RUTHFULLY YOURS

“When Iran threatened, the president approved a strike against Qasem Soleimani,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the Republican National Convention on Tuesday. The president also ended the “disastrous nuclear deal with Iran,” but before Pompeo spoke a word, prominent Democrats were targeting the venue.

According to Wendy Sherman, undersecretary of state for political affairs in the Obama administration, it was “wholly inappropriate to use Jerusalem as a prop in the Republican convention.” As Sherman told Laura Kelly of The Hill, “This is really a grievous and potentially very harmful act by Secretary Pompeo. Secretaries of State and Defense have traditionally stayed above partisan politics because they represent America to the world. It is truly breaking a norm to have the Secretary of State do this.”

Before Secretary Pompeo came on in the closing stages, speakers took up the theme of opportunity. Jon Ponder had abandoned crime and built a new life in a “nation of second chances.” President Trump said Jon’s life was a “testament to the power of redemption” and the audience saw President Trump grant Ponder a full pardon.

One-time presidential rival Rand Paul told the convention Trump had helped him on a medical mission to Guatemala and Haiti to perform eye surgeries. Trump “gets things done,” such as a “true tax cut.” The president cut red tape, signed the First Step Act and “undid the harm Joe Biden did.” And Biden, Paul said, “bragged about a bill that still wreaks havoc on people of color.”

Lobsterman Jason Joyce told the convention Trump “respects fishermen’s views” and farmer Chris Peterson said Trump understands that farming is a “complicated and risky business.” With new trade deals “business is booming again.” Larry Kudlow hailed the president’s economic plan as a “roaring success,” a “rising tide that lifted all boats.”

Businessman John Peterson told the convention “Obama and Biden knew nothing about business, and put us in tailspin.” Trump’s tax and regulation cuts had increased Peterson’s revenues by 25 percent. So it was, “not the time for a career politician and puppet of radical left Democrats.”

Cissie Graham Lynch, granddaughter of Billy Graham, told the convention that with President Trump “people of faith have fierce advocate in the White House.” By contrast Biden and Harris have “no room for people of faith” and “the radical left god is government power.” Therefore, Graham Lynch said, “never give in to those who would take freedom from us.”

While with Planned Parenthood, Abby Johnson earned the Margaret Sanger Award after the “racist” Planned Parenthood founder. Johnson became a right-to-life activist and thanked Trump “the most pro-life president,” for ending government subsidy for abortion.

Nicholas Sandman told the convention he had attended the March for Life before becoming a “target of cable news,” simply for wearing his MAGA hat. President Trump was also a victim of unfair media coverage and “worth voting for,” said Sandmann, as he put on his red MAGA hat once again.

Former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi lit into Joe Biden’s “land of opportunism,” charting entanglements in Ukraine and China. “Trump can’t be bought,” Bondi told the convention, and “the best is yet to come.”

Tiffany Trump urged Republicans to “rebel against those who would suppress your voice,” and Eric Trump was “damn proud to be on front lines of this fight.” Joe Biden, Trump said, was a “pushover” for Communist China and would raise taxes.

Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez told the convention the Communist regime of Fidel Castro confiscated homes, property and farms and “abolished religious freedom.” Nuñez urged the audience to “reject the socialist takeover of our nation” and give Trump four more years.

Kentucky’s African-American attorney general Daniel Cameron rejected Biden’s charge that Trump supporters “ain’t black” and that there is no diversity among blacks. “My mind is my own,” Cameron said. “You can’t tell me how to vote.” America is an “indispensable nation,” Cameron said, and fellow Americans are “not enemies.”

First Lady Melania Trump reminded the convention that her native Slovenia was a Communist nation and that America “stood for freedom and opportunity.” The First Lady expressed concerns about the opioid crisis and urged Americans to come together and “focus on the strides we have made for a better tomorrow for everyone.” President Trump applauded from the front row.

Meanwhile, Secretary Pompeo’s speech from Jerusalem was not the only reason for Wendy Sherman’s agitation. Sherman holds a master’s degree in social work and managed campaigns for Barbara Mikulski and Michael Dukakis.  In the Clinton administration, as Jennifer Rubin noted, Sherman constructed “a foolish and dangerous policy that allowed Kim Jong Il to take the benefits of the deal while pursuing his nuclear program.”

Hillary Clinton appointed Sherman undersecretary of state for political affairs and Sherman led the negotiations for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.  Sherman was the only U.S. negotiator to view confidential “side deals,” between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Commission. She waffled on whether she had seen only rough drafts or the final deals, and argued they could not be submitted to Congress.

A political insider and social worker was the Democrats’ lead negotiator on the Iran deal, a repeat of Sherman’s foolish and dangerous policy with North Korea. If anyone thought it was “potentially very harmful” to have such an unqualified person negotiate for the United States it would be hard to blame them.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, by contrast, graduated from the U.S. Military Academy and Harvard Law School before serving in Congress and heading the CIA. Pompeo reminded the convention that President Trump crushed ISIS and took out master terrorist Baghdadi. “Stay the course,” Pompeo said. “We will win.”