That Actually Worked
If you’re a Democrat, you loved last week and hate this week. If you’re a Republican, you hated last week and love this week. If you’re like me and hate everybody, well, both weeks had good and bad.
The GOP got outclassed on the roll call of the states. The Democrats relied on celebrity and the GOP had real stories of real people being really helped by the real President. It worked. The Democrats can vent and complain, but the power of incumbency was on full display.
Some of the speeches were off. I hope Kimberly Guilfoyle does not yell like that at the fast food drive thru. I am not sure what was up with Don Jr.’s eyes. But Nikki Haley gave a fantastic speech and Tim Scott closed out the night powerfully.
Haley and Scott gave fairly traditional speeches. After the boisterousness of the prior speeches, Haley’s seemed out of place, but was very solid. Scott’s was incredibly powerful. Of his grandfather, Scott said, “He lived long enough to see his grandson become the first African American to be elected to both the United States House and the United States Senate in the history of this country. Our family went from cotton to Congress in one lifetime. That is why I believe the next American century can be better than the last. There’s millions of families just like mine all across this nation full of potential seeking to live the American Dream.”
Haley defended the country against Democrat claims of racism. “America is not a racist country. This is personal for me. I am the proud daughter of Indian immigrants. They came to America and settled in a small southern town. My father wore a turbine. My mother wore a sari. I was a brown girl in a black and white world. We faced discrimination and hardship. My parents never gave in to grievance and hate,” she said and described how her parents integrated into American society. It was more telling of the media spin that some were upset she referred to the Confederate flag by saying South Carolina “removed a divisive symbol.” Reporters actually speculated she had to say that so Confederate flag wavers would not get upset. That says more about them than Haley.
The President’s team orchestrated some great moments. Democrats sputtered with rage when the GOP aired clips of Democrat governors praising the President and Pelosi urging people to go to Chinatown. The President himself did great with both the first responders in the White House and those Americans he rescued from abroad. They were great and showed him working for people.
Last week, Democrats focused on the personability of Joe Biden. Everyone knows Joe. Joe calls everyone and talks to everyone and chats up everyone. This week, the GOP sought to contrast Joe Biden’s personability with Donald Trump’s presidency. It was a strong contrast and it will help Donald Trump connect with some voters who do not like him, but like what he has done. It framed the President in the best possible light and it worked. Democrats will hate it. But this was not a night for the Trump haters. For the Trump curious, I suspect it worked.
Lastly, let me give credit where it is due. CNN did a great job of airing the speeches. I watched last week and this week. They were very even-handed in their breakaways and commentary during the hours. They were the only news network to just air the speeches. Some, even at CNN, have argued the network needed to better police the GOP than Democrats. CNN did not give in to that and just let the speeches air. They deserve credit. There was an odd moment on Fox when they had on Steve Scalise while Charlie Kirk was speaking and then had on Kirk while Scalise was speaking. Fox waited until after 10pm to air the convention. CNN deserves some credit there.
If Nikki Haley's family experience difficulty at first in their Southern community, It was likely due to her father wearing a turbine and her mother wearing a "sorry." More acceptable would have been the traditional turban and sari. :-)
It is rare that CNN deserves much credit for anything, but if they did air the convention speeches as given, that is to their credit. But about a month ago, I had a sudden hearing loss that makes listening to speeches near impossible so I can only read articles now.
Senator Scott's testimony is powerful and John James the GOP Senate candidate in MI has a similar story to tell, saying "“My dad, the storyteller—He told me how the son of a slave became the son of a sharecropper, the son of a sharecropper became a mason, and the son of a mason became an entrepreneur." That is the essence of the American success story and that is the vision that Trump put first in his MAGA agenda. I think Herschel Walker's testimony of his long relationship with Trump is another powerful testimony that the media spin about Trump being a racist is utter B.S. In addition, Kim Klacik (a Republican Congressional Candidate in Baltimore) is among the set of blacks who are unashamed to point out that the Democrats have controlled urban areas for many decades and they cannot hide from the responsibility of the disaster areas they have created.
While the Democrats want to make this election about the Corona virus and never ending claims of systematic racism, the actual evidence is that Trump is doing everything he can to improve the lives of black Americans, which Vernon Jones also testified to. While Democrats focus on the illusion of a socialist Utopia, Trump focuses on the reality of political policies that are in the best interest of all Americans. Never Trumpers may be upset that Trump has taken over control of their party, but Senators Graham and Cruz and others have both clearly stated that China needs to be confronted, and Trump was unafraid to do that, despite the globalist outrage. Similarly, Trump was not afraid to campaign on ending the US's seemingly never-ending wars and renegotiating trade deals to include terms more favorable to the US. Trump doesn't cater to political moderates, but that is not unlike a Biblical preacher who focuses on sound doctrine rather than on preaching "what itching ears want to hear. - 2 Timothy 4:3" Trump is divisive, but he is mainly divisive to those who oppose his policies and that is not a bad thing.