MATTHEW CONTINETTI: The Remarkable GOP Convention.
There’s never been a political speech like Donald Trump’s address to the 2024 Republican National Convention. The former president’s narration of the attempt on his life was gripping television. When he kissed the fireman’s helmet of Corey Comperatore, the husband and father who was killed during the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, last weekend, he created an indelible image. The Trump who appeared on stage was humble, gracious, contemplative.
Then, a half hour into the speech, Trump began to improvise. He talked. And talked. He was the Trump we are used to seeing on the campaign trail: garrulous and sarcastic, cracking jokes, championing his record, describing goals for a second term. At length. The speech must have set a record for longest convention address. If Trump wanted to prove he could speak with greater passion and for a longer period of time than President Biden, he did so. He also left this television viewer exhausted.
The Trump who spoke for 91 minutes on Thursday evening was a slightly more subdued version of the man who has been at the center of politics for almost a decade. Yet much of the convention was spent trying to convince Americans that Trump is more than the person they’ve watched on the news since 2015.
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By the time the red, white, blue, and gold balloons fell from the rafters of the Fiserv Forum, there was no doubt that Donald Trump has revamped the Republican Party in his image. This united and energetic party believes that it is on the verge of a great victory. It left Milwaukee in a state of excitement. While, in a basement in Delaware, the Democratic Party is in a state of crisis.
As Jim Treacher writes, “Joe Won’t Go:”
He’s been in Washington since before Twitter. Before CNN. Hell, before Watergate! He was lying to reporters when Obama was still popping his zits in Honolulu.
The old man is a damn barnacle. They’re gonna have to scrape him off, and it might just put a hole in the hull.
Joe Biden doesn’t know much anymore, but he still knows how power works. My money’s on the old bastard giving everybody two middle fingers till they close the casket.
Me? I choose to remember the happier times:
Now watch him drop out 10 minutes after I post this. It would serve me right for acting like I know what I’m talking about!
Heh, indeed. That video is a reminder of why Joe won’t go. He’s spent his entire career climbing the greasy pole, then having to suck up to Barry for eight years to get to where he is now. No wonder he’s so reluctant to throw it all away.