It explained why Democrats warn that he should be ousted at all costs – and why he could still win a second term.
Accepting the Republican nomination, Trump turned his back on the crowd and scrutinized the executive mansion, stretching out his arms in a gesture that exemplified his vision of ultimate, irresponsible presidential power.
“The fact is, we’re here and they are not,” he said.
After two weeks of bipartisan conventions, the choice for voters in November could not be clearer – or more certain to deepen the national alien who could bump into the next presidency, as wins. The two sides in the election are not only talking about what the future of America should look like, they are operating from very different understandings of the meaning of the republic itself.
“Your vote will decide if we protect legislative Americans, or if we give free rein to violent anarchists, agitators and criminals who threaten our citizens,” Trump warned. “And this election will decide if we will defend the American way of life, or if we allow a radical movement to completely dismantle and destroy it.”
Trump, who for the most part clung to a teleprompter, delivered his speech in a grinning monotone that emphasized the nocturnal outlook he described. His low-energy delivery lacked the electric showmanship of his rally performances, the shocking unconventionality of his 2016 RNC address, or the strong power of his “American Massacre” inauguration. There was not much of the “optimism” his political strategists promised as the empathy described by so many subordinates in an attempt of four nights to build his personality cult.
But overall, the image of Thursday night’s speech was followed by a spectacular fireworks display over the Washington Monument, and the Republican National Convention was an appropriate explanation for why Trump is so attractive to millions of Americans flocking to his cultural warfare and embrace his disturbing personality.
“From the moment I left my previous life, and it was a good life, I have done nothing but fight for you,” the president said, declaring a presidency that critics see as an exercise in self-serving selfishness. But one in which his followers perceive a kind that throws a political and economic system that they believe has left them behind.
“I did what our political establishment never expected and could never forgive, breaking the cardinal rule of Washington politics. I keep my promises.
“Together, we have ended the rule of the failed political class – and they are desperate to regain their power by all necessary means. They are angry with me because I put them America first.”
A massive crowd, in a pandemic
Trump’s crowd of 2,000 people in the Southlawn, couple wearing masks and sitting close together, was an extraordinary scene during a pandemic that brought America to its knees – but the example of Trump’s willingness to face a false alternative reality spinning for political gain.
The images of the overwhelming lawn of the White House made a mockery of Trump’s late conversion to the masked wearing that scientists say is the best current way to combat a pandemic that has killed 180,000 Americans.
The president instead promised a fax at the end of the year, or “maybe even sooner,” and selected a set of misleading statistics to swell the falsehood that the U.S. was leading the world against Covid-19 when in fact he was one. president has some of the toughest answers anywhere.
“We will defeat the virus, end the pandemic, and emerge stronger than ever before,” Trump said, hours after Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Kamala Harris suggested he was “afraid” of making the fatal choices that would have been effective. in suppressing the pathogen.
Trump delivered his speech amid a daily toll of suffering and death that would have been unimaginable at the beginning of his term. Since the convention opened Monday morning, more than 3,600 Americans have been killed by Covid-19 – far more than died on 9/11 than in fighting in Afghanistan.
Understand ethics and tradition
Most candidates give congressional speeches in arenas with sets of columns and mock marble intended to suggest the White House. Trump did not worry about that – he chose the real thing. The large screens with their “Trump / Pence” logo were a shocking sight under the Truman balcony and based on a national icon funded by all taxpayers who immediately lost its capacity to bring Americans together.
The set-up was a challenging metaphor for Trump’s willingness to shatter the presidency’s traditions, to place his own immediate gains on the dignity of the office and to troll his enemies while he was at it.
Trump has spent four years with divisive racial rhetoric, breaking down America’s reputation as a haven for the oppressed with harsh immigration policies and creating a constant whirlwind of chaos and intimidation.
But the convention had painted an almost unrecognizable picture of a benevolent grandfather welcoming immigrants of color, who promotes racial reconciliation and is the epitome of the founders’ vision in a president.
The bending of the truth was so bold and the propaganda so relentless that it required constant vigilance from voters to keep the story straight. Most do not care that the use of presidential power for such blatant political purposes – for example in a recorded White House ceremony – was a violation of the obscure Hatch Act. But Trump’s willingness to cross the line so boldly was a sure sign that his shocking presidency has almost complete impunity.
The message was clear: Trump thinks he would be untouchable in a second term. A convention that was characterized by massive and daring lies about Trump’s policies, his character and the policies of his opponents underscored how he has already broken the bonds of truth that restrict normal politicians.
He has proven that he can ask a foreign nation for help to bump into his opponent – and get away with it, even though he was accused. A president who already declares the upcoming election the most corrupt in history, he will clearly stop at nothing to make sure he comes out triumphant.
When the former political guru of Obama David Plouffe tweeted: “The line between Democracy and Autocracy became a little thinner last night. The barrier between the two is the smallest in the history of our republic.”
Trump ignores America’s racial slur
The president played on plundered and burned “democratic” cities as they suffered sudden instability. He made no connection to the despair of African Americans over years of murder by Black men in cases of police brutality – such as the emotional toll of the death of George Floyd in Minnesota and the shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin during his convention.
Biden came out on top of his convention last week – and his witty, short and energetic acceptance speech helped Trump’s caricature that he was sleepy and his lifelong reputation as a windy rhetorician.
But the Republican event was undoubtedly effective. The testimonies of regular Americans – from lobbyists to farmers and small business owners – made a much more effective cut in arming the economy than Democrats succeeded. And the words of individual Americans were in many cases more convincing than Trump in advancing his arguments.
In the most touching moment of Thursday’s program, Ann Dorn told the horrific story of the death of her husband Dave, a retired police officer who helped protect a friend’s pioneer shop during riots in St. Louis.
“We can not live in the midst of devastation and chaos,” she said.
Trump, who at times bored himself with his own unusual self-discipline in sticking to the script, has kept lists of promises – including banks worthy of conservative judges, new trade deals, a tough new line on China, the withdrawal from Iran and climate divisions and the release of fossil fuels from the Obama-era regulations.
An emotional connection
But while such initiatives are the building blocks of Trump’s coalition, his appeal has always been fiercer – especially among voters whose anger and emotional connection to the outside businessman and reality star form a bond that even a mismanaged pandemic cannot break.
Trump on Thursday delivered for any voter who despises the media, the founding of Washington, liberals and who worries that a more diverse people is a threat to the more racially homogeneous traditions of an earlier age.
It is still unclear whether there is a majority of Americans who want to sign up for such a vision, or whether the more diverse, inclusive approach of Obama, Biden and Harris could work together a route to 270 election votes.
But Trump leaves no doubt as to how he will fight in what shapes her as one of the most annoying, most devastating months in modern American history.
As he put it, “Our country was not built by canceling culture, speech codes, and soul-crushing conformity. We are not a nation of shy spirits. We are a nation of fierce, proud, and independent American patriots.”
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