I have to admit upfront that I didn’t make it all the way through Donald Trump’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention. When it comes to political theater, I usually only have enough focus for about 30 minutes before I start checking e-mail, texting my kids or flipping channels to see whether the Red Sox are winning. There was never a chance I’d catch the whole 76 minutes of Trump’s speech.
But I did watch it. I even made it to the 45 minute mark, which is why I was dumbfounded to see it described as “a dark speech” in the next day’s news cycle on realclearpolitics.com and as “vengeful” by CBS anchorman, Scott Pelley, whose awesome voice has enticed me into a man-crush. Dark? Vengeful? Huh? Donald Trump is Darth Vader? That is not the speech I heard. Not even close. And–to be blunt– I have no sympathy for the Devil, i.e., Trump’s desire to be the Leader of the Free World, nor do I support it.
I knew last June 16 that I wouldn’t be voting for Mr. Trump, and, like most people in the country, I am still scratching my scalp about his remarkable success in the primary run to be the Republican nominee. It almost defies logic.
I also knew immediately this past Thursday night that his convention speech was a success (never mind the 46 minutes beyond my normal attention span). It was not dark, angry or vengeful. It WAS typically Trumpy, though with far more complete sentences and fewer vacuous adjectives than usual–teleprompters aren’t all bad. If you were on the conservative fence about Donald J. Trump, he delivered enough to comfort you. If you hated the Man, then, well, you hate him even more, but be careful in how you understand his speech.
There was a nod to compassion for immigrants: granted, not the nasty illegal types, DREAMers, or those from his heretofore unreleased list of terrorist supporting countries, but the other respectable immigrants, who have been properly vetted and don’t rape and murder. There was a nod to international cooperation, as long as it isn’t predicated on the U.S. going above and beyond the meager contributions of its partners. There was an (expected) nod to the public service of our police, who, as a category of citizens, has indeed come under questionable media attack in recent years. There was a (also expected, yet wonderfully ironic) nod to the need to level a political playing field that favors the super-rich. I hadn’t appreciated the Billionaire’s eagerness to speak for the disenfranchised plumber. There was (as expected) a paucity of details about how he is going to make America great again. But dammit, he will. Be skeptical if you want, but this is going to resonate with a lot of people.
The Donald has branded himself as the candidate who “tells it like it is”. When the President, the presumptive Democrat nominee and a large section of the press start picking nits about Trump’s political credentials, the absent specifics of his plans and his misguided interpretation of crime statistics, they are only adding fuel to his fire. These Dems are people who are out of touch. Despite all their populist rhetoric, they are out of touch.
In fact, Obama lacked the CV of a President. In fact, people are worried about the reach of ISIS into the everyday safety of US citizens even if violent crime has been on decline. In fact, Hilary Clinton has a credibility problem. In fact, we all benefit from the police in our communities. Trump says these things. Clinton does not, or she uses more caveats than the typical mid-westerner can stomach when she talks about them at all.
I heard nothing dark, nor vengeful, in the Donald’s words. I just heard the Donald, who has been regularly connecting with the electorate over the last year, or at least, an important part of it that the Dems ignore or despise. For crying out loud, who doesn’t want people to be happily employed, safe from terrorism, confident in the integrity of government, not shooting each other in the streets, committed to racial harmony. If this is dark and vengeful…
No wonder that I only have a half hour political attention span. One candidate is dangerously full of himself and the other is in dangerously dysfunctional denial.