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Tuesday: “The second day of the Republican National Convention featured displays of unity from former President Donald Trump's onetime rivals for the party's presidential nomination, with former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis urging voters to send Trump to the White House once again.” CBS
Wednesday: “The third day of the Republican National Convention focused on foreign policy and military issues, and featured the first speech that Sen. JD Vance of Ohio delivered as the running mate of former President Donald Trump.” CNBC
The left urges Democrats to counter misleading Republican talking points.
“Republicans have realized that an anti-immigrant message doesn’t just appeal to xenophobes and white nationalists. It also appeals to some people of color, including some relatively recent immigrants, who worry about what Republicans portray as the negative effect of new arrivals on their socioeconomic status…
“It’s part of a broader scaremongering effort: As Robert Bartels Jr., a New York union leader, told the convention crowd on Monday, ‘We have an open border inviting illegal immigrants to take our American jobs and lower our wages.’…
“[In addition] For some men of color, the perquisites of the patriarchy are a stronger draw than racial oppression is a repellent. Trump has tapped into that. He has crafted a persona that sends the message that toxic masculinity can be flaunted unapologetically and without consequence… Democrats have to stop laughing at this strategy and soberly combat it.”
Charles M. Blow, New York Times
“‘Horrific crimes. Murders. Gang attacks against our police. Child sex crimes. And the brutal killing of a nursing student on her college campus.’ That’s the kind of rhetoric Republican convention-goers were exposed to in Milwaukee on Tuesday…
“But the Republican speakers’ rhetoric on crime spiraling out of control was out of touch with reality. While there was indeed a rise in crime during the pandemic, recent data has shown that crime is declining nationwide. According to the FBI, murder is down 26 percent and robberies have declined by 18 percent in the first three months of 2024 compared to the same time last year… The crime wave is over but Republicans can’t let go.”
Abdallah Fayyad, Vox
“Republicans are feeling invincible… Republicans aren’t worried about the little stuff these days. If there was any discontent heading into the convention, it was the Trump campaign’s rewriting of the party platform’s abortion section, which for the first time in decades doesn’t call for a federal ban at a certain stage of fetal development. After the shooting, no one cared about that anymore…
“But they’re not even sweating the rather large question of which Democrat Trump will run against in November. [Kansas Sen. Roger] Marshall, for one, speculated that after the assassination attempt, ‘I don’t think you could give Kamala Harris the nomination. She would say no to it.’ In other words, she wouldn’t want to be the sacrificial lamb in a year that Democrats, in Marshall’s view, appear poised to lose.”
Jim Newell, Slate
The right praises the convention so far and argues that Trump will have momentum going forward.
The right praises the convention so far and argues that Trump will have momentum going forward.
“Haley won’t have the biggest, most celebrated, or most-watched speech of the convention. But it may be one of the most consequential. It was an explicit declaration to her supporters and the ‘double haters’ that Donald Trump’s copious flaws — much more significant and consequential than ‘mean tweets’ — aren’t as dangerous to America’s future as four more years of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris…
“Haley found the part of the Venn Diagram where Trump-style Jacksonianism and her hawkish interventionism intersect… [She] deftly tied dangers overseas to dangers closer to home: ‘Our foreign enemies win when they see Americans hate each other. They see that today, whether it’s on college campuses or in a field in Butler, Pennsylvania.’ Trump insulted Haley relentlessly during the primary, nicknaming her ‘Bird Brain.’ It was good of him to invite Haley to speak, and she more than returned the favor.”
Jim Geraghty, National Review
“If there is one thing Trump has notably not done this week, it is gloat. He has said comparatively little since the attempt on his life Saturday, exuding a gracious silence—perhaps even a magnanimous stoicism. A source who spoke with the former president at length the day after he dodged an assassin’s bullet reported talking to ‘a different Donald Trump, but in the best way possible.’…
“At this convention, things just feel altered, said Republican pollster Frank Luntz. ‘And it feels different, which means people are hearing something different,’ he told RealClearPolitics. ‘That hasn’t happened for years.’ What changed among the Republican faithful? ‘Their hero was almost taken away from them,’ he replied, an occurrence that ‘humanized Trump and humbled his supporters.’”
Philip Wegmann, Daily Signal
“Mr. Trump’s Thursday night acceptance speech will be the convention’s most important moment. He told the Washington Examiner that he had planned to deliver a ‘hum-dinger’ with a full-throated attack on Mr. Biden. After Saturday’s shooting, he said, he rewrote his speech: ‘This is a chance to bring the whole country, even the whole world, together.’…
“Mr. Trump’s instinct to pivot to unity and optimistic vision is right. He can attack the Biden record but need not go into much detail: He’ll be pushing on an open door. Undecided or soft Trump voters know the country’s challenges. They want to hear his answers to them and how he’ll work on behalf of all Americans… If Mr. Trump makes his case that way Thursday night, he’ll leave Milwaukee on a rocket.”
Karl Rove, Wall Street Journal
