4 Takeaways From Night 2 Of The Republican National Convention

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First lady Melania Trump arrives to speak on the second night of the Republican National Convention from the Rose Garden of the White House on Tuesday.

Evan Vucci/AP

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Evan Vucci/AP

«My deepest sympathy goes out to everyone who has lost a loved one… I know many people are anxious and some feel helpless. I want you to know you are not alone.

The first lady also touched on the racial unrest in the country.

«It is a harsh reality that we are not proud of parts of our history, she said. But Trump added: «I also ask people to stop the violence and looting being done in the name of justice, and never make assumptions based on the color of a person’s skin.

Trump recalled how people underestimated her husband four years ago, and argued he fought then for people who felt alienated from politics and Washington and would do so again in a second term.

And the first lady said what you see is what you get with her husband, and another term means more of the same from the president, who uses social media to vent and opine.

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«Total honesty is what we as citizens deserve from our president, she said. «Whether you like it or not, you always know what he is thinking.

Other speakers sought to credit President Trump for an improved economy. They said his trade deals, tax cuts and deregulation have brought new opportunities. But those speeches glossed over the reality that the economy has been deeply affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Larry Kudlow, President Trump’s top economic adviser, appeared to put the devastating impact of the virus — with more than 20 million still unemployed and many retail and hospitality industries on the verge of collapse — in the rearview mirror. Kudlow said, «We’ve hit a turning point. And now the recovery has begun.

Even though the Trump administration has acknowledged more federal help is needed for individuals and businesses, Kudlow said, «All signs point to a self-sustaining recovery.

He branded the tax cuts «a roaring success and said that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden would reverse all of the GOP’s policies.

Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds praised the administration’s help to businesses and farms during disasters. «Because of President Trump and his leadership, our country is able to bounce back from setbacks and see opportunity grow and thrive.

2. In keeping with this norm-busting convention the RNC program mixed official business with politics

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President Trump hosts a naturalization ceremony for new citizens in a prerecorded video broadcast during the RNC on Tuesday night.

Courtesy of the Committee on Arrangements for the 2020 Republican National Committee via Getty Images

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Courtesy of the Committee on Arrangements for the 2020 Republican National Committee via Getty Images

The president also told the story of Jon Ponder, which Trump said represented «a beautiful testament to the power of redemption. Ponder founded a program for the re-entry of inmates into society after serving a 10-year prison sentence in Nevada for bank robbery. On camera, the president reunited Ponder with Richard Beasley, the FBI agent who arrested and later befriended him. With a reality show flair Trump announced a full pardon for Ponder.

Both episodes blurred the lines between what would typically be considered official White House business and political theater. On Thursday night the president will accept his party’s nomination for a second term on the South Lawn of the White House.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also broke with precedent, becoming the first top U.S. diplomat to participate in a political convention in modern history. He taped a speech in Jerusalem, where he was on a taxpayer-funded trip as part of his duties as secretary of state. In his speech Pompeo noted that the administration took an action that evangelicals who backed Trump in the 2016 election urged for years — moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. Pompeo called the city the «rightful capital of the Jewish homeland.

3. Spotlight on culture wars showed the campaign’s effort to energize Trump’s base

With a deeply divided country and only a small margin of voters still undecided in the final 10 weeks of the campaign, Trump needs his loyal supporters to turn out in November in high numbers. Tuesday’s program featured popular figures who railed about the media for disregarding them and ignoring issues they cared about.

Eric Trump, the president’s second-eldest son, said that in the 2016 election «the silent majority had no one fighting for them — in either party. He lit into the news media, who he said «mocked these patriots – and ‘the flyover states’ in which they lived. They ignored the Trump flags.

Nicholas Sandmann, the MAGA hat-wearing Catholic high school teenager whose interaction with liberal activist Nathan Phillips at a January 2019 protest near the Lincoln Memorial triggered widespread coverage on social and mainstream media, received prime billing at the convention. The circumstances of his encounter with Phillips were inaccurately reported by several major media outlets. Sandmann talked about what he called the experience of being «canceled.

«Canceled is what’s happening to people around this country who refuse to be silenced by the far left, Sandmann said. «Many are being fired, humiliated or even threatened, and often the media is a willing participant. Sandmann delivered his remarks in front of the Lincoln Memorial, and donned a MAGA hat at the end of his speech.

Tiffany Trump, the president’s youngest daughter, said the press and technology platforms misrepresented the true state of the country.

«If you tune in to the media, you get one biased opinion or another, she said. «And if what you share does not fit into the narrative they seek to promote, then it is either ignored or deemed a ‘lie,’ regardless of the truth. This manipulation of what information we receive impedes our freedoms.

4. Republicans gave a big stage to diverse and younger voices as it struggles with the minority and youth vote

The Trump campaign only received 8% of the Black vote in the 2016 election and the GOP’s standing among minority voters has remained low. Efforts to boost support in key battleground states like Michigan and Wisconsin continue, but Democrats argued repeatedly in last week’s convention that the president’s policies have had the most negative impact on Black and Latino communities.

Convention organizers gave some of the prized convention slots to rising stars this week in an effort to counter the Democrats’ narrative.

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron took issue with some of Joe Biden’s comments, which he said assumed the African American community is monolithic.

«Mr. Vice President, look at me. I am Black, Cameron said, addressing Biden directly. «We are not all the same, sir. I am not in chains. My mind is my own, and you can’t tell me how to vote because of the color of my skin.

But Cameron’s influence with Black voters may be undermined by criticism of his office’s investigation of the Breonna Taylor case. The 26-year-old Black woman was fatally shot in March by Louisville police and activists have demanded accountability of local law enforcement.

Giving a national stage to Cameron followed Monday night’s hopeful closing speech from South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the Senate’s only Black Republican. (There are two Black Democrats in the Senate.) Nikki Haley, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations who talked about her immigrant parents from India, was another speaker the party elevated, with many including her on lists of future presidential candidates.