As disturbing as watching the Republican Convention may be for sane and rational people, the good news is that many believe it did not go well for The Donald. His wife plagiarized speech was not the only self-inflicted wound. A piece in Politico gives an overview of Trump's less than wonderful day one of the convention. I, f course, hope things continue to go badly. Here are article highlights:
Donald Trump’s supporters painted a dark and dystopian portrait of an America in decline on Monday, as a parade of people spoke about a country slipping from their grasp, cops getting gunned down in the streets, and their family members slain by illegal immigrants.
But a self-inflicted scheduling blunder — the Trump campaign put the evening’s headliner, Melania Trump, well before the prime-time hour ended — had the networks turning away before the precious hour of free TV had been used up. Worse, her speech bore a striking resemblance to a Michelle Obama speech from 2008.
People inside the hall streamed for the exits as Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn droned on, and NBC wrapped up its hour, after some banter between its anchors, with a shot of a shockingly empty arena.
It was a rough end to a day that began with Trump’s campaign feuding with the popular Republican governor of Ohio, and that featured shouting and jostling on the convention floor as the party tried to stamp out the last embers of the Never Trump campaign. All day, cable news chyrons spoke of disunity and chaos.
On stage, there was a red-meat buffet of raw emotion for an angry Republican electorate, with little talk of ideology or policy. Indeed, there were more mentions of fallen American soldiers than of conservatism.
But there were even fewer signs of outreach across the aisle or to independents. For most of the night, the convention lineup felt and sounded more like a tea party rally on the statehouse steps — with little-known speakers delivering hard-line speeches — than a traditional national convention.
Melania Trump . . . .presented a big tent GOP, naming Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hispanics, African-Americans and Asians as among those welcome in her husband’s party. She was the exception, however.
More than an hour earlier, a series of speakers delivered intense, emotional addresses about family members killed by illegal immigrants and why they supported Trump — and opposed Hillary Clinton.
But MSNBC, CNN and Fox News did not carry those speeches, sharply limiting the audience. It was fallout, in part, of the Trump campaign’s decision to craft a schedule that squeezed six Trumps and the head of Trump’s winery into prime time this week.
One victim of the schedule malfunction was Sen. Joni Ernst, viewed by many as a rising star in the GOP. She spoke after Flynn, and by the time she was done even Trump’s kids, Bob Dole and Giuliani had vacated their seats in the VIP section. Gov. Scott Walker had abandoned his seat among the Wisconsin delegates, too.
The earlier parts of the first day of the convention in Cleveland did not go much better. Trump’s motorcade got into an accident en route to the city.
One has to wonder how Trump thinks he can run the country when he can't run a convention.
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