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by MARK POWELL
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Let’s face it: most folks in South Carolina are suffering from political fatigue at the moment. And who can blame them? In the last four months, we’ve gone through a grueling gubernatorial campaign; a contentious runoff for the GOP nomination; the unexpected death of our state’s senior U.S. senator; another (albeit abbreviated) grueling race to replace him on November’s ballot; and yet another grueling runoff.
All within ten weeks, no less.
There’s no rest for the weary this year, though, because president Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee (RNC) are filling the momentary political void with something new: the “2026 Republican Midterm Convention.” This showy gathering is being held Wednesday and Thursday (September 9-10, 2026) at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.
“Don’t let the word ‘convention’ in the title fool you,” a national GOP pollster in Washington confided to us. “Think of it as a two-night infomercial more than a traditional party gathering. You could also call it ‘The Donald Trump Show,’ because that’s what it’s going to be. Two nights of Trump and friends.”
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Faced with dismal polling for Trump personally – and lackluster polling at best for the Republican brand – GOP leaders are hoping the event will add a little juice to their beleaguered standing ahead of this fall’s midterm elections.
“Trump calls himself a developer,” the pollster continued. “But in reality, he’s a showman. It’s what he does best. So with many Republican candidates around the country encountering strong headwinds, he’s responding with a show.”
The convention has three main goals: 1) to convince viewers the Trump Administration is working hard on their behalf; 2) to frame Democrats as socialist extremists; 3) to bolster individual House and Senate candidates, especially those competing in swing states or swing districts.
That last point, in particular, is helping balloon the number of expected speakers to nearly 110 – fifty-three (53) on Tuesday night and fifty-six (56) on Wednesday.
“It’s going to be a MAGA cattle call,” the pollster moaned.
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RELATED | THE IRAN WAR IS BACK
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The lineup includes luminaries you would expect to find at such a gathering: vice president JD Vance, secretary of state Marco Rubio, health czar Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., former White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt, and many more. Republican congressional leadership will be well represented by the likes of House Speaker Mike Johnson and South Carolina’s own U.S. senator, Tim Scott.
They’ll be joined by nearly two dozen elected officials, and many more who are hoping to join them in November.
Perhaps what’s most interesting is who won’t be attending. Confirmed no-shows include first lady Melania Trump, (sparking a fresh round of speculation about the state of the presidential marriage), outgoing incumbent Texas senator John Cronyn, whose crushing defeat for renomination in this spring’s Republican primary to Lone Star attorney general Ken Paxton resulted in a vineyard-sized case of sour grapes; and incumbent U.S. senator Susan Collins.
Collins is no friend of Trump during the best of times, but given that’s she’s currently locked in a heated reelection campaign she doesn’t dare risk being within extended radar range of him.
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Are you ready for Dallas?
— Republicans (@Republicans) September 7, 2026
??? https://t.co/ycwhK5rNUn pic.twitter.com/hFE007K8Cf
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Also missing: non-politics VIPs. Organizers had previously suggested star athletes and entertainers would be on hand. But as of last word, no names have been officially announced. It’s widely speculated that reliable Trump stalwarts such as actor Dennis Quaid, UFC president Dana White and musician Kid Rock could show up. And obviously Lee Greenwood can still be counted on for one more round of his signature 80s anthem “God Bless the USA.”
No word yet whether any celebrities from this century will be participating…
One thing viewers can count on for certain is a double-barrel dose of Trump – with the president expected to deliver the grand finale on both nights.
“That’s the beauty of putting on your own show,” the pollster concluded. “You get to save the best spot for yourself.”
Will any of it move voters, though?
With gas prices soaring, the national debt at historic levels and an unpopular war in Iran devolving into a quagmire, Trump and the GOP will eventually need to bring more than showmanship to the table if they hope to turn their political fortunes around.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
J. Mark Powell is an award-winning former TV journalist, government communications veteran, and a political consultant. He is also an author and an avid Civil War enthusiast. Got a tip or a story idea for Mark? Email him at mark@fitsnews.com.
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4 comments
“The convention has three main goals: 1) to convince viewers the Trump Administration is working hard on their behalf…”
Good luck with that! I guess for the ultra-gullible, it might be do-able. There are lots of gullible, easily led, souls in the MAGA (actually MIGA) movement. For those with a brain, capable of independent, critical thinking, that should be a steep, uphill climb. I mean, you have an Administration and President who have gone out of their way to take a crappy Biden economy and make it even worse. They started an unnecessary war on behalf of Israel against Iran, ostensibly to keep Iran from getting nukes because that would somehow be the worst thing, ever. At one time I might have believed that. In the present day, I do not blame Iran for wanting nukes, with a bellicose, genocidal neighbor like Israel. People make much of Iran saying “death to America” and “death to Israel” since 1979. Iran is another one of those countries, like Ukraine, that our incessant meddling in their internal affairs has brought much upheaval and misery upon. Can you blame them for not looking at us as their most favored nation? Anyway, most of these chants have been empty talk from Iran. Israel doesn’t talk that much, but they DO a lot of stuff to cause harm to Iran and other neighbors, frequently by goading “big brother” USA into attacking them and doing Israel’s fighting for them. But why let facts get in the way of expending billion$ in missiles, drones, American military personnels’ lives, and other things against a country that even if they had nukes, had no real reason to use them on us; at least not until Trumpstein’s wars against Iran for Israel over the past year or so, gave them many reasons? This war, whether directly or indirectly, has driven up petroleum prices and threatened availability. Petroleum drives the prices of everything else; whether groceries, building materials, electricity, or anything else. Trump has taken the Biden economy and made it worse for us. As if that were not bad enough, Trumpstein says he doesn’t care that we pay more for petroleum because he has a war to press (for Israel). That, plus to paraphrase Ed Wuncelear (sp?),III in The Boondocks episode “The Garden Party”, “I don’t care, cause I’M RICH, BITCHEZ”. Additionally, we taxpayers pay for most of his travel these days, anyway.
Then there is the little matter of the poisons that Trumpstein advocates for or otherwise pushes on us “useless eaters” on behalf of his Epstein Class Elite buddies and cronies. Chem trails still regularly fill our skies, just as they have for recent decades. Covid jabs are still pushed as somehow legit, by Mr Operation Warp Speed’s Administration, despite questions raised by RFK, Jr. In February of this year, Trumpstein did an EO to increase availability and use of the carcinogen glyphosate on our wheat and other crops.
Sorry, you will not have an easy time convincing me that Trump works for us.
If that’s the poster for the convention, Trump is “All hat. No cattle.”
Good one, Ralph!
So kind of like all those black country music concerts around the country. I doubt there’s been that many men line dancing since there were auditions for extras when filming Brokeback Mountain.