[OFFICIAL] Republican National Convention 2020 thread

The Republican convention is absolutely entertaining. It isn't for the reasons that Republicans would like it to be, but it has been hilarious.

If George W Bush hadn't proven that voting for comedy over principle can't work and we don't have enough safeguards in place to allow that, it would be hilarious to have these guys in charge some more.

I can see why Putin wants this crowd running things for his most powerful ally. He's probably laughing even harder than I am since Trump is actually such a Putin fan-boy. It's like if during the Rockets playoffs last year James Harden had asked Curry and Thompson to only post up in the lane every offensive possession and Curry and Thompson convinced the Warriors that was a good plan.

It is crazy the production value and talent the Republicans have brought. It's like a circus, but not the Ringling Brothers. It's like some roadside freak show instead.

How did our nation get here?

 

Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) tweeted at 8:14 PM on Mon, Aug 24, 2020: Thread of Simpsons GIFs that describe the RNC https://t.co/fTucZgTV68 () Get the official Twitter app at https://twitter.com/download?s=13

 

LOL at these responses.

 

If you say so.
Btw, you don't think the mess being allowed to continue in Democrat controlled cities hasn't been noticed? That, is going to backfire bigtime.
The blowback will rock the Dems.

 

LOL, keep digging. Nothing you say matters to me. Trump's an incompetent fool, liar, and a con who will go down in history as a HUGE failure.

 

The Trump family Grifters are scary people.

 

Word on the street is the campaign has a "cocaine acquisition clause" in the fundraising for dip$hit Junior. Many people are talking about it...many.

The first night of the Republican National Convention was deeply, disturbingly weird

Most of us knew the Republican National Convention was going to be deeply weird before we tuned in; expecting normalcy from this kind of event is like opening your mouth next to a UV light and expecting it to cure you of coronavirus. Nevertheless, what we saw tonight was so especially weird that it’s worth discussing beyond the usual, “Wow, was that a fever dream?” or, “Did you get anything from that word salad?” Because this was a glimpse of what we’re in for over the next four years if Trump continues the usual trend and wins himself a second term — and it’s both darkly funny and horribly dangerous.

Who to mention first? Natalie Harp, the woman who survived a diagnosis of terminal bone cancer because of experimental treatment and who claimed that “when Democrats say free healthcare, they mean mar1juana, opioids” and “death panels” for the disabled? Representative Matt Gaetz, who referred to Democrats as “woketopians” (what?) ready to “disarm you, unlock the prisons” and “invite MS13 to live nextdoor” (a racist dog-whistle if ever I heard one)? The speaker opening the convention who reeled off a list of “Democrat policies” which would harm the country, none of which were actual Democrat policies? Former UN ambassador Nikki Haley saying that “Joe Biden is good for Iran and Isis, great for communist China”? Don Jr claiming that “the left” is trying to “cancel” the Founding Fathers? The nurse from a 2,000-person town in Virginia who said “I don’t want the media taking my story and twisting it so let me be clear: Donald Trump saved countless lives” during the pandemic, as the death rate surpassed 177,000? Or perhaps the St Louis couple who famously pointed their guns at Black Lives Matter protesters showing up to complain they’re facing charges and claim Democrats want to “abolish the suburbs”? Oh, I don’t know, Mom, don’t make me choose!

Now we know why convalescent plasma was suddenly given FDA approval this morning: it was central to quite a few speeches vaunting Trump as the hero of Covid-19 (“without him, millions would have died,” said Natalie Harp, without irony.) The fact that this important medical turning-point was timed perfectly for the beginning of the Republican convention really should give us all pause. Plenty have opined that a vaccine might be rushed through right before Election Day in November for the same reasons. Trump’s buddy Vladimir Putin made a similar PR move himself in August, announcing that the country had won the race for an inoculation despite the fact that only 24 percent of Russian doctors say they would take the vaccine themselves — so, y’know, it has precedent. Still, it beats injecting bleach into your veins.

The most regularly repeated lie tonight (and yes, there were a few) was that Joe Biden wants to “defund the police”. Again and again, speakers came back to the idea that anarchy would reign and police officers would be stripped of their badges the second a President Biden and VP Harris entered the White House. It’s a fun little straw man fallacy for a convention, but it’s going to be difficult to keep up during the head-to-head debates, when Biden can quite simply say, “No, that’s not my policy” and when Kamala can tweet about her long career in law enforcement. One wonders whether this is the full strategy for Trump, or if he’s keeping something back for then. Because if this is what his plan really looks like — “Joe Biden, ageing middle-of-the-road centrist, as proxy for radical socialism” — then he’s as likely to get re-elected as Trump University is to start rivaling Harvard in the world university stakes.

But what would the man himself have to say on the matter? In an unorthodox move, the President announced ahead of time that he would address the nation during every single night of the RNC (as opposed to making one long speech at the end, a la Joe Biden at the DNC or every other incumbent and challenger in history.) He’d chosen to take the prime 10pm slot for himself each night as well, according to press releases from the Republican Party. We waited for the promised speech to arrive — and it didn’t. The Donald did appear in a couple of quick pieces to camera about rescuing hostages and honoring postal workers, but ultimately did nothing out of the ordinary and nothing different to what Biden did during the Democratic convention. I won’t pretend it wasn’t a disappointment. But then Kimberly Guilfoyle rattled out ten minutes about the coming apocalypse in the style of a military sergeant and I was somewhat satiated. Hot on her heels, her boyfriend Don Jr made so many violently gestured points so fast that I only got half a second to laugh at the phrase “President Trump’s policies have been like rocket fuel to the economy” (finally, something we can agree on, I thought to myself, as I poked my head out my window in Brooklyn to watch the American economy burn to the ground in a spectacular fireball of coronavirus.) The joint contributions of Don ’n’ Kim were a winning combination for anyone who, like me, is a great fan of the cultural movement of surrealism.

What will dyed-in-the-wool, middle-America Republicans think of what happened tonight, though? Well, for people who complained about a “doom and gloom convention” from the Democrats, the GOP sure did bash the pulpit about hellfire like nobody else. Tonight they certainly succeeded in making me believe in a dystopia just over the horizon — and I presume they got a few others there as well. Unfortunately, as the speech tempo went out of control and the wild-eyed cries about radical socialist policies like believing in climate change became increasingly frequent, I started to think the dystopia might be one of their own creation.

In other words: I’m not sure I’m the only one to come away uninspired, slightly frightened, and hopeful that what I just saw was an elaborate piece of performance art rather than a political convention.

 

He is nothing but a lie spewing con man. It's sad that to this day, after over 20,000 lies, people still believe him.

 

I'm fed up with his lying BS. I have never felt this way about any President before, and can't wait till he's gone for good.

 

Kids: stay in school. Pay attention.

RIF. Reading is Fundamental. (Not, "FIF: FOX is Fundamental.")

EDIT: I saw clips from the RNC (watching would give me stomach ulcers and brain tumors). What did Trump Jr snort or inject before going out on stage? And his girlfriend Kimmy Guilly: just angry or bat**** crazy?

The FOXification of the United States.

 

Here is a really great speech at the RNC by Cuban immigrant and now Florida businessman Maximo Alvarez:

 

Something occurred to me last night - Trump surrendered a life of luxury and ease to become POTUS.
Either he thinks he can genuinely help this country move forward or it is just an exercise in narcissism.
I tend to think it is mostly the former as he has children and grandkids and obviously wants to leave a legacy as well.
So it is reasonable to assume he cares for America and its people.
He said something last night that stuck with me - that it is success that will unite people and I agree.
This obviously includes success for all ethnicities else nothing is achieved.
I hope he succeeds in his efforts.

 

Watched a bit of Senior, the speeches of , Junior, the Black Senator, the Indian American from South Carolina who used to be our UN Rep, the Latina who used to be married to Gov Newsome of California.
The black guy did not come from the elite background of the DP two black senators, Kamala (tenured profs major universities) and Booker IBM execs. Their Indian American is 100 Indian American , the Latina's parents were both immigrants. I'm waiting for a gay Republican, but that might still have to be 2024.
They matched the Dems identity for identity and attacked them constantly from the right as "radical sleepy Joe Biden who wants to turn America into a "socialist utopia" (sounds ok to me) and from the left as having shipped all the jobs overseas under NAFTA and the TPP which Obama invested so much capital in, but lost. They decried all the frequent wars and railed against China about as much as the Dems rail against Russia. They decried the cosmopolitan elite of Wall Street and Hollywood. "Don't think you are not good enough". In a generic way they mentioned poverty almost as much as the Dems. Life was sure great in America before the China Plague no talk of Covid, or Corona.
I saw the direct lies from Senior (par for the course) probably cheats at golf, too. Saw lots of at best half lies and out of context quotes.

I sure hope enough of the monied elite has tired of Trump and ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN can overpower Fox and their near monopoly on AM radio. The internet is probably a tie. I hope enough of the old folks and essential workers in Arizona, Florida etc are scared enough of Covid 19 to vote against Trump.

 

I see I rated a mention in her post above but didn't bother to look at her little vid.
She tends to be very immature so I could guess that vid was likely indicative of that.

 

You are obviously ignorant of his successes.

 

Thanks for the update...do want to say that the Latina wanted to project that both her parents were immigrants...but one of them was from Puerto Rico. For some reason, this administration keeps thinking that Puerto Ricans aren't American Citizens, but they have been since 1917.

 

The Covid success story? Over 180,000 dead now. Not that it concerns you.