Posted on 08/28/2020 6:26:17 AM PDT by SJackson
A Democrat shares his thoughts on the RNC -- and makes an intriguing prediction.
I watched the second night of the Republican National Convention the same way you fall in love or go bankrupt: gradually, but then suddenly stricken by a strange and somewhat inexplicable premonition. It was this: Donald John Trump is going to win in November, and win big.
Yeah, I know all about the polls. I understand the deep distaste many Americans, including some traditional Republican voters, feel for the president. I am well aware of the criticism of his conduct in handling COVID-19, or the riots following George Floyds death, or any number of issues. And yet, as Trumps first surprise election ought to have taught us by now, when it comes to modern American politics, the only principle that truly matters is the Ooga Chaka principle: We vote for the candidate who gets us hooked on a feeling and high on believing.
Last week, the Democrats used their convention to deliver three key messages: Joe Biden is a very decent person; Joe Biden is not Donald Trump, who is not a very decent person; and, being both a very decent person and not-Donald-Trump, Joe Biden is passionate about amplifying the voices of women and minorities, which is one important way to prove both your decency and your not-Trumpiness.
Who, precisely, might get hooked by these messages, and on what feeling? That Biden is a decent person is indisputable anywhere outside the airless quarters of the most quarrelsome partisans. That he shares little with the man he hopes to defeat is obviousby now, Trumps fans and detractors alike have very few misconceptions about the mans character. That leaves us with the DNCs heavy schmear of identity politics, a sentiment that doubtless resonates with the partys educated, affluent base but says very little to those weary Americans who wonder why their cities are burning and why on earth anyone would ever want to defund the police.
The RNC, on the other hand, had a much more hearty offering on hand. It had no actors, singers, comedians, billionaires, academics, or former presidents present to offer perfectly polished paeans to character. Instead, it had people of faith affirming the singular importance of safeguarding the freedom of religion; immigrants affirming the notion, not controversial until very recently, that an American citizenship was an exceptional honor, not a universal right; blue-collar workers affirming the all-American reliance on small businesses, not tech behemoths; law enforcement officials affirming the foundational truth that, in America, when we disagree, we talk things over, not burn things down; and African Americans affirming the belief, central to the thinking of Martin Luther King Jr. and entirely alien to the current crop of race hustlers, that its the content of ones character, not the color of ones skin, that ought to matter.
In other words, whereas one party had the same narrow dogma repeated verbatim with very little variation, the other haddare we say it?diversity: of gender and of race and of experience, but also, more importantly, of interests and ideas.
This is not to say that watching both conventions will get a sizable number of voters to stop worrying and learn to love Donald Trump. But it is to say that its becoming increasingly more clear that the Democrats real problem isnt the partys aging candidate or its rambunctious left flank but, rather, its relationship with reality itself.
A party seriously interested in recapturing the White House wouldve done well to launch its bid by drafting a road map that roughly corresponds to Americas territory. It wouldve benefited from going long on big ideas and short on big personalities. It wouldve sought to vigorously court the millions who rejected it last time around, choosing instead to bet on an imperfect upstart. The Democrats orated, emoted, and fixated on nothing but the orange-haired object of their obsession.
To make matters worse, if you were watching the convention on TVas fewer and fewer Americans do these handheld, device-driven daysyou were treated to the dizzying but not altogether unpleasant experience of seeing the talking heads on cable news ask you to believe them rather than your own lying eyes. To hear the pundits tell it, the RNC is one part Thunderdome, one part plantation owners meeting, a series of dark and stormy nights dedicated to hating anyone or anything that isnt white, rich, and smug. Examples are plentiful and sordid, but heres one: After suing CNN and settling for an undisclosed sum, Nicholas Sandmann, the Kentucky high school student who was portrayed as a baby Grand-Wizard-in-training by our malicious media, appeared last night to tell his story. He was polite, earnest, and engaging but that didnt stop our moral and intellectual betters from once again telling a very different story. Sandmann, sneered one cable news stalwart, was a snot nose entitled kid who was best ignored. That stalwart? Joe Lockhart, of CNN. Theres no better way to describe the last four years of American journalism than the mantra coined decades ago by Seinfelds showrunners: No hugging, no learning. And, like Seinfeld, all MSNBC, CNN, and their likes can produce these days are shows about nothing.
For better or worse, Americans want somethinganythingelse. Many dislike Donald Trump, and so will not vote for him no matter what. But many more, when in the privacy of the voting booth, will do what voters so often do and vote for the party that looksand feelsmore like them, and that can get them high on believing in an America that looks like the one they know and lovean imperfect but good nation ever slouching toward a brighter tomorrow. These last two nights, the RNC has made a very convincing case why that party may very well be the party of Abraham Lincoln and Donald Trump.
“I understand the deep distaste many Americans, including some traditional Republican voters, feel for the president.”
And THAT is where your wrong
But how will this author vote?
“The Democrat’s real problem... is its relationship with reality itself.”
And there you go.
Biden is a decent person?! This guy is an idiot. Biden is a weapons-grade asshole.
Indisputable? Please, then, allow me to enlighten you about the sexual-assaultist-in-chief that you want to elevate to the highest office in the land.
Over the years i have not been a big convention watcher. The RNC conventions of ‘08 and ‘12 were a disaster. During the ‘04 convention i was actually out in the streets of NYC with groups like Protest Warrior as well as a few Freepers, counter protesting the LW scum.
I watched videos of the first night of the RNC. I watched most of the second night. I was glued to the TV nights three and four. I cannot tell you how proud i am of our President and the convention they pieced together.
The convention, which should’ve been about President Donald Trump, was about America and Americans, extraordinary and ordinary. But that’s why we loves this man and need him to win again.
That almost has to have been written by a closet Trump supporter, but regardless, it’s very well written and really does expose the elephant in the room.
This is as good as any brief assessment of this country that I've ever seen.But I might "excellent" rather than "good".
“...That Biden is a decent person is indisputable...”
Say WHAT?
Except when he is fondling little girls and sniffing every females hair!
Except when he pins a woman up against the wall and penetrates her vagina with his finger (= RAPE, look it up!).
Except when he sells out the United States of America and the office of vice president to CHINA for MONEY!
Decent? STAND UP CHUCK!
I can’t remember spending more than a few minutes watching any convention.
I watched every minute of this one.
I liked the speeches by “nobodies” much better than rambling drivel by career politicians of the past.
Given the albatross of Biden’s senility and the disaterous lawlessness in Democrat controlled ( Governor, Mayor,DA) area things are looking bad for the Democrats in an honest election. Hence they will activate “Operation Daley”. Stop the rioting and begin the ballot harvesting. Rig elections by any means necessary in battleground states and close Congressional races. Mayor Daley changed history when his open Chicago fraud delivered Illinois and the Presidency in the 1960 election to Kennedy.
Pfft! We all know..for socialism of course!
Thanks SJackson.
Liel Leibovitz: I watched the second night of the Republican National Convention the same way you fall in love or go bankrupt: gradually, but then suddenly stricken by a strange and somewhat inexplicable premonition. It was this: Donald John Trump is going to win in November, and win big... it's becoming increasingly more clear that the Democrats' real problem isn't the party's aging candidate or its rambunctious left flank but, rather, its relationship with reality itself... That leaves us with the DNC's heavy schmear of identity politics, a sentiment that doubtless resonates with the party's educated, affluent base but says very little to those weary Americans who wonder why their cities are burning and why on earth anyone would ever want to defund the police.
The author still manages to regurgitate some of the very same false talking points that pass for thinking among people who regard themselves as more educated than the Deplorables.
Nice article.
I totally understand where you are coming from, but consider the term ‘traditional’ here in the context of ‘Republican’.
The GOP has stood by and let us get robbed, beaten, insulted, and see our children put at risk. They’ve stood by and allowed the entire education system, including universities, to become expensive re-education camps.
THOSE Republicans (McCain, Romney - both presidential candidates) have a deep distate for him. The current GOP would have him dead.
The convention was a family affair and no real GOP present at all. None. Rand Paul, Giuliani, some CANDIDATES. Governors with a full set of balls (Kristi Noem, and consider the irony there for a moment).
Mayors, police officers, widows, even three-time convicted felons and the agent who arrested him.
I have to say, I totally agree with the author’s statement here. The mainstream GOP, the party itself, would rather kill Donald Trump than support him. I fully believe that.
“That Biden is a decent person is indisputable anywhere outside the airless quarters of the most quarrelsome partisans.”
Only someone who is entirely focused on image, rather than reality, would say this. Biden indisputably plays the role a decent guy on TV. Well, except when he gets his feelings bruised by one of the little people, in which case he starts calling them names.
Trump = make America great again (and keep it great)
Bidet = make America a hellhole
If the vote were held today, hed probably vote Trump. No telling who hell vote for when the voting starts in another 6 weeks.
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