What will happen at the Republican Convention?

[Foolmewunz]

I just had an enlightening but depressing brainfart.

The family tributes, all lacking in any real human touches read like a weak version of the USA Today post mortems on mass shooters of the past. You know, where they go back to Spring-Green-View-Field, Anystate and interview people the perp grew up with. "He was a regular guy. I remember him as helping out when people needed a hand." In fact, many of those mass-murderer testimonials are more positive than "Believe me, he's really a swell guy."

And the tell on this, as I've said before, is that there are no old school chums, no buddies from Queens who he grew up with, no early partners... he has to get ringing endorsements of what a really swell guy he is from people who work for him but who happen to be family members.

 

[Regnad Kcin]

Not a bad speech, but really low energy in the crowd. They don't seem enthused.

They wanted Donny Blaze and got Don Blasé.

 

[uke2se]

I'd like a European poster to chime in but it seems to me that the GOP has transformed into something resembling the far right wing parties that exist over there. They're populist on trade and the economy to the point of being farcical and advocating cultural xenophobia.

This is exactly right.

 

[Puppycow]

David Corn of Mother Jones wrap-up of the convention:

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/07/donald-trump-rnc-speech

This is what you need to know about Donald Trump's GOP. At the convention in Cleveland, Alex Jones, a prominent peddler of conspiracy theories, was in the hall as a special guest.

Jones sells paranoia. He is a 9/11 truther who claims that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney were in on the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. He has promoted the idea that dissidents in America will be rounded up and placed in FEMA camps. His website maintains that the tragic Sandy Hook shooting was a hoax orchestrated so gun safety advocates could demonize gun owners. Jones tells his followers that the world is controlled by a global cabal—a coven of elites that can handpick the president of the United States.

And in Cleveland, this week Jones was a celebrity. (Trump has praised him in the past.) During the convention, he was often in the company of Roger Stone, a longtime adviser to Trump and veteran bad-boy political operative, who also likes to sell conspiracy theories. Stone wrote one book asserting that LBJ killed JFK, and a more recent Stone volume claimed that Bill Clinton was a serial raper. Two years ago, Stone tweeted that Hillary Clinton should be executed for treason. In Cleveland, he organized the largest pro-Trump rally of the week, and he said he was meeting with Trump staffers.

The Stone-Jones vision is a dark one: Corrupt and tyrannical evildoers are in charge, and they must be removed. By death if necessary. The existence of the United States is threatened by enemies at home, and extreme measures are called for. And Trump has encouraged and exploited this fear and hatred.

Hell, Trump himself is also "a prominent peddler of conspiracy theories" such as: Obama's birth certificate not real, global warming is a Chinese hoax so they can get a trade advantage, vaccines cause autism, Ted Cruz's dad was involved with Lee Harvey Oswald, and probably some others which I'm forgetting (he has sort of implied that Obama might be a Muslim or somehow sympathetic to radical Islamists). Not quite Jone's level of crazy, but he's quite happy to be associated with him.

Jonathan Chait also has a good article:

Donald Trump Is Bidding To Transform the GOP into a White Identity Politics Party

Trump’s acceptance speech is one of the most memorable and important ones ever delivered at a convention, because it reflects a conscious effort to alter the ideological orientation of its party. The speech bears the heavy imprint of its reported author, Stephen Miller, a very smart, renegade Republican staffer who advocates what he calls “nation-state populism.” Pat Buchanan, a sympathetic observer from a previous era, has described the ideology somewhat more bluntly and pithily as “ethno-nationalism.” Ethnonationalism is a form of conservatism, and overlaps with standard-issue Republican conservatism in several ways, but the two philosophies diverge in ways that can leave their adherents bitterly at odds. (Buchanan worked for Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, but ran as a primary opponent of George Bush and Bob Dole, and left the party altogether to oppose George W. Bush.) Programatically, ethnonationalists differ from standard issue Republicans like George W. Bush or Paul Ryan in that they oppose free trade and immigration. Their orientation is nostalgic, rather than glitter-eyed about the future. Like traditional conservatives, they distrust federal power, but extend their circle of rhetorical enemies to include the corporate elite. Most importantly, unlike standard conservatives, who tend to disregard race, ethnonationalists have a deeply, explicitly racialized view of the world.

All those ideological markers appeared in Trump’s address. The speech focused on four issues: Crime, trade, immigration, and terrorism.

Yes, I think you could also say that this is similar to the politics of the far right European parties.

 

[cullennz]

So as a kiwi who doesn't get the point of the expense and hype of the conference thingey.

Marks out of ten?

 

[jhunter1163]

So as a kiwi who doesn't get the point of the expense and hype of the conference thingey.

Marks out of ten?

3/10. The point is that it should be a four-day advertisement for your candidate; the RNC did a very poor job of staying on message. Too many distractions, the plagiarism thing, the Nazi salute, the Ted Cruz non-endorsement... and the message they did manage to convey was a scary one for undecided voters.

 

[Beelzebuddy]

So as a kiwi who doesn't get the point of the expense and hype of the conference thingey.

Marks out of ten?

Five of seven trumpets for harbingery, but only one of four horsemen for substance.

 

[MikeG]

America First. America First. America First.


Let's back that up with some classic Brit Rock. "It's All Right" is by Free. Segue to Rolling Stones.

USA. USA. USA.

All Right Now?

 

[Foolmewunz]

All Right Now?

What-Ever. No one listens to furriners.

 

[MikeG]

What-Ever. No one listens to furriners.

Who cares, so long as they listen to Free.

 

[Stacko]

3/10. The point is that it should be a four-day advertisement for your candidate; the RNC did a very poor job of staying on message. Too many distractions, the plagiarism thing, the Nazi salute, the Ted Cruz non-endorsement... and the message they did manage to convey was a scary one for undecided voters.

Any message that did get out that was intended was also negative. "Hillary bad! Lock her up! Brown people scary murderers! America sucks!" Negative messaging depresses turnout because people need something to want and that wasn't delivered. 3/10 is right.

 

[Fitter]

What-Ever. No one listens to furriners.

No, Furriner did Jukebox Hero.

 

[Stacko]

I just had an enlightening but depressing brainfart.

The family tributes, all lacking in any real human touches read like a weak version of the USA Today post mortems on mass shooters of the past. You know, where they go back to Spring-Green-View-Field, Anystate and interview people the perp grew up with. "He was a regular guy. I remember him as helping out when people needed a hand." In fact, many of those mass-murderer testimonials are more positive than "Believe me, he's really a swell guy."

And the tell on this, as I've said before, is that there are no old school chums, no buddies from Queens who he grew up with, no early partners... he has to get ringing endorsements of what a really swell guy he is from people who work for him but who happen to be family members.

You'd also get the impression that all his children that spoke for him sprang forth into the world when his ego was cracked during scalp reduction surgeries. No mention of their mother's at all. No stories of Donald supporting their single mothers in spite of the divorce to ensure their children where raised properly. That would help with the mother and single mother demographic that he polls abysmally in. A simple oversight I'm sure.

 

[sunmaster14]

3/10. The point is that it should be a four-day advertisement for your candidate; the RNC did a very poor job of staying on message. Too many distractions, the plagiarism thing, the Nazi salute, the Ted Cruz non-endorsement... and the message they did manage to convey was a scary one for undecided voters.

The Nazi salute? What the hell are you talking about. Any time anybody raises his hand with his palm outward it's a Nazi salute? Hitler also used to stand at a microphone and give speeches to large audiences. Is that also a Nazi thing? Sheesh, talk about weak tea.

For my part, I think it was an 8/10. Trump far exceeded my expectations, and the fact that the convention actually looked reasonably professional exceeded my expectations also. Trump gave a barnburner of a speech. This is just beyond dispute. You might not have liked the content, and it went on about 20 minutes too long, but his oration, his demeanor, and his energy, were top-notch. Also, the things that have so far led to political success for him were on fully display. He didn't hold back in his criticism of the political elites and of Obama and Clinton in particular. I suspect that Chris Matthews got a strange feeling up his leg just like he got from Obama in 2008. It was probably more like a chill than a thrill though.

I didn't know Trump was capable of giving a speech like that. Regardless of the content, it shows that he is a lot more ready for prime time than I thought possible. Whether he can do as good a job in a debate remains to be seen. After all, Palin gave a fantastic speech too, but turned out to be unwilling or unable to learn any policy. Maybe Trump doesn't need to. Maybe his instincts are right that the undecided don't give a crap about policy details or about a candidate being able to throw around factoids to justify this position or that. Maybe they're really just deciding based on personality, and right now Trump's personality seems to be the right one for the job.

He has certainly set himself up to benefit from any chaos around the globe from now until election day. Every financial crisis, diplomatic crisis, incident of domestic violence, or of terrorism will redound to his benefit.

The bar has been set very high for Hillary. I don't think she's capable of such energy in a speech. Or of such genuine anger and resoluteness. Plus, Trump took her "I'm With Her" slogan and turned it into a terrible liability. The "I'm With You" line was a killer.

As for the other speeches last night, they were pretty good, although I doubt that many people saw Peter Thiel's or Thomas Barrack's speeches.

 

[angrysoba]

The Nazi salute? What the hell are you talking about. Any time anybody raises his hand with his palm outward it's a Nazi salute? Hitler also used to stand at a microphone and give speeches to large audiences. Is that also a Nazi thing?

Not usually, but Trump certainly showed how it could be.

 

[jhunter1163]

The Nazi salute? What the hell are you talking about. Any time anybody raises his hand with his palm outward it's a Nazi salute? Hitler also used to stand at a microphone and give speeches to large audiences. Is that also a Nazi thing? Sheesh, talk about weak tea.

My point was, and is, that it was a distraction from the message. They did a very poor job of controlling the narrative. It seemed like every night, there was something to talk about other than the events of the convention and the message that it was intended to promote.

 

[sunmaster14]

My point was, and is, that it was a distraction from the message. They did a very poor job of controlling the narrative. It seemed like every night, there was something to talk about other than the events of the convention and the message that it was intended to promote.

Well, given that there was no substantive message other than Trump is different from every other politician we've seen in the last 50 years (and maybe 100 if you have to go back to William Jennings Bryan), then the distractions probably helped rather than hurt.

In any case, the last night is the only night that matters, and that went off without a hitch.

 

[Ladewig]

The Nazi salute? What the hell are you talking about. Any time anybody raises his hand with his palm outward it's a Nazi salute? Hitler also used to stand at a microphone and give speeches to large audiences. Is that also a Nazi thing? Sheesh, talk about weak tea.

What the hell are we talking about? What the hell are you talking about?
I agree that a raised arm with palm out is not a Nazi salute, but she was not holding her arm like that. She was holding her palm down - or more precisely, she was holding her hand parallel to her arm. I have never in my entire life waved in that manner. I have never seen co-workers, friends, or acquaintances wave like that.

I think it just might have been an accident, but in any case, it should be described accurately.

 

[Foolmewunz]

Well, given that there was no substantive message other than Trump is different from every other politician we've seen in the last 50 years (and maybe 100 if you have to go back to William Jennings Bryan), then the distractions probably helped rather than hurt.

In any case, the last night is the only night that matters, and that went off without a hitch.

The great thing is,... the right wing echo chamber actually believes this.

 

[Stacko]

The great thing is,... the right wing echo chamber actually believes this.

It was a speech for them and no one else. Even with all their obstructionism over the past eight years, America is doing better. They've actively worked to harm the country by failing to properly fund pretty much everything and point at Obama and say it's his fault but it didn't work. The right is in a dark and crazy place right now and Donald is a personification of it.