After four days and enough scandalous material to make Taylor Swift and the Kardashians proud, the Republican National Convention is finally in the books.
In between the plagiarism allegations, Ted Cruz committing political suicide and Donald Trump painting a very “Mad Max” picture of America, politicians found time to squeeze in a ton of pop culture references, ranging from cringe-worthy to, “I have so many questions.”
Let’s take a look back at the RNC’s pop culture savvy:
Sean Spicer quotes ‘My Little Pony’
By Tuesday, the Internet was abuzz with allegations (which were proven later to be true) that Melania Trump plagiarized part of her Monday-night address from first lady Michelle Obama’s 2008 Democratic National Convention speech.
The most fascinating defense of Melania was offered by RNC communications director Sean Spicer.
“When it comes to the speech, let’s actually put this in perspective,” he told CNN Tuesday afternoon. “In a 2,000-word statement, we’re talking about 70 words [and] three passages. Melania Trump said, ‘You work hard for what you get in life.’ John Legend said, ‘Work hard to be anything you want in life.’ Kid Rock said, ‘Work hard to be anything you want in life.’
“Melania Trump said, ‘The strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.’ Twilight Sparkle from ‘My Little Pony’ said, ‘This is your dream. Anything you can do in your dreams, you can do now.'”
This made me want to know everything about Sean Spicer and why he can quote “My Little Pony” on command. His quotes were inflammatory enough to warrant responses from John Legend and Twilight Sparkle voice actress Tara Strong.
“Plagiarism is not magic,” Strong said in Twilight Sparkle’s voice over Vine, which is one of those surreal moments that accurately sums up the 2016 election cycle.
Did Melania Rickroll America?
In addition to the cries of plagiarism, the other thing some bloggers with too much time on their hands tried to prove was that Melania “Rickrolled” everyone in her speech.
For those with better things to do with their time, the term “Rickrolled” refers to sending someone a video marked as one thing, but which actually links to Rick Astley’s 1987 pop hit “Never Gonna Give You Up.”
Melania’s exact words were, as she referred to what her husband can do for the U.S.: “He will never, ever, give up. And, most importantly, he will never, ever, let you down.”
Judge for yourself with this side-by-side comparison video:
It looks like Meredith McIver was really working overtime on this speech.
Bands continue to hate Trump using their music
On Monday, Trump took the stage for the first time to introduce his wife’s speech. He walked out to Queen’s “We Are the Champions,” which prompted the band to become the latest group to denounce Trump’s use of their music.
“An unauthorized use at the Republican Convention against our wishes,” Queen’s official account tweeted.
The next day, the convention’s house band played a cover of Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September.” Less than 24 hours later, the band sent out an almost identical tweet to Queen’s condemning the use of their music at the convention.
These musical cues weren’t inherently awkward, but were just reminders that the music industry — with the exceptions of a few artists like Kid Rock, Ted Nugent and Azealia Banks — generally hates Trump.
That said, the award for most awkward music-related moment of the convention goes to …
‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’
In possibly the most troll-tastic moment of the week, after Trump’s acceptance speech concluded Thursday night, the convention chose to play him off with The Rolling Stone’s “You Can’t Alway Get What You Want.”
The Atlantic’s David Frum summed up the irony of this song choice aptly:
Closing anthem for candidate w whom 38% of Republicans are satisfied? The Stones’ “You can’t always get what you want”
— David Frum (@davidfrum) July 22, 2016
Many in the media also noted the strange choice to play that particular song after a candidate who many in the party feel should not be their nominee just finished laying out his campaign agenda.
It was a fitting end to a convention focused on unifying a party that fluctuated between appearing to want to come together and having no interest in the notion.
Marsha Blackburn references Larry the Cable Guy, Taylor Swift
The Tennessee congresswoman broke out this folksy reference Thursday night while telling America why Trump is fit for the White House.
“The American people have had it, yes, and they are ready for change,” she said. “They are ready for someone to take the reins and bring us together. There is someone that can get the job done — or as Larry the Cable Guy would say, ‘Let’s git ‘r done!'”
Blackburn also broke out a Taylor Swift lyric while admonishing Cruz for not endorsing Trump.
“Republican women will take a lead in reuniting our party, and encouraging these guys, as I’ve said several times this week, same thing I would tell my kids when they were growing up: Get over yourself. Or as Taylor Swift would say, ‘Shake it off!'” she said Thursday.
Sounds like the bad blood there isn’t going away any time soon.
