Milwaukee — Texas Rep. Troy Nehls is walking around the convention hall in his gold Trump sneakers. I asked him how often he has to buff them to keep them so shiny: “These things remain shiny. They do because they’re perfect. They’re perfect shoes by a perfect president.”
Navarro isn’t the only former convict circulating among RNC convention attendees. Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and onetime Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich are also in attendance. Blagojevich was convicted of felony corruption charges in a scheme to fill former President Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat for personal gain and Manafort pleaded guilty to eight of 18 federal charges including tax fraud, bank fraud, and failing to disclose a foreign bank account.
Straight after leaving prison, former Trump aide Peter Navarro addressed the GOP convention on Wednesday. Biden’s “department of injustice put me there,” Navarro explained. He adds, “if they can come for me,” noting that Trump himself and former aides like Steve Bannon are also in prosecutors’ crosshairs. “Be careful, they will come for you.” Navarro was convicted of criminal contempt of Congress for failing to cooperate with the subcommittee investigating the January 6 riots.
Milwaukee — Members of the Arizona delegation have begun sporting bandages on their ears in solidarity with Donald Trump after his brush with death last weekend at a Pennsylvania rally.
Arizona Republican Susan Ellsworth praised another member of her delegation for trekking to Walmart around 11 PM Tuesday evening to buy more bandages for the group.
”You know when little kids have cancer and they have to shave their head, and you shave your head with them” to stand “solidarity” with them? she said. “We think President Trump has started a new fashion.”
Milwaukee —North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum will address the convention tonight a couple days after he heard the big news that he didn’t make the cut as Donald Trump’s 2024 running mate.
Even though he won’t be on the ticket with his former primary rival this fall, Burgum has clearly played his cards right. “He’s very well regarded within the Trump circle,” a senior official in Trump’s orbit told NR back in the spring, and is likely to be on the “extreme short list for energy and interior” secretary should Trump win a second term.
His home state delegation is cheering him on tonight. “It was very interesting when Governor Burgum announced he was going to run for president,” North Dakota House of Representatives Jim Kasper told NR on the convention floor tonight. “The people in North Dakota were surprised and somewhat shocked” by his announcement, Kasper said, given the governor had “no national presence” prior to launching his presidential bid.
“I think you’ll see a really good speech from him tonight,” he added.
The congresswoman who represents South Carolina’s first congressional district begins her remarks, “my name is Nancy, don’t call me Pelosi, Mace.”
…Was anyone threatening to call her Pelosi? As far as opening jokes go, that’s an odd one.
Milwaukee, Wis. — Code Pink protesters assemble outside a national security event sponsored by Polaris National Security that includes Taiwanese attendees and other anti-CCP interests. The protesters are holding signs calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and ‘End the Israeli occupation of Palestine,’ a non-existent country.
Jimmy Quinn writes of Code Pink: A New York Times investigation found that the bulk of Code Pink’s funding comes from American billionaire Neville Roy Singham, a pro-Beijing tech magnate and donor to progressive political candidates, who funds media networks and political causes around the world and coordinates his efforts with the Chinese Communist Party. He married Code Pink co-founder Jodie Evans in 2018.
Milwaukee, Wis. — Police are omnipresent in Milwaukee. Look any direction and there’s a twelve-man bicycle patrol passing another six officers standing on a corner. The officers hail from Wisconsin, Texas, Ohio, and elsewhere. One feels both very safe and on edge, especially those of the jotting classes who typically utter graphic metaphors flippantly.
For those who missed the Madeline Brame speech @jblehar wrote about, you can watch the whole thing here.
The speech from Madeline Brame, an African-American mother who lost her military veteran son to street crime in New York City, may end up going down as the speech of the convention. Absolutely fiery oratory.