TRUMP CARD

Here's why America may double down on The Donald

- Bhagyashree Garekar

WASHINGTON - When Ms Kerry French, a Republican delegate from the state of Washington, explained Donald Trump's America First policies to me, I could not resist a smile.

"You know when you're on a plane and the masks come down?" she began when I told her that her party's policies were seen as isolationist in Asia.

"You've got to put your mask on yourself first, and then you can help other people," she said.

"We'll help ourselves first, and then we help the world."

Ms French's light-and-slick explanation floated like a gas-filled balloon over Milwaukee in July 2024, where the Republican Party held its nominating contest.

A month later, in the Democratic bastion of Chicago, where Vice President Kamala Harris' party had converged to officially approve her as its candidate to succeed President Joe Biden, I met Mr Wes Snarp.

He was standing a few meters from a long line of people lined up for security checks to enter the arena where Ms Harris was due to make an eagerly awaited appearance.

As our eyes met, he flashed a smile and gave me a double thumbs up. "Standing on all 10 toes for Donald Trump," he said, by way of introduction.

"I'm telling you, Trump is going to win this election," he said, even before I popped a question.

"If he doesn't, they cheated for the second time in history. But there's no way they get away with that. If Trump does not win, our country's over. So I'm here to hopefully change some people's opinions."

"When you say you want to change minds, what's your argument?" I asked, expecting to hear a version I had encountered often: that Trump's 2020 election loss was a result of election fraud, and that he is a sharp businessman who will know how to tame the beast of inflation.

But Mr Snarp did not feel the need.

"I'm not here to argue. I'm just here to convince... not even convince... If you're a good person, you will listen to everyone's perspective," he said.