Tag: 2020 RNC convention
RNC Speakers Can’t Defend Trump’s Record So They Resort to Lies
Trump Leverages Powers of Office as He Seeks to Broaden Appeal
In an abrupt swerve from the dire tone of the convention’s first night, President Trump staged a grab-bag of gauzy events and personal testimonials aimed at female and minority voters. His program blurred the lines between campaigning and governing.
President Trump made a bid to sand down his divisive political image by appropriating the resources of his office and the powers of the presidency at the Republican convention on Tuesday, breaching the traditional boundaries between campaigning and governing in an effort to broaden his appeal beyond his conservative base.
In an abrupt swerve from the dire tone of the convention’s first night, Mr. Trump staged a grab-bag of gauzy events and personal testimonials aimed in particular at female and minority voters. In videos recorded at the White House, Mr. Trump pardoned a Nevada man convicted of bank robbery and swore in five new American citizens, all of them people of color, in a miniature naturalization ceremony.
Where the convention on Monday emphasized predictions of social and economic desolation under a government led by Democrats, the second night speakers — including three from Mr. Trump’s immediate family — hailed the president as a friend to women and a champion of criminal justice reform. There was no effort to reconcile the dissonance between the two nights’ programs, particularly the shift from Monday’s rhetoric about a looming “vengeful mob” of dangerous criminals into Tuesday’s tributes to the power of personal redemption. Continue reading.
Trump needs a convention bounce
Hard to identify where Trump is performing as well as he did in 2016
ANALYSIS — Whether you believe in convention bounces or not, President Donald Trump and the Republicans need one to salvage the elections this fall.
On the current trajectory, former Vice President Joe Biden is likely to win the White House and Democrats are more likely than not to take control of the Senate. And even though the president told The Wall Street Journal that Republicans would take back the House, Democrats are on pace to grow their majority.
Nearly four years later, the 2016 presidential election result looms over any political projection. But Trump’s victory should be a lesson in probability rather than a call to ignore data. We should reject the false choice between following the data and being open-minded about less likely results. Continue reading.
Republicans have spent two nights largely pretending the coronavirus doesn’t exist.
Trump breaks with precedent on second night of convention
President Trump broke with precedent on the second night of the Republican National Convention, granting a pardon and participating in a naturalization ceremony at the White House in videos that aired Tuesday during the prime-time event.
Speeches from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and first lady Melania Trump also pushed the boundaries of rules surrounding the mix of politics and governance.
Several portions of the convention used the White House as a backdrop for Trump to put his presidential powers on full display in an election year that has him trailing Democratic nominee Joe Biden as he fights for a second term. Continue reading.
GOP Convention Opens With White Nationalist Tropes
The Republican National Convention began on Monday with a blatant nod to white supremacism.
“From that moment he came down that famous escalator, he started a movement to reclaim our government from the rotten cartel of insiders that have been destroying our country,” Charlie Kirk, founder of the right-wing youth group Turning Point USA, said of Donald Trump.
“We may not have realized it at the time, but Trump is the bodyguard of Western civilization. Trump was elected to protect our families from the vengeful mob that seeks to destroy our way of life, our neighborhoods, schools, churches, and values.” Continue reading.
From ‘visionary’ to ‘guardian of America’ — the Republican convention is all about Trump
A symphony of superlatives played loudly Monday on the opening night of the Republican National Convention, as speaker after speaker lavished praise on President Trump and spoke of him in messianic, almost otherworldly terms.
“A builder.” “A visionary.” “The richest man in the world.” “The guardian of America.” “The bodyguard of Western civilization.”
Political parties typically adopt platforms at their conventions every four years articulating their policy priorities and core beliefs, but not the Republicans in 2020.
Instead, the Republican National Committee passed a resolution over the weekend stating simply that it “enthusiastically supports President Trump” and that the party “has and will continue to enthusiastically support the president’s America-first agenda.” In other words, the party’s platform is Donald Trump. Continue reading.
Two dozen former Republican lawmakers come out against Trump on first day of GOP convention
Two dozen former Republican lawmakers on Monday came out to endorse Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on the first day of the 2020 Republican National Convention.
Fox News reports that the list of former GOP lawmakers is headlined by Jeff Flake, the former Arizona senator who frequently clashed with the president before retiring in 2018.
The other Republicans endorsing Biden are former Sens. John Warner of Virginia, Gordon Humphrey of New Hampshire, and former Reps. Steve Bartlett of Texas, Bill Clinger of Pennsylvania, Tom Coleman of Missouri, Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania, Charles Djou of Hawaii, Mickey Edwards of Oklahoma, Wayne Gilchrest of Maryland, Jim Greenwood of Pennsylvania, Bob Inglis of South Carolina, Jim Kolbe of Arizona, Steve Kuykendall of California, Ray LaHood of Illinois, Jim Leach of Iowa, Connie Morella of Maryland, Mike Parker of Mississippi, Jack Quinn of New York, Claudine Schneider of Rhode Island, Chris Shays of Connecticut, Peter Smith of Vermont, Alan Steelman of Texas, Bill Whitehurst of Virginia, Dick Zimmer of New Jersey, and Jim Walsh of New York. View the post here.
The enduring Trump mystery: What would Trump do in a second term?
Top aides spent the past several weeks reviewing proposals attempting to answer that very question — and Trump will talk about them this week.
As a reality TV star, Donald Trump seized the White House with an unusual slate of Republican pledges: take on China, tear up trade deals, restrict immigration. But as president, Trump has faced warnings from a long line of GOP stalwarts that he can’t win in 2020 by offering more of the same.
So, as the Republican National Convention looms, Trump and his team have scrambled to find new twists on old favorites to quell concerns about the question that has bedeviled him for months: What would he do with four more years?
A working group of top aides spent the past several weeks reviewing proposals attempting to answer that very question. They’ve discussed ideas to lower capital gains and income taxes, adopt new immigration measures, strike new trade deals and ax additional regulations. And on Thursday, the president is likely to speak about these ideas and more during his convention speech as he tries to draw a sharp contrast with the agenda of former Vice President Joe Biden. On Sunday night, the campaign released the broad outlines of its second-term goals — eradicating Covid-19, creating jobs, ending America’s reliance on China, cutting drug prices, expanding school choice and defending the police — and promised to tease them out further over the next week. Continue reading.