In a direct appeal to Americans shaken by a summer of violence at home and around the world, Mr Trump promised that if he takes office in January, “safety will be restored”. Polls in the state consistently show him with a significant lead.
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Trump dwelled at length on illegal immigrants and lawless Americans, saying they are as risky for the nation’s security as the Islamic State (IS) and Syrian refugees.
“Americanism, not globalism”, Trump declared, “will be our credo”. The crowd at Quicken Loans Arena cheered wildly. No matter, perhaps, as that time will belong to Clinton and the Democrats, whose own convention begins Monday in Philadelphia.
Just before Republicans opened the convention on Monday, Trump had trailed Clinton by almost 10 percentage points in the poll. “He is color blind and gender neutral”, she claimed, in a line that is clearly in direct opposition to the Trump many Americans have come to know over the past year-a man who wants to build a wall between America and Mexico, who wants to ban Muslims from entering the country, who has called women “pigs”. His stated determination to enforce the law against illegal immigration could not have swayed the millions of Latinos whose families will be directly affected.
Donald Trump painted a dark vision of an America careering towards ruin at his convention address, going off script to attack immigrants in a delivery that critics said was defined by the rhetoric of fear.
Reason, however, may not be enough to win in November. In his over an hour long speech, the NY billionaire spoke about Clinton’s legacy of “death, destruction, terrorism and weakness” as the secretary of state and highlighted perceived failings of President Barack Obama’s administration. “The Republican platform does not include any mention of child care, day care, early education, equal pay, or paid leave”, all of which Ivanka focused on in her speech. “This is a new era, and he’s showing us how to do it”. The candidates are in a dead heat in the all-important swing state of Ohio.
“Other politicians see these hardships, see the unfairness of it all, and they say I feel for you”. Trump used to say he was “very pro-choice”, and I asked Dickinson if he believed the transformation.
“I can’t really imagine him on a white horse, but that seems to be what he’s telling us: “I alone can fix it“. Or promising massive new public works projects to put people back to work.
But Trump supporters said those Republicans were in denial and that Trump had permanently wrested control of the party away from the establishment elites. “I think that looking at his children and how great they all are and how much they all love their father tells you a lot about the man as a parent”. That reliably prompted chants of “Lock her up”. Even when the woman is an insightful advocate – Eleanor Roosevelt, for example, a brilliant feminist who actually helped to move the needle on her husband’s policies – it remains shameful that it takes a female surrogate to get issues primarily impacting women onto the political stage.
Trump continued, “And I’m saying it just to clear it up”. But as over the top as it may have been, the speech directly targeted real anxiety many Americans feel at a time of mass shootings, terrorist attacks at home and overseas, and the assassination of police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge. He pledged that if elected, he “will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology”. LGBT is short for the words lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.
Trump chose his running mate, Gov. Mike Pence of IN, haphazardly, and then gave statements that collided with Pence’s beliefs.
In many way the uncertainty about Trump reflects the conflict within the Republican electorate.
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Such confusion could create an opening for Clinton and Democrats.
