Donald Trump has officially accepted the Republican Party’s nomination for president. Here are a few brief thoughts about his acceptance speech.
Donald J. Trump: Optimist?
Much of Trump’s campaign has been focused on pessimism and a negative attitude. Although the slogan has always been “Make America Great Again,” his words have always seemed to divide people.
People will find divisive things in Trump’s speech, and it certainly won’t unite all the Republicans who are struggling to back him. But it did seem to strike a more optimistic tone compared to most of his campaign.
Take this section, towards the end of the speech: “So to every parent who dreams for their child, and every child who dreams for their future, I say these words to you tonight: I’m with you, and I will fight for you, and I will win for you.” Out of context, you’d almost guess it was Marco Rubio or Ted Cruz saying that.
Trump reaches out beyond conservatives
Much of the Republican convention has focused on whipping the party’s base into a fervor. Trump was one of the few speakers who seemed to try to reach beyond the conservative base to groups that typically aren’t Republican voters.
The most telling part was when Trump said he would do everything he could to protect LGBT Americans from Islamic terrorism, to which the crowd cheered. Trump then went off-script to say, “I have to say, as a Republican, it is so nice to hear you cheering for what I just said. Thank you,” and got an even bigger roar.
Furthermore, Trump talked about black children and Latinos living in poverty and how they’re worse off today than they were when Obama took office.
He’s done this before, but Trump again reached out to Bernie Sanders’ voters. “[Sanders] supporters will join our movement, because we will fix his biggest issue: trade. Millions of Democrats will join our movement because we are going to fix the system so it works for all Americans.” And those weren’t the only sections where Trump reached out past conservatives.
Those few words won’t be enough to completely redefine Trump with voters who don’t like him. But it could be the first step on a long road that could make Trump more palatable to independent voters.
Trump Needs to Work on Sympathy
To be clear, Trump’s speech was not perfect. At least in terms of speaking style, he does not do sympathy well. If you watch his body language and listen to his tone while telling a sad story, it’s not much different than how he looks and sounds when telling a joke.
Take this passage of the speech. “[An illegal immigrant] ended the life of an innocent young girl named Sarah Root,” Trump said. “She was 21 years old, and was killed the day after graduating from college with a 4.0 Grade Point Average. Her killer was then released a second time, and he is now a fugitive from the law.”
But if you had pressed the mute button and tried to guess what Trump was talking about, you could have guessed anything from jokes about Hillary Clinton to statistics about international trade.
If Trump is going to redefine himself and look more sympathetic, he’s going to need to work on looking and sounding more genuine when telling somber stories.
Jason Russell is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
