our communities, we encountered an almost universal need to be witnessed and validated, to trust.Listening will not, alone, alleviate suffering — It has to be accompanied by, as a start, better access to public services. Neither is listening a magic cure for our political divisions. But I believe that any system in which some people feel they don’t matter is doomed to fail. I have no idea what it will take to heal our divisions, but I believe it will have something to do with sharing stories.Instead of talking about ourselves, we focused on the people we met. We would take note of some detail around the house, most often their gardens or their dogs — there were always dogs, big dogs and little dogs, an abundance of old and cherished dogs.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More
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Lara Trump, R.N.C. Leader, Denounces Larry Hogan for Accepting Trump Verdict
Lara Trump, the co-chair of the Republican National Committee and former President Donald J. Trump’s daughter-in-law, on Sunday denounced Larry Hogan, the Republican Senate candidate in Maryland, for urging Americans to “respect the verdict” against Mr. Trump — criticizing a prized recruit who has given the party a chance of winning a seat that has reliably been held by Democrats.Late Thursday afternoon, after a Manhattan jury said that it had reached its verdict — but before it had been announced — Mr. Hogan, a former governor of Maryland, posted on social media: “Regardless of the result, I urge all Americans to respect the verdict and the legal process. At this dangerously divided moment in our history, all leaders — regardless of party — must not pour fuel on the fire with more toxic partisanship. We must reaffirm what has made this nation great: the rule of law.”That statement was not shocking coming from Mr. Hogan, a moderate Republican who has long been critical of Mr. Trump. But it enraged some supporters of Mr. Trump, who claimed that the trial was rigged because of grievances including its venue in liberal New York City.Former Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland, now running for Senate, has been a frequent critic of Mr. Trump.Daniel Kucin Jr./Associated PressMr. Hogan “doesn’t deserve the respect of anyone in the Republican Party at this point, and quite frankly anybody in America, if that’s the way you feel,” Ms. Trump, who is married to Mr. Trump’s son Eric, said in an interview on CNN — the latest indication of how fealty to Mr. Trump has become a defining test within the Republican Party.She did not directly answer follow-up questions from the interviewer, Kasie Hunt, about whether the Republican Party would continue to support Mr. Hogan. A spokeswoman for Mr. Hogan did not respond to a request for comment on Sunday.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More
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Trump Announces $34.8 Million Fund-Raising Haul After Guilty Verdict
Former President Donald J. Trump’s campaign announced that he had raised $34.8 million in the wake of his felony conviction, shattering online records for Republicans and an early sign of the extent to which the base was rallying behind him.The campaign said in a statement that nearly 30 percent of the donors who gave online were new to the party’s online donating platform, WinRed, giving the former president an invaluable infusion of new contributions to tap in the coming months. The Trump campaign said the haul was double its previous best day ever on WinRed. And the one-day haul was nearly 10 times the $4 million Mr. Trump raised when his mug shot was released in 2023, after his booking in Atlanta for his indictment there.The figures will not be verifiable until the campaign committees and WinRed make their filings with the Federal Election Commission in the following months.Cash has been one of President Biden’s advantages so far in the race. His campaign has been advertising in key battleground states since Mr. Trump emerged as the Republican nominee while Mr. Trump has been absent from the airwaves. The post-conviction money will help Mr. Trump close the gap with the Democratic incumbent.The one-day haul was even greater than the $26 million that the Biden campaign had announced four years ago in the 24 hours after he had named Kamala Harris as his vice-presidential pick.“From just minutes after the sham trial verdict was announced, our digital fund-raising system was overwhelmed with support, and despite temporary delays online because of the amount of traffic, President Trump raised $34.8 million dollars from small-dollar donors,” said Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles, two of Mr. Trump’s top advisers, in a joint statement. “President Trump and our campaign are immensely grateful from this outpouring of support from patriots across our country.” In April, Mr. Trump’s operation, working in concert with the Republican National Committee, announced that it had raised $76.2 million, beating for the first time what Mr. Biden’s shared operations with the Democratic National Committee, brought in — $51 million.The conviction appeared to be driving Democratic donations, as well, though to a much lesser extent.ActBlue, which processes online contributions for Democrats, registered three of its four biggest hours of donations in all of 2024 on Thursday evening in the wake of the conviction, topping out near $1.3 million in a single hour, according to its online ticker. More
