GOP Midterm Convention Deemed a ‘Sh*t Show’ and ‘Unnecessary Trump Production’ as Republicans Balk at $100K Tickets: Report

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

The Republican Party’s plans for its midterm convention are in full swing — and it’s a “sh*t show,” according to critics who are dishing to reporters about the party’s struggles.

President Donald Trump announced the first-of-its-kind midterm party gathering in a Truth Social post in late June, promising it would be “a truly historic event” and “fantastic!”

Scheduled for Sept. 9 and 10 in Dallas, Texas, the convention would “celebrate our Nation, our achievements, and our bright future” and Trump’s “America First Agenda,” the president promised.

But Republicans are unenthused about this Dallas convention Trump pushed so hard to make happen, according to a report by Puck News chief Washington correspondent Leigh Caldwell.

One major issue is the sky-high ticket prices, with the National Republican Campaign Committee demanding that House members “cough up $25,000” for themselves and a plus-one to attend, wrote Caldwell, citing “three people who have reviewed the invitation.”

“And that’s the cheap rate, with the highest tier asking for $100,000 from lawmakers,” she added.

Republicans are worried about the “optics” as well, with the convention scheduled for “just two days before the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks—imperfect timing, perhaps, for lawmakers to be photographed carousing in elephant hats with the party’s wealthy elite,” Caldwell noted, and the RNC scooping up sponsorships from corporate donors that it is funneling through a nonprofit committee that can shield its donors from campaign finance reports.

The convention has become a “sh*t show,” one Republican campaign consultant told Puck News, with few elected officials wanting to pay for the exorbitant ticket prices and having calendar conflicts because invites were sent out so late.

There is also grumbling behind the scenes that this is “little more than a fundraiser for an unnecessary Trump production,” wrote Caldwell, since there isn’t any official national party business in a non-presidential election year.

“Nobody understands why we’re doing a midterm convention,” said another GOP campaign strategist, who dismissed the upcoming gathering as just “yet another opportunity to shake down corporate America.”

Reuters’ Nathan Lane and Steve Holland had a similar take, reporting that Republican consultants had “dismissed it as a distraction as campaigns entered the final stretch” and “questioned the need for a national gathering with no ‌official party business.”

The timing at the beginning of the school year is causing headaches for potential attendees with children; Reuters reported one state party chair admitting they had “returned many of his delegation’s allotted seats after members said they could not make the schedule work.”

“President Trump turns out voters like no other candidate, and this convention will provide the momentum needed to expand our majorities in November,” said RNC spokesperson Natalie Baldassarre. However, noted the Reuters report, the strategy “to put Trump at the center of the convention” was “a tactic some strategists warn could backfire by drawing attention to a president with a low approval rating who has repeatedly urged Americans to ⁠endure the economic costs of the Iran war.”

The current schedule has Vice President JD Vance speaking on Sept. 9 and Trump on Sept. 10, but much of the rest of the lineup for the two days is still up in the air, Reuters added, with GOP congressional candidates showing little enthusiasm:

It remains unclear which congressional candidates will speak during the two-day event. Advisers to three campaigns in competitive districts told Reuters they had yet to be informed whether their candidates would be offered speaking slots.

Reuters contacted representatives for Republican candidates in 37 competitive U.S. House races and eight closely contested U.S. Senate races to ask whether they planned to attend the convention and deliver a speech.

Of the 45, only one campaign offered a substantive response: Republican Representative Tom Barrett, seeking reelection in a tight race in Michigan, who plans to skip the convention and remain on the campaign trail.

“He’s in a tough reelection campaign and his voters are in his district,” said Jason Cabel Roe, a strategist working for the Barrett campaign.

Trump isn’t on the ballot this November, but the fate of his agenda during the last two years of his term certainly is, with Republicans’ grasp on majority control of the House and Senate hanging in the balance.

The polling numbers for the president and his party have been brutal as his second term has progressed, with his immigration crackdown cratering his support, the handling of the Epstein files getting abysmal marks, the Iran War being unpopular with voters all across the political spectrum, and even Americans’ views on his handling of the economy and inflation taking body blows.

A new poll by Reuters/Ipsos from Aug. 21 to Aug. 24 showed the number of Americans who strongly approve of Trump’s job performance has absolutely cratered, even among Republicans.

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