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https://pjmedia.com/election/tyler-o-neil/2020/08/25/5-things-to-know-about-night-2-of-the-republican-national-convention-n843977

The Republican National Convention (RNC) highlighted the promise of America, the threat of the radical Left, and the achievements of President Donald Trump. The convention delivered an action-packed evening with some powerful surprises.

Without further ado, here are five things to know about Night 2.

1. The naturalization ceremony

Due to the Chinese coronavirus pandemic, both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions have been partly remote. For the Democratic version, the remote convention mostly made the proceedings more of a snoozefest, a Gaslighting America Telethon. Yet the RNC and President Donald Trump approached it as an opportunity.

On Night 1, Trump held a historic panel with former hostages freed by the Trump administration. On Night 2, he did something similarly impressive — he hosted a naturalization ceremony in the middle of a party convention.

This might seem an odd choice. A naturalization ceremony is a celebration of America — not a political party. Yet Democrats and the left-leaning media have smeared America by pushing ideas like The New York Times‘s “1619 Project,” which claims that slavery — not the Declaration of Independence — was the true founding of America.

Naturalization ceremonies are not partisan, or at least they should not be partisan. Yet Democrats have made them partisan, while slamming Trump as an anti-immigrant president (for implementing the same policies Barack Obama did). By hosting a naturalization ceremony, Trump gave the lie to the Left’s attack that he is anti-immigrant.

“Today America rejoices as we welcome five absolutely incredible new members into our great American family,” Trump declared. “Congratulations, good going. You followed the rules, you obeyed the laws, you learned your history, embraced our values, and proved yourselves to be men and women of the highest integrity.”

“It’s an honor for me to be your president,” Trump said.

https://www.city-journal.org/joe-biden-tax-hike-plan

As the U.S. struggles to emerge from the Covid-19-induced recession, Joe Biden is running for president on a pledge to return the country to economic policies responsible for the slowest economic recovery since World War II. Biden’s plans include “reversing some of Trump’s tax cuts for corporations and imposing common-sense tax reforms that finally make sure the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share.” This means a big increase in effective tax rates on capital and on individuals with incomes above $400,000, as well as partially reversing the corporate tax cut that was a centerpiece of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA).

But Biden’s tax increases go far beyond simply undoing some of the TCJA, the net result of which was a $1.5 trillion tax cut. Biden would hike taxes by roughly $4 trillion, divided about equally between individuals and firms. This move would likely produce a reversal of outcomes: while the TCJA has added to GDP growth by 0.5 percentage points to 1 percentage point since 2018, the Biden tax plan would probably reduce growth by at least that much.

In fact, the effects of Biden’s proposed tax increases may be even larger—and affect a much broader share of the population—than previous evaluations suggest, owing to their “tax incidence” consequences. Tax incidence refers to who bears the burden of a tax, which may be different from whom the tax is imposed on. For example, taxes levied on producers can be passed on to consumers through higher prices.

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.

https://amgreatness.com/2020/08/24/with-funding-from-the-left-nevertrumps-clown-show-hits-the-home-stretch/

There’s nothing principled about boosting a lawless FBI director and being paid millions from a leftist tycoon to perform the role of a Trump-hating conservative while concealing the truth from the public.

Last week, John Durham, the U.S. Attorney investigating possible crimes related to the FBI’s probe into Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and misconduct after the 2016 election, interviewed former CIA director John Brennan.

This week, James Comey, Brennan’s sidekick and partner-in-potential-crime, will join alleged NeverTrump “conservatives” in a counter-convention to protest the reelection of President Trump.

The permanent coup, as writer Lee Smith details in his new book, continues. And Trump-haters on the putative Right continue to abet the Democrats’ subversive but so far failed crusade to crush the president and everyone around him.

Despite attempts to portray him otherwise, there’s nothing conservative about Joe Biden or the Democratic Party—but the groupuscule known as NeverTrump wants to help drag the Biden-Harris ticket across the November finish line. Apparently ideas such as fixing the “racial wealth gap,” forcing farmers to grow crops without carbon emissions, repealing the Hyde Amendment, and reversing the imagined ills of “systemic racism,” all key planks in the party’s 2020 platform, are considered “conservative” by NeverTrump.

Now, with Trump’s reelection chances on the upswing—Biden’s lead in must-win states is slim and Minnesota now is considered in play—NeverTrump hopes its losing playbook for the past four years will finally secure a long-awaited victory.

NeverTrump’s counter-convention is laughably called the “Convention on Founding Principles.” The virtual gathering features a roster of scorned Trump aides, defeated Republican congressmen, and heretofore unknown “conservative” consultants and commentators. Comey, who misled a secret federal court among other offenses, will participate two days out of the four-day confab. (Comey, by the way, is an avowed Democrat.)

https://issuesinsights.com/2020/08/25/the-stunning-gullibility-of-republicans-for-biden/

On the eve of the Republican convention, more than two dozen former GOP lawmakers endorsed Joe Biden for president. Trump Derangement Syndrome is spreading faster than COVID-19.

Retired Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake makes his case for supporting Biden by claiming Trump “is not conservative,” that Biden “will approach his constitutional role with the reverence and dignity it deserves” and “reach across the aisle.”

This is the same argument John Kasich, a former congressman and Ohio governor, made at the Democratic National Convention, when he reassured the public that Biden is “respectful” and won’t “turn sharp left” when he gets in office.

None of this makes any sense, yet a growing number of Republicans are buying into it.

First, how do these Republicans know Biden will “reach across the aisle”? They don’t. Their gullibility and naivete are a wonder to behold.

The truth is, there’s absolutely no reason whatsoever to believe Biden would stay in the center.

A Biden win will surely bring with it a Democratic-controlled House and Senate. We already know what will happen next, since it’s happened before. After Bill Clinton ran as a moderate, he immediately veered left upon taking office, raised taxes he’d promised to cut and tried to impose HillaryCare on the nation.

After Barack Obama wooed Republicans with his calm demeanor, his seemingly sensible positions, and the sharp crease in his pants, he spent the first two years imposing ObamaCare and the economy-crushing Dodd-Frank on the nation.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/2020/08/cnn-unprecedentedly-interrupts-presidents-daniel-greenfield/

There is a basic protocol to these things.

The media is supposed to air convention events and then talk about them afterward. Instead, the media began talking over DNC events as they were happening, which is highly dubious, and made some of them even more unwatchable than usual, but it certainly didn’t interrupt Biden’s speech to begin attacking him.

CNN however decided to interrupt President Trump, falsely attack him, and begin a rambling defense of the Democrats under the guise of a ‘fact check’. If the media wants to conduct its editorializing and call them fact checks, the time to do that is after a presidential speech, not during it. And interrupting a convention speech is basically unprecedented. 

But precedents have been shattering right and left since around 2008 when the media stopped pretending to be anything other than the communications arm of the DNC.

The question is where does this go next.

Is CNN going to interrupt a State of the Union address or an address to the nation from the Oval Office next? It’s hard to say that it wouldn’t. 

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/08/rousing-first-day-republican-national-convention-joseph-klein/

“Where Joe Biden sees American darkness, I see American greatness,” President Trump said following the conclusion of the Democratic Party’s dismal digital convention. The Democrats presented voters with their gloom and doom vision of America, harping on what they claim is fundamentally wrong with the country rather than on America’s greatness. Their depressing message was delivered in a humdrum setting devoid of live programming. The Republican National Convention’s theme for the upcoming week is “Honoring the Great American Story.”  It is presenting an optimistic vision of an America on the mend from the China Virus, thanks to President Trump’s decisive actions. The convention will conclude with a live acceptance speech by President Trump on Thursday night from the South Lawn of the White House.

The Republican Party National Convention formally got under way Monday in Charlotte North Carolina, with 336 delegates representing 50 states, five territories and Washington, D.C. present in person to re-nominate Donald Trump and Mike Pence for president and vice president. The delegates did so unanimously. The Charlotte portion of the convention concluded Monday afternoon, but not before both President Trump and Vice President Pence appeared live to address the delegates.

President Trump took the stage to deliver an almost hour-long stemwinder of a speech to the delegates. “I felt an obligation to be here,” he said. Shouts of “four more years” broke out as the president began his remarks. “If you want to really drive them crazy, you’ll say ’12 more years,'” President Trump exclaimed. The president hailed America’s economic recovery from the depths of the coronavirus shutdown, which he described as a “super V-shape.” He noted his historic accomplishments to benefit the black community.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/08/democrats_and_nevertrump_carpetbaggers_lie_about_trumps_acceptance_speech.html

The Democrats and their fellow travelers in the NeverTrump Lincoln Project are terrified that, if Americans hear Trump without mediation, Americans will (a) like what they hear and (b) know that neither he nor his supporters are racist. (And defamatory racism accusations, of course, are the biggest sticks with which they can beat conservatives.)

So it was that, when Trump appeared in North Carolina to give his acceptance speech upon receiving the Democrat nomination, CNN cut away from the speech because of alleged “outright lies.” Then, the hate-filled carpetbaggers in the Lincoln Project, a coalition made up of failed Republican campaign advisors, accused an audience member of calling Obama a “monkey” to Trump’s laughing agreement. These are the actions of ugly and desperate people.

Breitbart reported that CNN cut away from Trump’s speech. When you read the reasoning, though, you can see that CNN, accidentally or intentionally, confused “objective” facts with “subjective” opinions to justify saying that Trump stated “outright lies.”

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/08/trump_accepted_his_nomination_with_a_rousing_speech.html

At the end of their grim convention, the Democrats formally nominated Biden. A fragile-looking Biden gave a short, anodyne stump speech that garnered enthusiastic praise from Democrats grateful that he didn’t get confused or say, “you know, the thing.”

Republicans did things differently. They nominated Trump on the first day. Trump then appeared in North Carolina before a small, live audience and, showing his usual boundless energy, Borscht Belt comic timing, and mastery of the material, gave a 52-minute stemwinder. Trump could not have presented a starker contrast to Biden’s geriatric minimalism.

From the start, Trump was on fire. He opened by dropping a hint that, in the Russia Hoax investigation, we should expect more revelations and possibly more indictments.

Pivoting to campaign mode, Trump told the audience that a successful country is a unified country. He was enthusiastic about an economic resurgence, and warned his audience that “Biden said the other day that he’d shut it down.” He also reminded them that Obama said it couldn’t be done without a magic wand. “I guess we had the magic wand,” he added.