Grading Night 2 Of The RNC
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Address important party groups – Proficient. Several speeches directed at cultural and religious conservatives (Abby Johnson’s speech about abortion, Nicholas Sandmann’s speech about “cancel culture”). Larry Kudlow also brought an economically conservative perspective.
Create party unity – Adequate minus. Not many mainstream Republicans tonight. Rand Paul made a brief appearance as a 2016 rival, and the only federal lawmaker.
Reach beyond the party base – Proficient. When not talking about issues of cultural grievance, there was a lot of emphasis on criminal justice reform and stories of transformation. Additionally, the impromptu naturalization ceremony (!!!) flew directly in the face of the anti-immigration sentiment that Trump’s administration has been known for.
I wonder, however, if the scenes with people unmasked and not following social distance guidelines, will cut against the convention’s broader appeal.
Command the news cycle – Proficient. The unusual merging of official functions and convention politics – the citizenship ceremony, the presidential pardon of Jon Ponder – are the likely headline grabbers. This might have been a clever move, because it’s hard for media outlets to question these norm violations without throwing the people involved under the bus.
And those are likely to overshadow what’s arguably the most serious norm violation of the evening: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addressing the convention. There’s a reason we usually keep the highest levels of diplomacy separate from party politics – we want to show a united face to the world.
Unclear how tonight’s events will play out in the news cycle, but Sen. Tim Scott’s speech seems to have captured some good press last night.
Rally sentiment against Democrats – Adequate. There have been some lines about Biden being a “puppet” of the far left, with familiar attack lines about socialism and gun rights that are sure to play to the party’s base.
Explain and publicized the party’s positions – Inadequate. The first half of the night had some policy content – some vivid reminders of the party’s position on abortion, for example. But this deteriorated over the course of the evening, and the “surprises” detracted from actual policy content. It’s to be expected from the presidential spouse’s speech, but Melania’s speech had only a modest amount of policy content, highlighting opioid addiction toward the end.