President Trump made brief remarks at a stop in Wisconsin on Monday, as the Democratic National Convention kicked off “in Milwaukee.”  “Milwaukee” is in scare quotes because, due to COVID-19, there’s no actual, traditional convention happening in Milwaukee this week.

The Republican convention will be a little more traditional in Charlotte, N.C. next week, as the delegates will gather there rather than doing the convention business remotely.  Nevertheless, both conventions are bowing to limitations imposed by the virus this year.  The festive atmosphere of a mass gathering, the parties, the numerous sideline events, the attendance of PACs and the media and the state party dignitaries – all have gone by the wayside in 2020.

That seems to fit well with the general sense of unease and the waiting for the next shoe to drop, as the spooky footsteps of 2020 pound, like the thumping heart of Hill House, outside in the dark.  Balloons and raucous crowds would be a little forced this time around.

The reason for that is something Trump focused unerringly on in his speech in Wisconsin.  Katie Pavlich captured it well in her headline at Townhall:

Pavlich quotes from Trump’s address: “Voters of Wisconsin face a simply choice, do you want to be ruled by the radical left mob or do you want to stand tall as free men and women in the greatest country on earth and keep it that way.  Joe Biden is just a Trojan horse for socialism … They will turn every city into a Portland and they wouldn’t mind.”