The first day of the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland was the regular season premiere of The Trump Show. This was the chance for the presumptive Republican nominee to shine as he re-introduces himself as the standard bearer of the GOP. While it was not a Trump Train wreck, per se, there were some snafus which portend poorly for the future.
A standard operating procedure for conventions is to start with a benediction from clergy. This ought to be a pro-forma prayer which raises the profile of a religious figure while asking for divine blessings upon the proceedings and their chosen leader.
The Trump Show picked Pastor Mark Burns, a black evangelical televangelist from South Carolina’s high country. Burns was a last minute addition after the assassination of three Baton Rouge Police Officers. Burns claimed that he was going to talk about unity and love. However, Pastor Burns 187 word benediction alienated many evangelicals and mainline Christians for his idolization of Donald Trump in prayer while effectively demonizing Democrats and especially the “enemy” Hillary Clinton. It would be easy to dismiss this bumbled benediction, but it may have set the tone for the rest of the Trump Show regular season premiere otherwise known as the RNCinCLE.
Casual political observers may wonder if political conventions do any real work, because what they watch in prime time tends to be speechifying (both electrifying as well as stupifying) and people wearing funny hats and odd apparel. Prior to the age of television and jet airliners, conventions could be both decisive and raucous. But since then, with few exceptions (like the RNC in 1976 or the DNC in 1968), now prime time coverage is effectively a soft sell earned media party commercial framed as public service programming. |
| Duck Dynasty's Willie Robertson |
As he was emerging victoriously from the primaries, Donald Trump insisted that the party add some pizzaz and show business to conventions so that the audience does not fall asleep. So The Trump Show started prime time coverage spotlighting luminaries like Duck Dynasty’s Willie Robertson and Scott Baio (from the 1970s sitcom “Happy Days” and the mid 1980s sitcom “Charles in Charge.” Later in the convention, the organizers will amp it up by featuring lingerie models extolling the virtues of “The Donald”. Alas, this is not a tongue in cheek suggestion.There is some party business that is still conducted in the afternoons of conventions. For the 2016 Republican Convention, there was an effort by delegates in the minority for floor consideration for future party rules. In the 2016 cycle, Donald Trump managed to win pluralities in many early primaries with a crowded field of 16 real candidates (sorry ex Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore was a Walter Smitty candidate this year). Several significant contests were open primaries, in which a voter need not have been a registered Republican. This may have allowed for a significant crossover vote by Democrats to choose to GOP nominee. Some states also bound their delegates to the winner of the “beauty contest”. Conservatives were also concerned about ceding grassroots power to the Chairman of the RNC, who could arbitrarily change the rules at the whim of the Republican Establishment.
Efforts to unbind the delegates failed in the Rules Committee last week, so conservative grassroots delegates fought to have a floor vote. It seems that the Trump campaign thought this was an earnest effort to dethrone him so they characterized this as the last vestiges of the Dump Trump movement and wanted to kill the effort at all costs. When the motion looked like it might succeed, the Chair abandoned the dais for 10 minutes and then the convention unexpectedly adjourned for four hours. During this time, delegations were said to be strong armed. The Iowa Delegation was one of the petitioners, and they were threatened that they would lose their first in the Nation’s Iowa Caucus. The Alaska Delegation was given false and conflicting information on how to submit the signatures for their petition. A delegate from Utah was verbally accosted by some de facto Trump thug delegates who inveighed that she should die.
These hardball partisan political tactics are the hallmark of Trump Convention Manager Paul Manafort. Manafort has a history of winning at all costs, as was demonstrated by the aggressive means of persuasion at the RNC in Kansas City in 1976 in which incumbent President Ford was seriously challenged at the convention by former California Governor Ronald Reagan). Trump also had to distance himself from long time confidant Roger Stone after he “suggested” that Trump partisans get the delegates names of the Pennsylvania delegation and lobby them in their hotel rooms.
In the end, the party establishment ruled that the champions of the Rules Committee Minority Report were ruled to not have sufficient support. Although the insurgents submitted signatures from nine state delegations (two more than necessary), the chair reported that three states had withdrawn their petitions so there would be no roll call vote but gave no more specifics. Microphones on the floor for delegates to petition the chair or call for points of order were switched off. The Chair pretended to conduct a voice vote to table the measure, but despite thunderous opposition, it was killed by the Establishment on the dais.
The media, which had not been given access during the convention kerfluffle, was fed a line that this was the end of the Dump Trump movement, even though that was not the realistic goal of vote on the minority report. The Trump Show was not to be pre-empted by unscheduled convention business.
From an impartial politico perspective, the impetus to quash this roll call vote was imprudent. The insurgents knew that they didn’t have enough votes to prevail. Presumably, many of these delegates were Tea Party inspired and they just wanted to play it out to honor the rule of law. By crushing dissent, it calls into question the confidence of the Trump campaign. In a broader perspective, slapping down dissent does little to build party unity or loyalty. It also shows an imperious, autocratic approach which is incompatible in a democratically elected Republic with rule of law.
A third gaffe was stepping on message. The theme of the evening was “Making America Safe Again”, playing off the Trump mantra “Make America Great Again”. To wit, The Trump Show arranged to have Pat Smith, mother of Sean Smith who was slain during the 09/11/2012 Bengazi bungle. Mrs. Smith gave emotional speech in which she blamed presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (D-NY) for her son’s death. Pat Smith also acknowledged a sign from the crowd which read “Hillary for Prison”.
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| Benghazi Mother Pat Smith at the 2016 Republican National Convention |
These points were right on message with the emphasis for improving National Security and demonizing Hillary Clinton (in more than just the benediction). But many viewers of the Trump Show on the Fox News Channel missed out on these momentous moments, as this was the time Donald Trump chose to call into Bill O’Reilly and insist that he was not a racist. For a guy who’s widely acclaimed as a media genius, Trump either was not served well by his media hog instincts or his staff was remiss in conveying the conflict.
Then there is matter of scheduling speakers. The highlight of the first night of The Trump Show (the RNC edition) was supposed to be the candidate’s wife, ex supermodel Melania Trump, She took the stage after The Donald entered the dais with great flair to introduce her a little after 10 PM EDT. Melania spoke for around 20 minutes, which was remarkable for a non-professional speaker for which English is a fourth language.
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| Melania Trump at 2016 Republican National Convention |
But after the sexy spouse left the stage, the media more or less cut away for the night for commentary, though Fox News carried some of Lt. General Michael Flynn’s comments about National Security. Several speakers later, Republican rising star Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) spoke to a mostly empty Quicken Loans arena. It is sad to consider that both Flynn and Ernst were touted to be Trump running mates, yet both got the short end of the deal with order on the platform. If Trump or his cohort cared about building the GOP brand, the speaker’s schedule could have easily been adjusted to effectively finish prime time with Melania while bolstering the party’s position with respected representatives on center stage with a spotlight. But the Trump Show seems to be all about Trump and the Trump Family (and Trump Wine).
Although Melania gave a good supportive spouse speech, what people will remember is the plagiarism. Melania spoke of how she was raised, she declared:
"My parents impressed on me the values that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say and keep your promise; that you treat people with respect.”
This paragraph echoes almost word for word how Michelle Obama described her family’s values during the 2008 Democrat National Convention. Miraculously, this similarity was immediately trumpeted on Twitter by writer Jarrett Hill minutes after Melania uttered the “mimeographed” maxims. This became the talk of the town. This was only fueled by Trump campaign staff denials with aggressive counter-punching. Trump Convention Manager Paul Manafort asserted:
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| Trump Convention Manager Paul Manafort |
“There’s no cribbing of Michelle Obama's speech. These were common words and values that she cares about her family and things like that,. I mean, she was speaking in front of 35 million people last night, she knew that. To think that she would be cribbing Michelle Obama's words is crazy...“I mean, this is, once again, an example of when a woman threatens Hillary Clinton, how she seeks out to demean her and take her down. It's not going to work.”
So Manafort denied the obvious and somehow claimed that the kerfluffle was Hillary Clinton’s fault? Right. The Trump Campaign turned a tempest in a teapot into a torrent of off-message newspegs. It all would have gone away had Manafort or aides admitted the obvious. For a civilian speaker like Melania, there would have been little lasting effect. Instead, the incident reminds everyone of the thin skin of the Trump Campaign, which cannot countenance any criticism while in charge or admit error. Frankly, it exposes the thin skin of the Trump organization. Former George W. Bush White House Adviser Dan Senor quipped that :“The whole organization is an advance team and a Twitter feed...and that’s it.”
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| Milwaukee Cty. Sheriff David Clarke |
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| Rudy Giuliani at RNCinCLE |
The Donald’s WWE entrance was cool, but it seemed a bit overblown just to introduce his wife for a supposedly softball speech.
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| Donald Trump's entrance on first night of 2016 GOP Convention |
From afar, it seemed like opening night of The Trump Show sated those convicted for Trump, but did little to build unity of the party or advance allies who can help implement the platform. It seemed like overhyped sizzle with little steak. Most of the Make America Safe Again evening seemed just about slagging the former Secretary of State rather than asserting an actual agenda. But that may be the theme of The Trump Show through November- Trump is better than the alternative (or so we hope).
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