The latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News analysis has found that one-fifth of Democrats view her unfavorably, “more than any previous Democratic presidential nominee on the eve of their party’s convention”.
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Together, they have changed the entire architecture of American politics – at least for this year, perhaps for the remainder of the decade, maybe even for a generation. After two weeks of watching the Republican and Democratic conventions, the snapshots of these two parties reveal what Trump’s unsettling effect has been.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton gestures while speaking at a campaign rally at Temple University, Friday, July 29, 2016, in Philadelphia. But the Democratic convention had stronger viewership overall. “Democrats were for you”.
“She is a person who probably has more potential and has more experience than most of our presidential candidates maybe in my lifetime”. Some of them, like Doug Elmets, a former aide and speechwriter to President Ronald Reagan, were actual Republicans. “But you know what, I’m starting to agree with you”.
The new goal of Clinton and Trump moving forward is to establish a much-needed base of support from those outside their arenas in Cleveland and Philadelphia, convincing those who remain undecided heading into August to come aboard. As Clinton said in her acceptance speech Thursday night, “When there are no glass ceilings, the sky is the limit!” “He appeals to me and also I think that he is down to earth and he speaks from the heart and he is not trying to be politically correct”.
Trump calls his approach “America first”, meaning alliances and coalitions would not pass muster with him unless they produced a net benefit to the U.S. He drew rebukes from much of the national security establishment when he suggested in a recent newspaper interview that as president he might not defend certain North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member countries against outside attack if they were falling short of the alliance’s defense spending targets.
Each has zeroed in on what many consider the most worrisome issues: terrorism and an assertive Russian Federation.
But several celebrity backers of Sanders remained unswayed by Clinton, notably actress Susan Sarandon, who said she was “disgusted” by bias against Sanders as revealed in leaked emails by Democratic National Committee members.
Sounding more like a pundit than the subject of all the vitriol, he pronounced Mrs Clinton’s speech “so average” and “full of cliches”.
Obama has aggressively expanded his Republican predecessor’s use of drone warfare and backed controversial surveillance measures against America’s enemies. With most GOP luminaries not in attendance, the key Trump endorsement speeches were given by his children. Each night, chants of “Lock her up” broke out on the convention floor. There also are challenges in cyberwarfare, nuclear weapons and the modernization of the US military.
Noah Rothman, a conservative writer at Commentary magazine, tweeted that “for Bush-era GOPers, a convention of Dems cheering “USA” as military brass pledge to defeat “evil” is disorienting”. “So that’s what we’ll do over the next couple of days: We’ll talk about creating jobs, we’ll talk about raising wages, we’ll talk about the leadership that America needs to play in the world”. Everyone knows about her, everyone knows her policy as Secretary of State so she’s very tough on China, especially her pivot to Asia policy which is very popular in Asian countries, but from the Chinese perspective, this is a containment strategy. Clinton and Kaine begin a three day bus tour through the rust belt. His father, Khizr Khan, was eloquent about the family’s pride in their son, love of this country and revulsion at Trump’s ideas. You have sacrificed nothing and no one. “And no one”, Khan said.
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If the Democrats can ever stop spending money we don’t have, refusing to address entitlements, pandering (as Republicans now do) on free trade, doubling down on the regulatory state and dreaming they can curtail the First Amendment (i.e. get a constitutional amendment to reverse Citizens United, which is about as likely as getting an amendment to reverse gay marriage) center-right Republicans disgusted with Trump might find a permanent new home.
