A gleeful Trump, delegates in tribute bandages: it’s hard to tear your eyes away from the Republican convention | Emma Brockes

So this is what it feels like, the presidential hopeful must be telling himself, to be admired, praised and respected

Reports from the first two days of the Republican national convention in Milwaukee suggest that the mood of the room isn't merely energised but giddy. Some of us know that feeling; the sense of jubilation that comes after suffering a near-death experience (or, for those who haven't, see losing then finding one's wallet) that the Republicans and their leader are at present enjoying.

Two days after a failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump, delegates in Wisconsin crashed around with the hysterical relief of people whose plane just dropped 4,000ft, then discovered, after all that, they're not going to die.

Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist