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RNC Day One Wrap Up
This is a preview from Tuesday morning’s The Daily Shot newsletter. Subscribe here free of charge.
There were fireworks yesterday afternoon on the floor of the Republican National Convention. At one point, the body was set to vote on the rules for the convention. A group of delegates, headed by Sen. Mike Lee and Ken Cuccinelli, were seeking to unbind the delegates from voting for Donald Trump on the first ballot. According to the current rules, they needed a majority from seven state delegations to request a roll call vote on the matter. They had nine.
But Arkansas Congressman Steve Womack, who was presiding, only took a voice vote. When the Never Trumpers started shouting for a roll call, Womack fled the stage. He came back several minutes later and said that three states had withdrawn their petitions (it’s unknown which three) and so they only needed a voice vote. Lee was not pleased, saying, “There is no precedent for this in the rules of the Republican National Convention. We are now in uncharted territory. Somebody owes us an explanation. I have never seen the chair abandoned like that. They vacated the stage entirely.”
While it looks like the “Free the Delegates” movement has been stopped, Kendal Unruh, the Colorado delegate who got the ball rolling, said, “Stay tuned. There’s a Plan B.” (It’s also not impossible that they could find a judge to slap an injunction on the rules adoption.)
After that, things yesterday were more … normal. (Well, as “normal” as they can be at a convention where Willie “Duck Dynasty” Robertson, Scott Baio, and Antonio Sabado Jr. were featured speakers.)
Last night’s theme was “Make America Safe Again.” Speakers on security issues included Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy and his wife, who met on MTV’s “The Real World”; Rudy Giuliani who gave a very excited, gesture-heavy speech about how cops are being gunned down and how everything is going to hell; Sen. Tom Cotton, who talked about, like, national security and stuff; retired Gen. Michael Flynn who attacked both Hillary Clinton and President Obama; and Sen. Joni Ernst, who didn’t come on until after 11 pm EST, so she missed her prime-time speaking slot.
But the big speech of the evening was given by Melania Trump, who was introduced by her husband in a most Trumpian way. This was Melania’s chance to present herself to America and make a big splash. She talked about how great her husband is and how much he values diversity. Though portions of the speech seemed somewhat familiar.
Unfortunately for Joni Ernst, after the Trumps finished, and Gen. Flynn droned on and on, the crowd started to clear out, so she really got the short end of the stick. But in all reality, there’s no following Scott Baio.
This is a preview from Tuesday morning’s The Daily Shot newsletter. Subscribe here free of charge.
Published in General
Okay I’m just going to ask it. Who is Scott Baio?
Never saw that show, but I do recognize him from Arrested Development. So, the best celebrity Trump could muster was Bob Loblaw? Wasn’t this going to be a show spectacular? He couldn’t get some dancers, or magicians? Was his speech at least entertaining? Did he deliver whatever his TV catchphrase was? I assume he had a catch phrase cause the show looks old. Like, before I was born old…and shows back then had catchphrases because the writers were lazy.
…aaaand the YouTube video comparison is up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8f9ZXHHdZ0
I’m voting for Baio. He skews younger.
No catchphrase that I can recall. He was a recurring character on Happy Days that skewed to the teen demo and thus got his own short lived spinoff.
I was very aggravated at the network coverage. All of them thought I would rather watch their anchors interview nobody, than watch what was going on stage. I got really pissed with they cut away just as Marcus Luttell was starting his speech. I finally found CSpan on an non-HD channel.
Watched it on C-Span. There were some very genuine moments, mostly from the ‘real’ people who spoke. Also, I did not know the Rick Perry/ Marcus Luttrell connection, so looked it up and now have even more respect for Perry, who I’ve always had a soft spot for. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/for-rick-perry-and-the-lone-survivor-a-father-son-relationship/2015/04/29/4c8cb0da-ed5e-11e4-8abc-d6aa3bad79dd_story.html
I want to like Joni Ernst, but she needs to watch that voice, her delivery, and her cadence, otherwise she’s going to turn into the second coming of Hillary Clinton, speech-wise.
Can’t get too worked up about the Melania flap. All the prospective ‘first spouses’ seem to give pretty much the same speech, although perhaps Bill’s will be different. Donald’s introduction of his wife must be the shortest Trump speech on record.
Re: The shenanigans on the floor, I guess the only people Republicans feel safe strong arming are other Republicans. Too bad they can’t save some of that attitude for the Senate.
Is there a convention? I can’t find it on TV, …well, I am not really looking. Sounds like there were 2-3 really good speakers.
Has this whole thing already peaked?
And Kim Kardashian wants to know – “Who is Scott Baio?”
It appears that the choice some Republicans made not to attend the convention might have been a very good decision. There is a good chance that defeat has been snatched from the jaws of victory. The lesson for the RNC is that having more Republican candidates running for President than there are registered Republicans in Manhattan is not going to win you an election.
The 2015-16 GOP primary contest was not a problem of too many candidates, though it allowed a disruptor to stand out more.
The problem was none of the candidates rose on his own. Bush went broad, Rubio went conservative, Ted went evangelical, and Donald tossed the tables and chairs. No candidate seemed to stir passion in the ranks for more than a solid 20% until the other 5-6 leaders began to falter. (Yes, each candidate seemed to hover above 20% for some weeks – and then slid back down until Trump let loose and focused the arc light on him).
And when the strong, but not strong enough, emerged they were too easily charactured as “ly’n” or “little” or “low energy” or “disappointing” or “sad.” Their own deficiencies stopped them from overcoming what was very primitive criticism – mounted by Trump and in some cases, Christie.
No one was as good as we had hoped. Electable – possibly. But as good as we hoped? No. And unlike good wine they did not get better with time – see Bush, Cruz, Rubio, etc. They all lost steam, stepped in it, and fumbled. Recall Rubio’s New Hampshire debate – hello? Anyone home?
Our problem was the dream team was a dreamy team if you combined the best parts of the non-Trump candidates together. But individually, they were not that strong – more a dream. Pick any three of the 17 who ran and combine their best features – that candidate would have won!!!
Yes, it’s small beer, but, seriously, how bad is Trump’s campaign that they turn the fluffiest bit of the convention into another controversy? You can’t blame the media or Never Trumpers for this one. Apparently their feet are the only targets the Trump people can hit.
Prospective members, we aren’t all this shallow and cynical about Trump and the prospects for victory in 2016.
[redacted personal attacks]
Join the Rabble Alliance on the member feed and fight these nevertrumpers.
Try it for a month. It’s free.
Come for the fight, stay for the gloating and shadenfreude when Trump wins in November!
P.S. The guy who wrote this also thinks the new Ghostbusters is a riot. Just so you know…
All were flawed. All candidates are. None are as flawed as Trump. The big problem was tactical – they listened to the experts, but their experience couldn’t account for Trump’s gravity-defying flubber. They all wanted to be the one to take down Trump in the end (if he didn’t implode first) and so spent all their efforts hitting each other. Perhaps if they had wet their knives against Trump first, things would have ended differently. Then again the Trumper is a stubborn beast, seemingly immune to unpleasant truths, so who knows if anything could have stopped them.
Seriously!? You went for Joanie loves Chachi over Charles in Charge?
The world doesn’t even make sense to me anymore!
In order for something to peak, there needs to be a high point….
I’m not sure who was in charge of selecting the speakers. Marcus Luttrell was fine. Martha McSally should have been in the prime time line-up as a speaker. Read her bio. She is running for Congress again. That gives you two combat veterans. Don’t need to see Duck Dynasty, Don’t need to see Cha Chi. The Trump organization needs to mend some fences and they can do that by highlighting Republican candidates that are running for national office.
John Kasich didn’t show up, get Paul Ryan to speak. He won’t feel the urge to hug everyone in the hall. Donald Trump has won the nomination but last night was somewhat of a disaster. The RNC should be showcasing some of their Congressional talent.
“They hit with it with their steely knives, but just could not kill the beast….”
I loved Bob Loblaw!
But would you support Loblaw for President?
Lawyer Bob Loblaw in 2016! He is very good.
Arrested Convention….