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

Alright, this is it. Final report card for the RNC:

Address important party groups – Exemplary. By the end, it felt like the RNC had addressed most of Republicans’ key constituencies — evangelicals, law enforcement, cultural conservatives, so high marks here.

Create party unity – Adequate. Two 2016 primary opponents were featured, and a couple of political figures who aren’t directly from the Trump camp. But it’s hard to ignore the numerous speeches by Trump’s close relatives that seemingly took the place of spots for people from other wings of the party or party elders (former presidents, presidential candidates, or congressional leaders). Conventions often feature uneasy truces between different factions and personalities, but the role of Trumpism in the Republican Party meant this was absent, harkening back to a phrase from the notably absent George W. Bush: “You’re either with us or you’re against us.”

Reach beyond the party base – Adequate. There were some attempts – a few former Democratic politicians and a video with former Democratic voters. And there were speeches by people who have lost loved ones in horrific ways that might seem to be a way to relate to voters beyond politics. But it’s not clear exactly how these speeches are received, or if they break through beyond the hardcore political nerds who watch the early parts of the convention.

Command the news cycle – Inadequate. This has been an intense week for the news cycle, and we’ll see what happens after Trump’s speech. Sen. Tim Scott’s speech has probably done the best so far in this regard. The weird stunts on Tuesday night might once have been novel, but at this point they can’t compete with all that’s going on in the news.

Rally sentiment against Democrats – Exemplary. Like the DNC, the RNC has missed few opportunities to attack the other side.

Explain and publicized the party’s positions – Proficient. The RNC emphasized some things that were sort of strange, like the Right to Try Act, which isn’t a hugely well-known piece of legislation. And the emphasis on criminal justice reform might not fully line up with the robust defense of law enforcement. As the incumbent party in the White House, this week the Republicans also made an effort to take credit for the pre-pandemic economy, and to claim successes in fighting the pandemic. It’s not clear these will resonate, or reflect what actually happened. But if talking about “cancel culture were” a policy position, then we could change this grade to “exemplary.”

Tonight was obviously all about the president, but unlike some of Trump’s other campaign speeches, this one was basically like the State of the Union. He went over his accomplishments, which made perfect sense, but the speech was frankly pretty repetitive and got stale quickly. He certainly got his shots in at Biden and attempted to cast his opponent as Trojan horse for the radical left, carrying the “Biden-Bernie” agenda into the White House. I’m confident the speech was rousing to Trump’s Republican base, but it’s hard to say how components of it might shift attitudes among uncertain or independent voters. Also, never again should we have party conventions in back-to-back weeks. Just no. Please.

Although there’s polling evidence that the protests are becoming less popular, that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily smart for Trump to spend a lot of time talking about them. In fact — given how poor people think his handling of the protests has been — it’s possible that they’re becoming less popular because Trump has been talking about them less. I had a longer version of this take in a Twitter thread this morning: