It’s hard to beat a convention speech that starts with a stirring personal recounting of an assassination attempt that was very close to succeeding.
Trump’s tone is atypically subdued and his cadence paced as he describes his experience … being shot in the head … which makes sense.
Next to the iconic image of Trump immediately after the shooting, the image of Trump with his bandaged ear during this convention will be one used in history books. It’s a constant visual reminder of that extraordinary moment.
I completely surrender.
If it were me, a convention would be a series of extremely high-minded speeches, all of them aimed equally at channeling and persuading the American people, pointing to a a course of policymaking to solve our problems and secure our institutions and way of life for posterity.
But, I think Trump and his team probably understand things I don’t, and having Hulk Hogan give a carnivalesque endorsement, and Kid Rock give a late 1990s style lip sync, are aimed at the very same voters that J.D. Vance was trying to flatter last night. Normal, non-college educated, working class voters in the Rust Belt.
Trump starts off with a mellow tone. Makes his bid for a unity message: “I am running to be president for all of America, not half of America.”
Milwaukee — A protester outside the RNC security checkpoint props aloft a a sign reading: ‘A Racist Rapist Seditionist FRAUDSter & FELON walks into his CONVENTION’ and on her shirt is the demand ‘Stop Project 2025.’
Milwaukee — Earlier Thursday, I caught up with Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt to chat about how Republicans should be preparing for a political landscape without Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket.
“I think Trump’s gonna win in a landslide, whether it’s President Biden, or they switch him out and they throw somebody else in there,” he told me. Like other Republicans here at the convention this week, he thinks it will be hard for any Democratic candidate to win over the trust of the American people after the entire party has spent years playing down voters’ concerns about his age and fitness for office. “Democrats need to play the long game because people are gonna say, ‘Oh, well, they’ve been lying to us the whole time.’”
If Trump’s not finished with his speech by the time the East Coast audience starts going to bed, it will be fair to wonder if this night really needed a Kid Rock concert shortly after 10 p.m. Eastern.
Wait, Kid Rock, if we chant “Fight! Fight!” and then “Trump! Trump!” doesn’t it sound like we’re chanting “fight Trump”?
Between Hulk, Kid Rock, and UFC chief Dana White, seems like the programming tonight might not be entirely keyed into the female demo.