Donald Trump’s RNC speech capped a Republican convention of his enemies kissing the ring.

Eight years ago, I was on the floor of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland when Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, the runner-up to Donald Trump for the nomination, pointedly refused to endorse Trump during his prime-time speech. “And let me start by giving thanks to God Almighty for protecting President Trump, and for turning his head on Saturday as the shot was fired.” Cruz then, dutifully, delivered a macabre speech for “Make America Safe Again” night, in which he argued that there was a “literal invasion” on the southern border “because Democrats cynically decided they wanted votes from illegals more than they wanted to protect our children.” To the extent the new tone following the assassination attempt on Trump ever existed, it officially ended Tuesday night at the RNC. There was Michigan Senate candidate Mike Rogers, who wrote an op-ed on Jan. 5, 2021, comparing Trump’s postelection behavior with that of “Third World dictatorships,” working a cookie-cutter four-minute speech into its crescendo of “Make. Preceding Emmer was the House Republican Conference chair, Elise Stefanik, who was once repulsed by Trump before transforming into a frighteningly fanatical supporter, frothing over “Biden’s violent crime crisis.” The main events of the night, though, were the two most contemporary Trump antagonists within the party, former presidential primary contenders Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, neither of whom even had a spot on the schedule a week ago. South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the front-runner to succeed McConnell as leader next year, was enjoying himself on the floor, four years after warning that an attempt to block Biden’s certification as president would “go down like a shot dog.” Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who flew to Mar-a-Lago in 2021 to apologize to Trump after gently suggesting that Trump deserved blame for the events of Jan. 6, was touting Trump in interviews on the convention floor.