What We Need To Know:
Although he has appeared throughout the week at the Republican National Convention, Donald Trump’s biggest moment was the final night. Addressing the nation from the South Lawn of the White House, he accepted his party’s nomination. Blaming Democrats for all the wrongs in the country, Donald Trump has declared himself as the only one who can fix things.
At one hour and 10 minutes long, remarkably absent of emotion, almost somnolent, Donald Trump’s acceptance speech was chock full of misinformation, some might call them lies, and fantasy-starting with this administration’s fight against the coronavirus, or lack thereof.
Instead of apologizing for his failures to end this pandemic, Donald led his audience to believe his administration had done the best job ever. Tell that to the five or six million people affected by the coronavirus and the families of 180,000 people killed by the virus.
Continuing the spread of lies or “misinformation,” Donald Trump, snapped back at his biggest nemesis, President Barack Obama. “Remember this,” He said. “They spied on my campaign and they got caught. Let’s see now what happens.” What will happen? Nothing, since it did not happen.
Among the other speakers Thursday night, Alice Marie Johnson, the African American woman freed from prison by the President and members of the Trump inner circle, including personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and daughter, Ivanka.
In a speech on video, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development introduced himself as Ben Carson, retired neurosurgeon and public servant. Dr. Carson was the first to send words of support Thursday night to Jacob Blake and his family. The 29-year-old Black man was shot in the back at point-blank range by a Kenosha, Wisconsin police officer Sunday afternoon, in front of Mr. Blake’s three children.
And completing his assignment, Dr. Carson, the only Black member of the Trump cabinet, joined a parade of Black men on program throughout the week to deny the assertion that the president is a racist, saying that people “could not be more wrong.”
Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney, urged viewers, “Don’t let Democrats do to America what they have done to New York!”
He credited Mr. Trump for condemning the senseless killing of George Floyd by the police. Giuliani then continued by linking Black Lives Matter protestors with the Antifa, in the days following George Floyd’s murder. Antifa has been defined by the Trump administration as violent anti-fascists. While no BLM protestors were arrested, the former mayor claimed the left had decided to protest because it had, in his words, “a president to beat and a country to destroy.”
After almost 22 years in prison, serving a life sentence for a first time, non-violent drug offense, Alice Marie Johnson, received commutation from Donald Trump in 2018 after Kim Kardashian brought her case to his attention. The African American woman who spoke to the Republican convention audience Thursday night, has become quite familiar to America after appearances in a pro-Trump administration Super Bowl commercial and as a guest to a Trump state of the union address. Time will tell if this week’s appearances of Black supporters including, the lovely, accomplished great-grandmother, will help the Trump-Pence campaign. The latest poll shows 14 percent of African American voters support Donald Trump.
In the speech introducing her father, Ivanka Trump tried to give the inside, human look at her father. While touting the positives of his term as a senior adviser, his oldest daughter also told about the proud grandfather. Looking out at the non-physically distant, mostly maskless White House crowd, Ivanka wrapped by declaring, “Washington did not change Donald Trump. Donald Trump changed Washington!”
In his acceptance speech, Donald Trump gave a compilation of his achievements and condemned his opponent and in one of the holier than thou slams of the night, he said, “Joe Biden is not a savior of America’s soul; he is the destroyer of America’s jobs, and if given the chance, he will be the destroyer of American greatness. For 47 years, Joe Biden took the donations of blue-collar workers, gave them hugs and even kisses … “Pause for a laugh and a wink.
And over and over again, Donald Trump told his audience how he has done more in three years than Joe Biden has done in 47 years. That included the declaration, “I’ve done more for the African American community in 3 years than Joe Biden has done in 47 years and when I’m re-elected, the best is yet to come!”
Cue the fireworks. Let the 2020 election season and truth-telling begin.
