Trump convention continues with new controversy and drama
Listen to this articleDon’t know if I can take another night of the Republican National Convention. Monday night was all about death and Armageddon, the coming of the Apocalypse — if that evil Hillary gets elected. She will just be a third Obama term!
Well, let’s look at that. Unemployment cut in half (74 consecutive months of job growth), unemployment as dropped below 5% for the first time in … at least ten years, stock market has nearly tripled since President Obama took office in 2009. The economy has increased nearly 4% since he became president, he saved the American auto industry, he got Apple to build two new facilities here in the U. S.; one in Texas and the other in Arizona (two reliably GOP states), he signed the Dodd-Frank bill to help regulate the financial sector to avoid another crushing recession — the list of President Obama’s accomplishments could go on.
So yeah, let’s have four more years of Obama policies.
Monday Night’s program at the GOP Convention had to be the most depressing and dishonest evening of political entertainment I’ve ever watched. Scott Baio — where to begin? Watch him get his lunch handed to him by NBC’s Tamron Hall.
Duck Dynasty’s Willie Robertson, Marcus Luttrell, who actually had a good speech, the crazy sheriff from Milwaukee County, David A. Clarke, Jr. and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. What a rant. The theme of the night was “Making America Safe Again.” And Giuliani’s rant started out with homage to the police and a nod to the families of police officers killed in the line of duty.
Eventually he got around to blaming everything on President Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Then there was the mother of fallen embassy IT officer Sean Smith: Patricia Smith. This is a woman suffering deeply over the loss of her son at the hands of Libyan rebels. She made accusation about Hillary Clinton that are not and cannot be verified or debunked. It was painful to watch as the GOP politicized her grief.
The big point of the night was Melania Trump. She was introduced by her husband Donald. His entrance was WWE-worthy, which should come as no surprise. He actually took part in the WWE in years past, so his entrance overshadowed everything that came before and after.
He stood there for the dramatic pause, in the silver-bluish smoke, the exciting music building up as he began walking to the lectern — the crowd went nuts.
Then The Donald Introduced his wife and he walked off the stage. Melania Trump’s speech was great, everyone loved it. The crowd in the Quicken Loans Arena was very moved by her story of being a model and coming to New York. Of meeting Donald (while he was still married to Marla), getting married, having a child and then becoming a citizen.
She introduced former Kansas Senator Bob Dole, the wily veteran of WWII and the U.S. Senate. He ran for president 20 years ago and lost to President Bill Clinton.
Melania Trump spoke about the values instilled by her parents, “From a young age, my parents impressed on me the values that you work hard for what you want in life: that your word is your bond and you do what you say and keep your promise; that you treat people with respect.”
It was a great speech and the crowd in the Quicken Loans Arena couldn’t get enough of Mrs. Trump.
And then journalist Jarrett Hill tweeted, “Melania must’ve liked Michelle Obama’s 2008 Convention speech, since she plagiarized it.”
The Twitter-sphere went nuts and then the rest of the social media universe erupted. It turns out Mrs. Trump plagiarized two entire paragraphs from Michelle Obama’s 2008 convention speech. You know, the speech that proved to Republicans the Obamas are socialists.
On Tuesday morning Republicans involved with the Trump Campaign or the GOP Convention were either brushing it off as no big thing (Chris Christie said 93% of the speech was original, so no harm), or they flat out claimed Trump’s speech wasn’t copied from Obama’s. Despite all the news agencies pointing out the obvious similarities. She used common words and values, according to Trump supporters.
Trump’s de facto campaign manager Paul Manafort, first said Mrs. Trump didn’t copy and paste parts of her speech. Then he blamed it on Hillary Clinton. “There’s no cribbing of Michelle Obama’s speech. These were common words and values, that she cares about her family, things like that. I mean, she was speaking in front of 35 million people last night. She knew that. To think that she would be cribbing Michelle Obama’s words is crazy.”
And then: “This is once again an example of when a woman threatens Hillary Clinton, how she seeks out to demean her and take her down.”
RNC Chairman Reince Preibus said someone in the Trump Campaign needed to be fired over the plagiarism.
That’s how it is going this afternoon. Either Republicans are blowing it off or they are appalled by it. Instead of making her husband seem almost human, Melania Trump’s speech has just sunk the campaign into more controversy.
Rumor has it there is a big divide in the Trump family — Melania versus the Trump adult kids. For a campaign that is still trying to unite a political party behind it as it goes forward to the November elections.
Tonight we’ll hear from a couple of the Trump kids and then some members of the Republican establishment: Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell chief among them. And New Jersey Governor Chris Christie! We can expect some heavy Hillary bashing, according to GOP insiders.
Then there is the roll call of states as they take stock of the delegate votes to formally select the Republican nominee for president. The Never Trump crowd plans to disrupt that usually celebratory part of all political conventions.
Michael Gerson, former speechwriter for President George W. Bush and currently a columnist for the Washington Post, said the Trump team lacks campaign discipline. He has been very critical of Trump the entire time the real estate mogul has been running for president.
Melania Trump wasn’t even the last speaker of the evening. Iowa Senator Joni Ernst spoke after Melania Trump to a half empty arena. Many believe Ernst should have been the keynote speaker … but now she will mostly be forgotten.
Day two is about to start. Priebus just led the assembled Republicans in the Pledge of Allegiance. Senator Jeff Sessions just nominated Trump. I can hardly wait to see what happens next. I guess I can take a second night of this convention.
Oh yeah: the Republican governor of Ohio is still not at the convention. How’s that for party unity …
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UPDATE: With no surprise to anyone, businessman Donald J. Trump was officially nominated as the Republican Party nominee for President of the United States.
As has been the case throughout Trump’s primary campaign, no amount of controversy has been able to derail the New Yorker’s appeal to the voters. The flap over his wife’s speech on Monday Night, the heavy-handed squashing of the “Stop Trump” movement Monday Afternoon, the absence of key figures in the Republican Party, none of it got in the way of Trump’s nomination.
Will the party finally unite behind their nominee? We have just over three months to find out.
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Photos from YouTube videos
Tim Forkes started as a writer on a small alternative newspaper in Milwaukee called the Crazy Shepherd. Writing about entertainment, he had the opportunity to speak with many people in show business, from the very famous to the people struggling to find an audience. In 1992 Tim moved to San Diego, CA and pursued other interests, but remained a freelance writer. Upon arrival in Southern California he was struck by how the elected government officials and business were so intertwined, far more so than he had witnessed in Wisconsin. His interest in entertainment began to wane and the business of politics took its place. He had always been interested in politics, his mother had been a Democratic Party official in Milwaukee, WI, so he sat down to dinner with many of Wisconsin’s greatest political names of the 20th Century: William Proxmire and Clem Zablocki chief among them. As a Marine Corps veteran, Tim has a great interest in veteran affairs, primarily as they relate to the men and women serving and their families. As far as Tim is concerned, the military-industrial complex has enough support. How the men and women who serve are treated is reprehensible, while in the military and especially once they become veterans. Tim would like to help change that.