CLEVELAND — By day, the Republican National Convention was divided and chaotic by the standards of such carefully choreographed events. By night, it was … something else.
After an afternoon in which supporters of presumptive nominee Donald Trump and anti-Trump delegates clashed, the first line-up of primetime convention speakers served up generous helpings of red meat.
Controversies that outrage many grassroots conservatives got prominent play Monday night, including Benghazi, the Hillary Clinton email scandal and Operation Fast and Furious.
Actors and television personalities like Scott Baio, Antonio Sabato Jr. and Willie Robertson gave tighter, more disciplined speeches praising Trump’s ostensibly selfless candidacy and ripping “Crooked Hillary” than the candidate himself usually does.
Survivors of the Benghazi attack laid the blame for the deaths of four Americans in Libya squarely at Clinton’s feet. Pat Smith’s son didn’t have the good fortune to survive and she went a step further.
“For all this loss, for all this grief, for all of the cynicism the tragedy in Benghazi has wrought upon America, I blame Hillary Clinton,” she said to raucous applause. “I blame Hillary Clinton personally for the death of my son — that’s personally.”
Prompted by an audience “Hillary for prison” chant, Smith became the first of at least three major speakers Monday night to endorse Clinton’s incarceration. “That’s right, Hillary for prison, she deserves to be in stripes,” she said.
Darryl Glenn, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Colorado who is locked in what is considered a potentially winnable race despite it not being one of Trump’s better battleground states, joked that Clinton belonged in a “bright orange jumpsuit” rather than one of her famous pantsuits.
The family of Bryan Terry, the border patrol agent who was murdered by a weapon traced back to the botched ATF gun-running initiative behind the Operation Fast and Furious scandal, spoke out in support of Trump. So did the parents of young people killed by illegal immigrants, including one of immigrant background and another African-American.
“Only Trump called me on the phone one day to see how I was doing. Only Trump will stand against terrorists and illegal immigration,” Jamie Shaw told attendees. “Trump is sent from God.” He argued that his son’s life wasn’t one of the black lives that mattered to President Obama.
David Clarke, the African-American Milwaukee sheriff who has championed law enforcement officers involved racially tinged controversies, opened by mentioning the recent police shootings in Dallas and Baton Rouge and proclaiming, “Blue lives matter!”
“Donald Trump understands that what can make our nation safe again is a recommitment to a system of justice in which no government official, not even those who have fought their way to the marble and granite halls of Washington; no private citizen, not even Hillary Clinton; and no group of people, despite the fervor with which they press forward their grievances, can claim privilege above the law,” Clarke said.
Rudy Giuliani delivered a speech that was straight out of his late 1980s, early 1990s pitch for taming an allegedly ungovernable New York City. He thanked the police protecting the GOP convention.
“We know the risk you’re taking. And we say thank you to every police officer and law enforcement agent who’s out tonight protecting us,” an animated Giuliani said, his voice rising. “Black, white, Latino of every race, every color, every creed, every sexual orientation. When they come to save your life they don’t ask if you are black or white. They just come to save you.”
He also defended Trump. “I am sick and tired of the defamation of Donald Trump by the media and by the Clinton campaign,” the former New York City mayor said. “I am sick and tired of it. This is a good man.”
Only Melania Trump’s well-received remarks really softened the tone.
Maybe this won’t appeal to swing voters. It certainly won’t budge many “Never Trump” conservatives who will no doubt find much of the night’s proceedings heavy-handed and lowbrow.
But Trump needs to fire up Republican voters and turn out the conservative base. He’s obviously not going to be able to do that by suddenly becoming an advocate for limited government. This was an opportunity to bond with conservatives on some issues they care about disproportionately.
Maybe it will work.
