Highlighting the threat of violence, from ongoing riots to other increasing street crime in various cities, has been a central messaging piece during the Republican National Convention.
It has mostly been presented in political terms, as guests have linked the violence to Democrats’ passivity. But those who have been most effective at communicating the dangers have been people who have suffered from it, people such as Ann Dorn.
Dorn’s husband, David, was a retired police officer. He was killed during the June 2 riots in St. Louis as he was checking on his friend’s pawnshop, which had been broken into and looted.
“I relive that horror in my mind every single day,” Dorn said in her speech on Thursday. “My hope is that having you relive it with me now will help shake this country from the nightmare we are witnessing in our cities and bring about positive, peaceful change.”
“How did we get to this point where so many young people are so callous and indifferent towards human life?” Dorn continued. “This isn’t a video game where you can commit mayhem and then hit ‘reset’ and bring all the characters back to life. David is never coming back. He was murdered by people who didn’t know, and didn’t care, that he would have done anything to help them.”
The circumstances that led to Dorn’s death have been replicated in cities the country over, even in relatively small, middle-American towns such as Kenosha, Wisconsin. Dorn’s message, and the RNC’s message more broadly, has been that equivocating on violence has led to even more of it.
Ann Dorn’s most political message was to say this, “President Trump knows we need more Davids in our communities, not fewer.” Republicans are counting on that message to resonate.
