For two hours, America’s dads Joe Biden, Tim Kaine, and Barack Obama and its aloof rich uncle Michael Bloomberg relentlessly made the case that Trumpism was not Republicanism, but a tumor infecting a once noble Republican Party and that the only way for Republicans to get rid of the tumor was to vote for Hillary Clinton. Trump tweeted. “Crooked Hillary said that I ‘couldn’t handle the rough and tumble of a political campaign.’ Really, I just beat 16 people and am beating her!”
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“Because they feel if they make Donald Trump be the focus point of this campaign, they’ll win”, Bannon said.
But the back-to-back conventions portrayed two parties that seemed at times as though they were speaking to and about entirely different countries. By all measures, it was a well-orchestrated affair compared to the Republican convention in Cleveland the week before where a number of controversies served to distract from the messaging. Democrats embraced “black lives matter”; Republicans celebrated “blue lives matter”.
But, as Trump himself pointedly noted Wednesday, Democrats only minimally decried instability overseas, making few references to terrorism and the Islamic State until Wednesday night, while challenging GOP allegations of a breakdown of law and order at home. She did not say that the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation failed to say that she had done no wrong, but said that no prosecutor would bring charges.
Democrats are thrilled to be occupying sunnier high ground. She quoted one of his self-congratulatory utterances-“I know more about ISIS than the generals do”.
Clinton is likely to face a tough challenge in such states from Trump, a NY businessman who is trying to win white working-class voters with rhetoric blasting free trade and illegal immigration.
The strategy is not without risk. For instance, how many members of the Bernie Sanders army will vote for Clinton?
Clinton’s campaign surrogates and her other allies had spent days promising her speech would break new ground. “The truth is, through all these years of public service, the “service” part has always come easier to me than the “public” part”, she said. “He has a math problem”.
This was not “the most important speech of Hillary Clinton’s life”, despite what other pundits will tell you.
Trump, in contrast, is trying to create an entirely new political map and coalition anchored by disaffected blue-collar white voters, flipping back Pennsylvania after almost three decades in the Democratic column and states across the industrial Midwest.
Framed this way, the election isn’t a choice between Trump and Clinton. “You can’t afford to stay home”, he urged them.
She reached out to her top rival in the primaries, Sen.
And with that comes the weight of owning the current state of affairs. “And less respect for them, period”, Clinton said. “America is already strong”.
Khan held up his personal copy of the U.S. Constitution to offer it to Trump, questioning whether the Republican had ever read it.
In her speech on Thursday, Clinton, 68, a former first lady and US senator, promised to make the United States a country that works for everyone if she is elected. While Clinton has pushed an optimistic message, Trump has repeatedly described the country as being dragged down by establishment politicians. “I will be watching her closely – her commitment to college affordability, her soft imperialism, her corporate ties”.
“I will say that my mother, who was very active in the early feminist movement, was a huge Hillary supporter”, he said.
It was not an oratorical masterpiece, but it was a sturdy, workmanlike presentation of who she is, how she thinks, and what kind of president she would be. Clinton didn’t change that dynamic in a significant way last night, but she did give us an image to work with. She talked about the work she’s done for the country, why she loves America and how she will fight for everyone.
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“Don’t boo”, he chided them.
