The 2016 Republican National Convention kicked-off this past Sunday in Cleveland. I couldn’t make it until Monday, because I was a speaker Sunday evening at the 107th Annual NAACP Convention, which this year is in Cincinnati. Hillary Clinton spoke Monday at the NAACP gathering; Donald Trump chose not to accept a similar invitation to speak. I think that was a mistake.
I think I understand why he declined the invitation – his attention needed to be focused on having a successful Republican Convention in Cleveland. And as everyone knows, African Americans vote overwhelmingly Democrat nowadays (although that wasn’t always the case.) One of the (mostly unspoken) realities in American politics for decades has been that Democrats take African American voters in America for granted, and Republicans mostly ignore this 12% of American voters, assuming they will vote Democrat.
In my view, this has got to change, otherwise the demographics of this nation are evolving to such a degree, that it will be virtually impossible to elect a Republican to the presidency in the foreseeable future. And historically, from Abraham Lincoln through FDR, blacks voted overwhelmingly Republican. From FDR through JFK, the African American vote was still up for grabs. Since then, Democrats have felt entitled to the African American vote. And if you add to this, how poorly Republicans are doing with Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, unmarried women, and millennials, it’s a recipe for presidential electoral tragedy as far as the eye can see. We Republicans must face this reality, or we might as well start referring to ourselves as the Whig Party.
Okay, I’ll get off my soapbox, and back to the convention. So far, overall, I think it’s going pretty well. Of course, the big night is tomorrow evening when Donald Trump will speak. But here are my observations and thoughts thus far.
From left to right: My Chief-of-Staff Stacy Barton, Speaker Paul Ryan, me, Paul’s wife Janna.
Not surprisingly, security is really tight. This is my sixth Republican National Convention (’96 San Diego, 2000 Philadelphia, 2004 New York City, 2008 Minneapolis, 2012 Tampa, and 2016 Cleveland), and security is always tight. But this year with all the turmoil, and shootings, and terrorist attacks, it seems even tighter than usual (maybe we shouldn’t feel so bad that Cincinnati lost the convention to Cleveland.)
The first minor flap at the convention occurred on Monday afternoon when the “Never Trumpers” from a few states (principally Colorado) attempted to release all the delegates to vote for whomever they wanted, even though most were pledged to vote for Donald Trump (since he’d won by far the most states in the primaries.) When things didn’t go their way, the Never Trumpers made somewhat of a ruckus on the floor, then tried to stage a walkout of the convention (only a few actually walked out – then they came back in.) It fell a little short of Teddy Roosevelt’s supporters marching out of the 1912 Republican Convention in Chicago and forming the Bull Moose Party. (That split resulted in the Democrats winning the Presidency that fall – I hope Republicans remember this history, and avoid repeating it.)
The lineup of speakers Monday evening were, I thought, strong. Giving particularly impressive speeches were: “Lone Survivor” Marcus Luttrell, Rudy Giuliani, and Donald Trump’s wife Melania. Unfortunately, whoever wrote the speech for Melania borrowed a bit too generously from a Michelle Obama speech, and gave Hillary’s attack dogs (and allies in the mainstream press) fodder to belittle what was otherwise a very solid performance by the candidate’s wife. It does however illustrate a weakness in the Trump operation, and that’s effectively doing the routine blocking and tackling of a modern political campaign. This plagiarism flap could have been, should have been, avoided if a competent campaign staff was in place. I’m still concerned that it’s not.
Okay, Tuesday at the convention. The standout speeches in my humble opinion began with Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, who described herself as a conservative, pro-life, gun-carrying, woman, although the speech was given shortly before prime time, so you may have missed it. Donald Trump did something unusual, addressing the convention and those watching at home by a remote video feed. He looked good, sounded good, and kept it short. It was a smart move. Of course his big speech will be tomorrow night. Chris Christie was great. He prosecuted the case against Hillary Clinton, and the jury (the people at the convention) found her guilty.
And both Trump daughter Tiffany, who was poised and humanized her father, and Donald Trump Jr., who I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see run for high office himself someday, were excellent. The main thing I think Trump’s children accomplished is this – the Democrats are trying to portray Donald Trump as an unproven, dangerous risk to the country. However, anyone who could raise such impressive children couldn’t be as bad as they’re trying to make him out. (And having had the opportunity to meet and speak with Trump’s daughter Ivanka in Washington a few weeks back, I expect that she’ll do great tomorrow evening.)
Tonight the most important speakers will be Ted Cruz, former Speaker Newt Gingrich, and Trump’s running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence. The grand finale tomorrow night will be of course Donald Trump himself.
So how’s the convention going thus far? Not bad. A few bumps and unforced errors; but there always are. The convention’s primary goal, to unify most Republicans, reach out to a significant number of independents and at least a smattering of Democrats, I think is being accomplished. But we really won’t know until November 8th, Election Day. Once again, all together now: Let’s Make America Great Again!
