Thoughts from a Democrat watching the GOP Convention
The first night visuals at the GOP convention were unequivocal. There were more old white people in attendance than at a KKK rally. Speaking of the KKK, the night was filled with racist dog whistles. Allusions to giving away “free stuff” was a blatant slap to the face of America’s poor minorities.
The “Law and Order” candidate promised to “make America safe again” obviously alluding to the safety of white people. Nothing was said about protecting Black men and children from police brutality. Before the middle of the program, they had formed a lynch mob, targeting Hillary Clinton on the basis of Trumped-up charges in the best traditions of the Jim Crowe south.
As an interesting side show, they dragged a bed-ridden Bob Dole to center stage where he looked like he was auditioning for the cadaver role in “Weekend at Bernie’s”. Then the incredibly obtuse Rudy Giuliani got to wave his arms violently and gin up hate speech against Hillary Clinton.
At last, the evening concluded with Melania Trump giving a speech worthy of a First Lady. The only fly-in-the-ointment was that Michele Obama time-travelled from 2008 to 2016 to plagiarize the best parts of the speech and then traveled back in time to 2008 without raising any suspicions. Republican Congressman Trey Gowdy and Jason Chaffetz promise to launch an exhaustive investigation into the matter and expect that it will lead to an indictment of Hillary Clinton.
The second night, the Republicans offered more of what America needs most, hate. Following the coronation of King Donald, Chris Christie convened a kangaroo court with old, white, Republican lemmings acting as judge and jury, and found Hillary Clinton “guilty” of a series of, again, Trumped-up charges. Republicans may not love Trump, but they are united in their hatred of Hillary Clinton. By the end of the night, the Republicans appeared to overdose on their own hatred repeatedly chanting “lock her up” and making statements to the media about executing her.
The third night should have been titled “make America boring again.” If you snoozed during the Scott Walker or the Rick Scott speech, you didn’t miss anything. Walker couldn’t even inspire the crowd with the popular “Hillary for Prison” trope. Mike Pence, the new VP nominee, ended the evening and was the ultimate of boring. The only highlight of the night was Ted Cruz being booed by his fellow knuckle-draggers for not endorsing Trump.
The hate-fest came to a merciful conclusion with the acceptance speech of the Donald. He promised not to lie, then proceeded to lie and distort fact for over an hour. Fact checkers found eight to ten pages of distortions. He combined lies and a long list of American failures, but assured us that the magic of his election will solve all our problems. He does not need a plan or strategy. His good intentions alone will save America.
My take on this embarrassing spectacle? I’d prefer to go to prison with Hillary than to go to hell with Trump.
Terry Stulce served two combat tours in Vietnam, one with the 101st Airborne and one with the 69th Border Rangers. He was an LCSW and owner of Cleveland Family Counseling before retirement in 2009.
Editor’s note: In the interest of balance, next week we will have a Republican’s take on the Democratic national convention.