https://thefederalist.com/2020/08/25/6-quick-takeaways-from-the-first-night-of-the-republican-national-convention/
The Republican National Convention had a better first night than the Democratic National Convention had any night last week.
The Republican National Convention had a better first night than the Democratic National Convention had any night last week. Here are six quick takeaways.
1. DNC’s Problem Was Not That It Was Virtual
Last week’s Democratic National Convention was barely watchable. People assumed that was because the Chinese coronavirus forced the convention to be held virtually. But the Republican National Convention is also being held virtually, and it was full of energy and excitement that was completely lacking at the Democratic convention.
Democrats had celebrity hosts, celebrity appearances, and all the talent of the generally liberal media to work with, yet their convention was an absolute grind to get through. Last night, Republicans moved along at a clipped pace, featured genuinely compelling stories, and the speeches drew contrasts with political opponents.
While some Republican speeches were markedly better than others, the only speech that didn’t land was attorney and television personality Kimberly Guilfoyle’s, which was shouted. Her speech would have benefited dramatically from a live audience.
2. Real People Nearly Stole The Show
Most pundits spent time talking about speeches by former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley or current South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott. Particularly in Scott’s case, the professional politicians did give good speeches. But the most exciting parts of the evening were speeches from everyday Americans.
The best speech of the evening was given by Maximo Alvarez, a Florida businessman who described his family fleeing Communist systems on their way to the United States. “I have seen people like this before,” he said, describing leftist totalitarian movements. When he said, “I’m speaking to you today because my family is done leaving places. There is nowhere left to go,” it was more powerful than a thousand speeches from professional politicians.
Andrew Pollack, the father of Meadow Pollack, who was murdered in the Parkland High School shooting, beautifully memorialized his daughter and talked about the government failures that helped contribute to her death. He condemned the media for focusing on gun control when it was education policy that actually led to his daughter and her classmates being vulnerable.
The only famous person to speak was Herschel Walker, the football star. He talked about his decades-long friendship with President Donald Trump and praised his work on behalf of black Americans. He also told a story about Trump going with his family to Disneyland and riding the “It’s A Small World” ride with him. It was such an unexpected anecdote.
3. How to Do Cross-Partisan Outreach
One of the few continuous themes of the Democratic National Convention was that some Republicans support Joe Biden for president. But the people they had speak could not have been swampier.
Susan Molinari, who took her dad’s seat in Congress, is better known as Google’s former top lobbyist. She made millions lobbying for Russia, too. John Kasich, who lost to Trump in 2016, left Congress for a lucrative job at Lehman Brothers, lasting until it declared bankruptcy as a result of its participation in the subprime mortgage crisis in 2008.
