When Donald Trump ran for president four years ago his enemies were foreign, namely illegal immigrants and China. You remember "rapists" coming in from Mexico. However at this year's convention the enemies are now domestic designed to bring fear into the hearts of white suburban voters. He offers up a vision of black rioters taking over cities and "woke" white socialist hordes riding in Joe Biden's Trojan Horse set on creating a dystopia on the Potomac. Given what happened in Kenosha, Wisconsin and Portland, Oregon it might just work. However, unlike prior Republican conventions there was no scare talk about Obama Care. Perhaps going negative on Obama Care does not poll well.
The convention was a made for TV affair with slick production qualities. The producers were wise not to have emcees, unlike the Democratic Convention. This enabled viewers to see the convention unfiltered by TV commentators who normally cut in when an emcee was on stage. The whole production was to portray Trump's "soft side" with respect to gender and race while at the same time aiming to scare the daylights out of the viewers as to what an anti-law and order socialist Biden presidency would mean.
The convention also highlighted that Ivanka, not Don Jr. is the true heir to the Trump throne. Ivanka had the prime speaking spot and she portrayed herself as a key assistant to the President. Her speech overshadowed her father's way too long and boring 70 minute oration.
The convention was designed to obfuscate Trump's criminal negligence with respect to his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic collapse that came with it. (See: https://shulmaven.blogspot.com/2020/05/criminal-negligence-in-white-house.html) Contrary to all public health rules his 1500 person audience sat close together largely unmasked on the White House lawn. Time will tell if this turns out to be a super-spreader event.
I drew two lessons from the convention for the Biden campaign. First he has to take the civil unrest issue seriously. He has to come out strongly and firmly against the violent disorders that have occurred in several American cities. In a strange quirk of history his choice of Kamala Harris for vice-president could turn out in a way he never predicted. Put bluntly, she can return to her law and order roots as San Francisco D.A. and California Attorney General. Second the title of my review of "Dewey Defeats Truman" ( https://shulmaven.blogspot.com/2020/07/my-amazon-review-of-ajbaimes-dewey.html) was "Never Give Up, Never Sit on a Lead." Trump is not going to give up so Joe Biden has to get out of his basement and make his case to the country, just as Truman did in 1948.
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