‘A new Trump and a new Republican Party’

With President Joe Biden stepping down from the race for the Oval Office and current Vice President Kamala Harris assuming the mantle for the Democratic Party, the NMI Republican Party stands more united with their nomination of former president Donald J. Trump.

This, according to Irene Holl, the national committeewoman and CNMI chairwoman of the Republican National Convention delegation. She also shared her thoughts on Harris coming into the race.

As a delegate to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin last week, Holl said there was already a rumor that Biden will step down.

“We already heard that in the convention. And in fact, I actually heard that it was going to happen over that weekend. So, we kind of expected that it will happen. I think because of how unified—in the national level at least—the Republican Party is, I think they’re doing a good job.”

Holl said that with the time remaining she isn’t sure if Harris could catch up.

“Especially with the amount of time left in the campaign, I don’t know if Kamala will be able to clean the mess and the chaos happening in their party. In fact, today, we don’t even know yet if she will be the Democratic nominee. It’s still not official, until the convention which is going to be in August. But if she’s going to be the replacement, I think, I’m sorry to say, but I don’t think she can beat Trump.”

Holl and NMI Republican Party delegates Vinnie Sablan, Sen. Dennis Mendiola (R-Rota), and Rocco Valentino paid their way to be part of the convention in Milwaukee where the CNMI Republican Party cast all nine of their votes for Trump. Holl shared that she was honored to have represented the CNMI at the convention.

The NMI Republican Party delegation was part of 2,500 delegates convening for the RNC. Holl shared that even in light of the assassination attempt on Trump and doubled down tight security, there was such unity in the Republican Party, especially stateside, backing Trump for the Republican nomination, which he ultimately won via landslide.

“I saw how unified this Republican Party was. You can see it in the news, they all say that this is a new Republican Party, very strong and very unified, very, very unified, and really organized. During the convention, Sen. J.D. Vance was announced aa Trump’s running mate, so as far as the Republican Party, they’re already solid,” she said. “On the other side, they’re still catching up and it’s a short time, very short time.”

Holl shared that before the RNC she wasn’t really a fan of Trump.

“I cannot say that I was a supporter before, no. I went there just because I was, you know, required by the party to represent the Republican Party. But I got to observe him throughout the week, since he was seated pretty close to us. I was observing how he was dealing with the people around him. You know, how he behaves. I can say that I can see a different Trump.”

She observed not only the love people had for Trump, but the way he treated them as well.

“And what I noticed is that from the beginning, from the committee all the way to convention, they always pray every time they do something. You know, so they’re big in praying. In fact, in the group, like the Guam group, even our delegation had our own prayer group. But it seems like they like to pray, which for me is very important… there was a group of pastors or ministers who Trump consulted before he decided to run something. So that was the side of Trump I did not know. So, yeah, it, it convinced me. So, actually my husband jokes now, that I’m a solid Republican.”

Holl shared that during her time at the convention she was able to build relationship with other Republican parties from other U.S. territories and each promised to work together.

“There’s a lot of work to be done. I know we will not be voting for president on Saipan or in the CNMI, but there are ways to help the Trump tandem through maybe telling our friends in the mainland or helping the party in different ways, but we really need for them to win. So, we as much as we can, if we can do something to help, we need to help them.”