The GOP convention in Cleveland this week was full of political drama with a touch
of reality show back-stabbing, but the most consistent theme was that of hate and anger.
Exhibit A: Rudy Giuliani’s speech on Monday was delivered mostly in a yell, attacking not only Clinton, but also enemies of America with the warning, “You know who you are, and we’re coming to get you!” His rhetoric was full of bombastic scare tactics that “Islamic extremist terrorism” is our real enemy, and the fired up crowd would start chanting, “USA, USA, USA”.
It was like a pep rally before a high school football game. And his final verdict was that the world is suffering terror attacks because President Obama is afraid to use three magic words (Islamic extremist terrorists) or because Obama is a closet Islamic extremist terrorist himself.
Exhibit B: One of the big stories that stole a lot of oxygen from the room was the allegation of plagiarism. Sure, it’s pretty clear that Donald Trump’s wife borrowed liberally from Michelle Obama’s 2008 convention speech, but even worse was that many of the speakers seemed to have stolen directly from the 1690s Salem witch trials for the their fiery attacks on Hillary Clinton.
Chris Christie, the Governor of New Jersey, a former federal prosecutor, and vanquished opponent of Trump in the primary, gave his own version of a prosecution of Hillary Clinton by citing examples of her alleged illegal actions, then asking the audience to yell out a “guilty or not guilty” verdict. You can imagine what unanimous “verdict” the crowd reached. Then the crowd would break into chants of “Lock her up!” Ben Carson went even further and tried to connect Clinton to Lucifer through Sal Alinsky. Yup, things got that crazy.
Exhibit C: Three passionate speakers directly related to the deadly attacks in Benghazi laid the blame for the deaths of American squarely on Clinton, despite several investigations failing to find direct wrongdoing by the then-Secretary of State. Two security personnel that survived the attacks retold their stories and blasted Clinton for a lack of adequate security at the complex that led to the deaths of their friends. And the mother of a State Department employee that was killed faulted Clinton for contradictory statements made in the aftermath of the attacks, and said plainly that she blamed “Hillary Clinton personally for the death of my son.” It’s hard to fault a grieving mother for her anguish, but to put her on stage before a national audience in a political setting to attack a presidential candidate is a step too far.
Exhibit D: Ted Cruz did a face plant. After months of fighting Trump for the nomination and ultimately losing, Cruz ended his prime time speech Wednesday without endorsing Trump, and instead called on Republicans to “vote your conscience”. Cruz was met with thunderous boos, and was derided by party leaders, former primary opponents, and Trump himself for not living up to his pledge during the primaries to support the eventual nominee. Like cannibals, the Party turned on one of its formal rising stars.
Presidential conventions are, by definition, a show, both to unify a party behind their candidate, and
to propel the nominee into the consciousness of undecided voters at home. Few times in history have conventions been contentious. Few times have former primary rivals bashed each other during the show. But never before has the tone of a national convention been so dark.
During the Republican National Convention, very few policy details were showcased. The speakers all praised Donald Trump for his promise to “Make America Great Again”, but no one made a case for how he would do it. No one made a case that Trump has any experience to keep us safe from terrorists, fix our broken immigration system, improve educational opportunities, or grow the economy.
Instead, voters are left with anger and hate aimed at vilifying Hillary Clinton, much like the Salem witch trials. Vague claims of heresy, overly simplified statements of wrongdoing. Flat out misrepresentation of facts. Public hysteria calling for justice (Lock her up). It was the modern version of a hanging.
Sadly, it looks like the good old days of debating policy differences, making a strong case for your plans, and informing voters on the issues are long gone. We’re in a new era of reality show politics, dumbed down and palatable in 140 character messages.
We should rename this week’s conventions. “America Lacks Talent”. “So You Think You Can Vote”. “American Idle”.
Or maybe, more appropriately, “The Apprentice.”