Valley News – At Republican National Convention, Vermont’s delegates find a party forged in Trump’s image

Asked to describe this year’s Republican National Convention, members of Vermont’s delegation began with the same word: “Unity”.

It was evident, they said during interviews, in the procession of former President Donald Trump’s primary rivals taking the stage to make the case for his reelection, in the cheerful mood among attendees, and in the palpable confidence that Republicans are poised for big wins come November.

“If you were in the building, you’d feel the energy was unbelievable,” said Gerald Malloy, a Vermont delegate and businessman from Perkinsville running against US Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

At the convention, held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 15-18, Republican delegates from across the country gathered to officially nominate Trump as their presidential candidate. The Vermont delegation included state party leadership and candidates for state and national office.

Malloy, who led Vermont’s roll-call vote on Monday, said that a Trump administration would reunite America.

“The country is divided. I don’t like that. We need to go in a different direction,” said Malloy.

Less than a month ago, the Vermont GOP executive committee voted to exempt Trump from a state party rule that prohibited it from supporting a convicted felon. On Monday, all 17 delegates from Vermont voted for Trump.

According to Paul Dame, who chairs the Vermont GOP, the feeling of party unity was accelerated by the assassination attempt against Trump at a campaign rally last Saturday. Dame emphasized that Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor who emerged as Trump’s most serious rival in the primaries, had not originally been slated to speak at the convention. After the shooting, however, Trump reportedly asked Haley to give a speech “in the name of unity.”

“I know that’s a move that a lot of Vermont Republicans appreciated,” said Dame.

Vermont was the only state where Haley defeated Trump, and Dame said he recognized that the former president was not particularly popular in the state. That Haley endorsed Trump in her speech, and “really tried to make the case for her supporters to support Trump,” was a major step towards cementing that unity, according to Dame.

“Trump has a history for being divisive and he’s doing small things to change that approach, and that might be the near-death experience he’s just had,” Dame said.

Mark Coester, a Westminster resident who is running against Democratic US Rep. Becca Balint for Vermont’s at-large congressional seat, said that people had “most certainly rallied around Trump,” and that the assassination attempt was “the topic of conversation” on the convention floor.

And Malloy echoed a sentiment shared by several RNC speakers: “It is by the grace of God that President Trump was not assassinated. He is a lion and he’s going to provide leadership for this country.”

Trump’s pick of Ohio Sen. JD Vance as his running mate with a more tepid reception from some members of Vermont’s delegation, however.

“I think the Vance pick was one that did not help welcome the Haley wing back in,” said Dame, who said he would have preferred Florida Sen. Marco Rubio or North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.

“The jury’s still out because I don’t know him,” said Coester, though he indicated that Vance’s service in the US Marine Corps was a plus.

“I like it. JD is a combat veteran like me,” said Malloy, who served in the Army for 22 years, and posited that Vance would help Trump with foreign policy issues, including the ongoing wars in Gaza and Ukraine.

“I think (Trump) will resolve those and return to peace very, very shortly upon entering office,” Malloy said.

Some of the most important parts of the whole convention, according to Dame, were the speeches by rapper Amber Rose, Teamsters union president Sean O’Brien, and the series of “everyday Americans” invited to share their stories.

“It’s about reaching non-traditional Republicans,” Dame said.

But the RNC was just as notable for who wasn’t there. Key Republicans of only a decade ago — former President George W. Bush; Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee and his VP pick former US House Speaker Paul Ryan, to name a few — were all absent.

Jason Maulucci, a spokesperson for Republican Gov. Phil Scott, said that it was “unfortunate that so many former leaders don’t feel there is a place for them at the convention.”

Scott himself has never attended the RNC, according to Maulucci, but “he does not support the nominee so it wouldn’t be appropriate for him to be there.”

According to Dame, the proof of whether Republicans are unified will be provided by Trump, who will close out the convention Thursday night with a speech formally accepting the party’s nomination.

“What’s he going to say? Is he going to continue that theme of unity?” asked Lady.