The Republican National Convention managed to accomplish in its first night what the Democratic Party failed to do during its entire four-night convention: It struck a tone of seriousness and sincerity, thanks to the personal testimonies of a few completely ordinary guest speakers.

First, there was Natalie Harp, a bone cancer survivor who took advantage of the Trump administration’s right-to-try policy and survived what should have been a deadly disease. Then came Andrew Pollack, father of one of the Parkland High School students whose life was taken during the deadly school shooting that rocked Florida in 2018. Pollack’s story was brutal — quick to the point but devastatingly tragic, and thus difficult to ignore.