The Republican National Convention concluded Thursday night with Donald Trump’s acceptance speech which, at 92 minutes, was the longest presidential nomination speech since 1956 for the Republicans and 1948 for the Democrats, the years the length of presidential nomination speeches began to be recorded.
In fact, the top three spots for longest presidential nomination acceptance speech goes to Trump, with this year taking the top spot, followed by his acceptance speeches in 2020 and 2016.
It could have been cut by two-thirds. It was a rambling speech, one that if I had to listen to again would be torturous.
I would rather redo giving birth without anesthesia.
We admire and need great American speeches. Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address was three minutes and it defined a nation. Thursday night was an embarrassment. I’ve heard better speeches from people whose native language isn’t English.
Children have given better speeches.
It was Trump being Trump. He’s the emperor, and his words take up a lot of space.
He treated the event like a campaign rally. Some delegates taped their right ear with a bandage in solidarity. Gaze upwards, however, and you’ll see it was a national and international event with all the major news outlets, major city papers, and international media recording his every word, and he botched it. He didn’t need anyone interpreting a bad performance. He did that all by himself.
He made an analogy between Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs and illegal migrants coming from insane asylums. By and large Americans support immigration reform, but the message could have been conveyed better. He claimed he could have avoided the war in Ukraine and Israel. (Both countries were attacked but only Israel is fully supported.) He said he can avoid a war with a phone call. Well, if he can stop wars that easily, this sounds like a prophecy in the Bible, and it’s not the good guy.
He covered topics ad nauseam, returning to them after it seemed like maybe. he. was. finished.
He again challenged the results of the last presidential election. In between talking about Iran, he said, “And then we had that horrible, horrible result that we’ll never let happen again. The election result. We’re never going to let that happen again. They used Covid to cheat. We’re never going to let it happen again.” Three times he repeated a refrain. Is he going to challenge the election result, the manner of voting, or something else? With Trump, you’re in for a wild ride.
At some point during the very long speech, I began to play cards with my daughter, who had been patiently waiting to spend time with me. It was that boring and that rambling.
I think almost any other candidate would have had more humility, more preparedness and more consideration of people’s time. You’re interviewing for the position of leader of the free world. You want a speech that will resonate. Someone should have tapped him on the shoulder, the way people are tapping Biden on the shoulder, and given him honest advice.
The Republican Party, at least, had due process for nominations. In the end, they chose a candidate who didn’t participate in any debate in the primaries. He didn’t have to. He had been campaigning for four years, (something I supported, before Trump even came on the scene, as an improvement in our electoral process.) The problem was that on the campaign trail, he was the sole person at the podium. He was never challenged. The primary debates would have changed that, but Republican voters decided to choose the man behind the curtain rather than the nominees on the front lines. Result? In the last presidential debate, his performance wasn’t great. What, exactly, is a “black job?” Then there was the line about Biden not firing enough people. This was meme material, but Joe Biden’s stares into space was even better meme material.
And the Democrats? They didn’t even have primary debates. Democratic primary contender Dean Phillips raised concerns about Biden’s age but was rebuffed. Just one debate would have shown the cracks behind Biden’s orthodontist smile. Instead, there was silence among the ranks, even as video surfaced of Biden being disoriented. I imagine the Trump circle rubbed their palms together. Their opponent was wounded. Easy prey.
The obvious failures by the Democratic elite means anti-Trump Republicans, Independents, and some Democrats are weighing a candidate who sympathizes with autocrats like Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungarian President Victor Orban. Is this the party of Ronald Reagan? He must be rolling in his grave.
Will people vote for Trump because of the circus within the Democratic Party?
Democrats are floating around a replacement for Biden, an optimistic sign. Political parties and presidential nominees leak candidates to the media so they can assess how many skeletons are in each candidate’s closet, which helps them pick their candidate. If elected, Biden may be pushed out by Article 25 of the Constitution. If it is still against his will, it would be a sanctioned coup. The vice president would become president, and nobody I’ve talked to locally wants that.
This is one hell of a spot for some voters to be in.
Trump’s speech can best be summed up by David Brooks, a moderate columnist for the New York Times.
“If he had given the first 20 minutes to the discussion of what happened in Butler, Pennsylvania, and then done like 10 or 15 minutes of policy, he’d be cruising to victory. The remaining 70 minutes of the speech was mind boggling for me. All he had to do was give a B performance, but there is no cure for narcissism. It’s not just boring. I’m fine with being bored. I went to college. It was a reflection of the character flaw that marred his presidency, which [is] that he’s self-indulgent, he’s self-absorbed, he’s narcissistic, and he’s undisciplined…..So, what we have now are two parties competing to lose the election, and they’re doing an outstanding job, but somebody is going to win…. I have to believe that Joe Biden, whether he watched this speech or not, will know about it, will watch bits of it, and if I were Joe Biden, would I think, “Oh, I’m afraid of that. I’ve got to drop out of this race.” I don’t think that’s how a normal human being thinks. So, I think Biden is more likely to be in.”
Then, there was this exchange between PBS Newshour anchor Geoff Bennett and Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart.
Bennett: Jonathan, what do you make of this asymmetry, where Joe Biden has this disastrous debate performance and there are calls for him to exit the race. Donald Trump gives, I think it’s fair to say, in many ways, rambling, 90-minute speech, and that’s accepted by the Republican base.
Capehart: It’s accepted by the Republican base, but it’s also accepted by us in the media. Quite frankly, I would love it if folks in our profession would treat this speech the way they treated Joe Biden. This speech was not presidential. This speech was not unity. This speech was hateful. It was not unifying. And quite honestly, if Democrats don’t get their act together, they’re going to prove David right. Both campaigns are out to lose the campaign.
In any other election year, Trump’s performance would have been a major setback, but because the bar is set so low, he gets a pass. Simply stringing sentences together is an accomplishment.
We’re way better than that.
