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

“The moments I wish every American could see.” Ivanka Trump continues the theme of “Trump is nice in private.”

The use of the White House as a political prop in a convention is pretty striking. In 1997, Gore found himself repeatedly in trouble for making Democratic fundraising phone calls from his White House office. While the VP is exempt from the Hatch Act, this was considered a significant norm violation, and it resulted in Attorney General Janet Reno investigating Gore and his public approval dropping. The scandal dogged Gore, who otherwise maintained a pretty clean reputation, and it lingered throughout his presidential run in 2000.

We can’t ignore the crowds here. The CDC and WHO still recommend avoiding large, in-person gatherings, and there are currently an estimated 1,900 people on the White House lawn, according to ABC News reporting, sitting less than 6 feet apart and not required to wear masks. If this event were held elsewhere in D.C., it would violate the city’s current COVID-19 laws. This is less risky than, say, a packed convention center — the chance of transmitting COVID-19 outdoors is much lower than indoors because respiratory droplets are diluted in the open air, and the local test positivity rate in D.C. is less than 5 percent, a threshold many experts recommend places cross before returning to certain public gatherings, such as schools. But outdoor transmission isn’t impossible, we’ve had several outbreaks that stemmed from much smaller social gatherings outdoors.