JULY 19. 2016
Photo: Getty
To describe the deliciousness that was Day 1 of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, you’d have to start several hours before the first gavel even sounded.
On Monday morning on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort — you remember him, he was the professional who was hired to make sure the Trump campaign would run smoothly (how’s that going for you, Sparky?) — was asked about Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s decision not to come to the convention. Remember he is being asked about the Republican governor (with a 60% approval rating) of an all-important swing state that Trump desperately needs to capture if he wants to win the White House. Manafort said that Kasich’s decision was an “embarrassment to the state.” Most voters hadn’t even had their morning coffee, and Trump’s people were already picking fights within their own party.
For Trump, it was all downhill from there.
The convention was gaveled to order, and for the first hour everything seemed like the ideal start of the four-day infomercial that modern political conventions have become. Then came the routine vote to approve to 2020 convention rules determined last week by the GOP Rules Committee. Usually this sails through with a yawn. Not on Monday.
Here’s where it gets wonky. (Stay with me.) If the majority of a state’s delegates want a roll call vote on a measure, they can file a petition for one, and if enough states submit petitions, a roll call vote has to occur. Majorities of delegates from 8 states indicated that they wanted a roll call, and official petitions were sent to the convention secretary to prove it. However, the Trump folks did not want this because it would only disclose how deep the opposition to Trump is in some quarters.
Suddenly, all the convention officials left the stage for 15 minutes while the band played. When they came back, they announced that enough members of a few states’ delegations said that they “didn’t understand what they were signing” and withdrew their support for a roll call vote. So the motion for a roll call was denied and instead approval for the rules was jammed through on a voice vote, and the “Never Trump” delegates who sparked the rebellion erupted in protest. Cries of “Shame!” echoed through the hall, and the entire Colorado delegation, disgusted at the RNC cheating, walked out en masse and haven’t been seen since.
That was just the afternoon.
The theme of the evening session was “Make America Safe Again.” The first hour was devoted to celebrity speeches, including Willie Robertson of “Duck Dynasty” and actor Scott Baio. When I think of national security against ISIS, I naturally think of Chachi from “Happy Days.”
Hour #2 brought on emotional relatives of soldiers who were killed in Afghanistan and Libya, including Pat Smith, whose Sean was killed during the attack on the Libyan Embassy. After a genuinely moving speech about her loss, she capped it off by wishing that Hillary Clinton was in prison for killing her son. Huh? Wha…?
Hour #3 came the big guns. Rudy Giuliani (“a noun, a verb and 9/11”) didn’t disappoint, with a red meat speech that brought the delegates to their feet in a manner that I would probably call energetic, although his delivery made me wonder what the Red Bull bill in the Giuliani household might be.
Then came the evening’s showpiece, one of the first major public speeches from Donald Trump’s wife Melania.
Her speech spoke of working hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond, that you say what you’re going to do and you treat people with respect. It was a lovely speech. English is not Mrs. Trump’s first language, but she delivered it with grace and style.
Just the way Michelle Obama delivered the same speech in 2008.
Within an hour on social media, side-by-side comparisons of two paragraphs of Mrs. Trump’s speech were placed next to Mrs. Obama’s at the Democratic Convention 8 years ago, and except for a word change here and there, those two paragraphs were virtually identical. The comparison was devastating.
I feel so sorry for Mrs. Trump. Even though she told Matt Lauer of NBC’s “Today” that she wrote the speech herself with a little help, nobody’s buying it, and unfortunately the stigma of this plagiarism, committed by her speechwriter, will stick with her the rest of her life. She didn’t deserve that. Meanwhile, there was radio silence on Twitter from Trump, a sure indication that something is going on within the campaign. But you can be sure that Tuesday night’s speech by Donald Trump Jr. will be vetted with a fine-toothed comb.
On to Day 2. If Day 1 is any example, anything could happen.
