What Went Down During President Trump’s Closing Speech At The RNC

Ivanka is a better-than-decent speaker. She’s good. I imagine her appeal is off the charts for listeners on the right. It’s just jarring to hear about her father wanting people all of colors, backgrounds and creeds to live to their God-given potential when you think about things like the administration’s travel ban and immigration restrictions. Her speech is riveting, but it glosses over many things, similar to what the first lady’s speech did the other night

I don’t know, Sarah. The 2018 reform bill was essentially a watered-down version of a much broader piece of legislation that failed in Congress in 2016. And the 2018 bill was criticized by many advocates for not going far enough with sentencing reform. So while I think it’s certainly helpful to Trump to have this as part of his record, Democrats can still argue that the Trump-endorsed version didn’t go nearly far enough.

In hearing Alice Johnson speak earlier about her pardon, and considering that Republicans did successfully pass a criminal justice reform bill in 2018, do you think that undercuts some of Biden’s track record on the criminal justice reform? I’m just thinking about how unpopular the 1994 crime bill has become not only among Republicans but among Democrats as well, as it gave us some of the current sentencing guidelines that many see as unfair and part of the problem with American’s corrections system.