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

I’ve written in the past about Trump as a 19th century president. This might seem like the exact opposite of that — 19th century presidents were much less prominent as rhetorical and moral leaders than later ones. But the merging of politics and governing power, like we’re seeing here with the RNC speech from the White House, were sort of what the 19th century patronage machines were all about. There’s a reason we have all the rules enforcing that separation now! But it was mostly Congress and party bosses, not the president, who had real control over that relationship.

“Promise to produce a [COVID-19] vaccine by the end of the year and maybe even sooner,” Trump says.

Biden and Harris spent the day trying to preempt this speech, talking about Trump’s response to the coronavirus and the protests in Kenosha. Harris gave a speech in D.C. and Biden released a statement and did and interview with Anderson Cooper.