Collective amnesia overtakes Republican National Convention

Donald Trump acknowledges the delegates during the Republican National Convention.

July 17, 2024 10:17 AM PT

MILWAUKEE —

Donald Trump resurfaced at the Republican National Convention, ushered in by a video montage of his jiggle-dancing to the gay anthem “Y.M.C.A.”

Kamala Harris was repeatedly trashed — mockingly referred to as the failed “border czar” — a signal she’s seen as a possible sub for the beleaguered President Biden.

Trump’s erstwhile rival, Nikki Haley, delivered her unqualified endorsement in the “name of unity” — backpedaling from her earlier animus faster than Never-Trumper-turned-running-mate J.D. Vance.

Columnists Mark Z. Barabak and Anita Chabria were in Milwaukee and break down the big events on Day 2 of the RNC.

Chabria: The theme for the convention Tuesday night was “make America safe again,” with lots of talk about how the “woke, Marxist left” loves crime and criminals (that’s from Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana).

The calls for unity were sprinkled like confetti over every speech, but the substance changed little from what we’ve been hearing from MAGA for years: America is in a Democrat-induced spiral. Johnson framed it as a choice between, “the party of self-destruction,” and the party of “peace and prosperity.”

At one point, one speaker suggested that Washington, D.C., was too dangerous to visit. I’m not sure when this particular delusion gained ground (though it certainly started during Black Lives Matter protests), but it’s a popular one.

The big chants of the night were “back the blue,” in support of giving police more power, and “build the wall.”

They really, really want a wall — in no small part to stop the heartbreaking devastation that addiction is inflicting on families in every state. That’s where a lot of the Harris-bashing came in, since Biden charged her with handling the border.

Who’s going to tell them that most fentanyl isn’t walked across the border?

What struck you from Tuesday night, Mark?

Barabak: The collective amnesia that suffused the red, white and blue convention hall.

Trump’s felony conviction in the New York City hush money/election interference case was mentioned once, fleetingly, by reality TV’s Savannah Chrisley.

“Donald J. Trump has only one conviction that matters and that is his conviction to make American great again,” Chrisley said.

Others alluded to Trump’s alleged persecution, to the supposed politicization of the Justice Department and to the ex-president’s “illegal impeachment,” as New York GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik put it, making absolutely no sense. (Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. presided over Trump’s Senate trial and presumably would have said something if the House vote to impeach wasn’t legally kosher.)

But that’s not terribly surprising, and just wait: Democrats will be more than happy to discuss Trump’s criminal record at length at next month’s convention.

What was rather more glaring were attacks on Biden, Harris and those woke Democrats for their refusal to stand with police, not “criminals and rioters.”

Jan. 6? What’s that?

Amid all the signage and back-the-blue exhortations, there was zero mention of the insurrectionists — or “political prisoners,” as Trump describes them — who overran the Capitol and battered and bloodied police, killing one officer, in a failed attempt to overturn the 2020 election.

Chabria: But one thing they haven’t forgotten about is false claims of election fraud. While there is a clear sense from attendees that Trump is on his way to victory, they are also still laying the groundwork to contest a Biden win — so much for law and order.

Trump didn’t speak Tuesday night, but he made a video appearance in addition to his dance mash-up. This one alluded to the well-worn conspiracy that Democrats are allowing undocumented people to enter the country so that they can illegally vote for Biden.

This has been debunked as meritless more times than I can count, but it is considered fact in Trump World — and is the justification for why Jan. 6 was a valid protest. The lack of any proof of pervasive cheating is simply viewed as how sneaky and dangerous the Democrats are.

Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz claimed Democrats had “cynically decided they wanted votes from illegals more than they wanted to protect our children.”

And in his video, Trump promised to return the United States to paper ballots if elected (though election experts have repeatedly warned that paper ballots are more prone to error and tampering). He also sent out a call for Republicans to be on the lookout for wrongdoing.

“Keep your eyes open,” Trump said. “Because these people want to cheat. And they do cheat, and frankly it’s the only thing they do well.”

What else did you take away, Mark?

Barabak: Speakers tried, they really did, to stick to that whole be-nicer thing following Saturday’s attempt on Trump’s life.

But old habits die hard.

Eric Hovde, who’s running for Senate in Wisconsin, issued a plea for the country to come together and rise above partisan politics — so as to heal the divisions created by the awful, radical left.

Ben Carson, who served as Trump’s secretary of Housing and Urban Development, allowed as how we have a president, who, “Well,” he caught himself, “if you can’t saying anything nice, don’t say anything at all.”

Others weren’t so constrained.

Cruz echoed that lax-border conspiracy talk, saying Democrats wanted “votes from illegals more than they wanted to protect our children,” hence killers, rapists and sex traffickers are free to waltz into the country.

Florida GOP Sen. Rick Scott said Republicans are fighting every day to keep the radical Democrats “from destroying our country.”

And then, suddenly, the tone shifted as soon as the major TV networks tuned in for their one-hour of live coverage.

Florida’s other Republican senator, Marco Rubio, delivered a speech filled with sweetness and light.

Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law-and handpicked choice for party co-chair, followed with a rhapsody on how there is more that unites Americans than divides us.

“We all want the country to be great,” she earnestly stated. We just differ on how to make that happen.

Anita, my neck hurts. Did you experience the same kind of whiplash?

Chabria: Yes, there is no doubt much of what happened — especially in the prime time hour, as you point out — was more for the television audience than for those in the room.

There was a clear, forceful push for those undecided voters who may have reservations about a party whose platform centers on dismantling government and bringing religion into law.

So instead of focusing on that, as early speakers did, late night was a lot of talk about how inclusive the Republican Party is (though the delegates are predominately white and old from what I’ve seen).

Nowhere was that push for wobbling voters, especially people of color, more evident to me than in the insane Forgiato Blow/Amber Rose rap video set to the “Ice Ice Baby” beat, played to a stunned audience. No one in the room wanted to see that.

For those of you unfamiliar with Blow, he’s a self-proclaimed MAGA rapper out of Florida. Rose is the ex-wife of rapper Wiz Khalifa and ex-girlfriend of Kanye West. She had a MAGA conversion a few months ago and has now become an outspoken Trump fan.

Rose gave a speech Monday night at the convention in which she claimed, “Donald Trump and his supporters don’t care if you’re Black, white, gay or straight; it’s all love. And that’s when it hit me. These are my people, this is where I belong.”

Of course, many Trump supporters do care about those attributes — especially LGBTQ+ issues. Which makes it all the more baffling and wondrous that this video played.

The original Vanilla Ice song steals a beat from the Queen-David Bowie song “Under Pressure.” Both Queen front man Freddie Mercury and Bowie were queer.

I love that somehow despite the intense push against rights for queer Americans, the Republicans managed to slip the Village People (whose “Y.M.C.A.” is Trump’s favorite dance jam), Bowie and Queen into their lineup.

Maybe it’s a secret message.

Barabak: That’s not the only thing that got weird.

Conventions are often scripted as a getting-to-know-you way to introduce the presidential nominee. But for someone like Trump, who’s been in the public eye for decades, that’s a rather pointless exercise.

Still, for all his familiarity, polls show the real-estate-developer-turned-reality-TV-star-turned-president-turned-comeback-candidate has never been well-liked. So portions of the convention programming have been dedicated to the proposition that, yes, you may know Trump. But you don’t really know him.

Lara Trump used her prime-time slot to extol the nominee as a doting grandfather and loving father-in-law and mentor, doing a not-bad impression of the ex-president calling to offer his encouragement.

Other anecdotes were rather more strange — and strained.

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice spoke of being on an outdoor adventure with Trump’s son, Eric, when his 4x4 blew a tire out in the wilderness. And who changed that blown tire? Eric Trump!

“He taught his kids the right values,” Justice said of the Trump offspring’s prowess with a lug wrench and jack. “Sure sounds like a leader to me.”

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who served a spell as White House press secretary under Trump, recollected one day bringing her 4-year-old son to work and the way he spurned a presidential hug in favor of being in his mother’s arms.

“Because he’s the amazing man he is,” Huckabee said, “he didn’t mind at all.”

That’s some fortitude! If you let a 4-year-old push you around, how will you deal with Vladimir Putin?

Wait. Never mind.