It has become par for the course at national political party conventions to have a member of the other party address the crowd. Zell Miller and Artur Davis famously made appearances at Republican conventions as renegades — Democrats who supported Republican presidential nominees because their own party had gone off the rails. And similarly, every Democratic convention must feature its token Republican — this time, former Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

Kasich, whose no-hope, bitter-ender presidential campaign in 2016 was one factor among many that made the extraordinary nomination of Donald Trump possible, was the Democrats’ choice to speak last night.