The Republicans brought a live elephant to their party conference in Houston. Just as the elephant passed the press box, the animal decided to treat the convention center floor with a giant puddle, and it quickly went viral.
To add extra flair to the final day of their party conference, Texas Governor Greg Abbott conjured up a very remarkable special guest: Paige, a living elephant.
The audience had already been warned in advance via the large screens in the hall with a cartoon of an elephant in a cowboy hat: “A warning in Texan style: our program today contains a life-size surprise. Keep the aisles clear. An unforgettable afternoon awaits you.”
And it became memorable. Paige the elephant made her entrance, adorned with a red, white and blue headpiece and a giant banner with the slogan: Unity Drives Victory (Unity leads to victory).
The crowd’s enthusiasm quickly changed when the elephant passed near the press stand. Apparently the stress of the spotlight took its toll: the animal stopped and took a pee live on the conference floor. Lauren McGaughy, political correspondent for The New York Timeswas able to film the incident and immediately posted the footage to X (formerly Twitter).
The elephant
It is no coincidence that the Republicans came up with an elephant, of all things. The animal has been the official symbol of the party for more than 150 years, although remarkably they owe that tradition to a satirical cartoonist.
In 1874, the famous political cartoonist Thomas Nast drew a cartoon Harper’s Weekly. He depicted the different political movements as animals in a zoo. The Democratic Party was presented as a donkey in a lion’s skin that terrified the other animals. One of those scared animals was a huge, somewhat clumsy elephant, which symbolized Republican voters. Although the drawing was intended to be critical, Republicans ultimately embraced the elephant as a symbol of their party.