This Wednesday and Thursday in Dallas, the GOP will hold President Donald Trump's unprecedented midterms convention. But some prominent Republicans, including Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), are making it clear that they don't plan to attend. And according to Salon, the Republican National Committee (RNC) "embarrasses itself with a shindig no one else wanted."

Salon's Amanda Marcotte describes the convention as a "gambit" that "will likely backfire" on Republicans.

"The 80-year-old president doesn't seem to be able to cope with reality, and so, he is instead burrowing himself into childish power fantasies as an escape," Marcotte writes in Salon. "In light of all this, it's obvious what the Republican National Committee, which is nicknaming the convention 'Trumpapalooza,' hopes to achieve: enough ego gratification for Trump to calm him. Perhaps they hope to buy enough peace to last for a few days, maybe even weeks, to focus on the upcoming midterm elections. Either way, it's a very expensive and public equivalent of giving a pacifier to an infant. But the gambit will likely backfire."

Marcotte continues, "Ratings, a metric that Trump fixates on endlessly, are almost assuredly going to be low. For one thing, the RNC foolishly scheduled the convention for Wednesday and Thursday night, meaning it will compete against the NFL season's opening games. Television networks don't seem interested in airing it."

Trump, according to Marcotte, appears oblivious to how unpopular he is — noting that his "approval ratings are at record lows, especially with Republicans."

"It's unclear if Trump is aware that most Americans loathe him, and that even his fans are starting to slink away," Marcotte writes. "The president has long been a fan of cable news, but there are growing indications that he is increasingly shielding himself from legitimate sources of information, much less accurate polls. As Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan of the New York Times told MS NOW, Trump lives inside an 'information bubble' where he only 'hears what he wants to hear.' Much of that information is provided by Harp, who keeps him soothed with printouts from right-wing websites that often publish false headlines."

Marcotte describes the midterms convention as a "feeble attempt to recreate" the energy of the 2024 Republican National Convention.

"The problem, of course, is getting people to show up," Marcotte argues. "There won't be delegates to fill seats in the massive arena, and Republican leaders keep finding they have unbreakable plans already scheduled that night … But make-believe can only get one so far when the real world keeps intruding. Maintaining Trump's bubble of flattery already looks like an exhausting task for his handlers. Their misery is only going to get worse."

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