Is not brevity the soul of wit?
When the Head Groundskeeper burrowed into his crib around 10:30 CST in order to make bed check at Stately Blaska Manor, Donald Trump was still riffing off the Teleprompter like Jerry Lewis during his all-night muscular dystrophy telethons.
We get that political figures can’t keep every promise. But somewhere around the one-hour mark, the once and future President of the United States promised to wrap up his acceptance with a big flourish. Did he? Wrap it up? I mean.
Rarely has a speech been more anticipated. Even MSNBC broke into its convention coverage to show it! Keeping Rachel Maddow off America’s screens for one hour and 32 minutes alone makes American great (and grateful).
→ Rachel & Co. were cablecasting from New York, not Milwaukee! (Read & weep)
Back in 1988, Bubba Clinton was rewarded with jeering applause when he uttered “in conclusion” somewhere in his keynote address to Democrats. He spoke for 33 minutes. Edward Everett orated for two hours in 1863 whilst dedicating the battlefield at Gettysburg PA. The world has little noted, nor long remembered, what he said there, compared to the speaker who followed with two minutes of immortality. Come to think, there was no keynote address in Milwaukee, was there? Didn’t miss it.
Hulk Hogan and Hannibal Lecter
We’ve been watching political conventions on TV since Huntley said goodnight to Brinkley and twice in person (at New Orleans in 1988, one delegate watched the whole convention from a Doubletree hotel bar stool). Can’t imagine Dwight Eisenhower giving Gorgeous George a prime-time speaking slot. But there was Hulk Hogan ripping off his shirt and growling threats to body slam anyone who wasn’t a Trumpamaniac. (Another reason to see the convo through our b&w Philco on the portable TV cart.)
CNN Republican talking head Scott Jennings was so excited that his fellow panelists wondered what was in his “coffee” mug. “A big cup of FREEDOM!” Jennings exulted. That’s what a good convention should do: fire up the troops (if you’ll pardon the battlefield metaphor after Butler PA).
‘I’m not supposed to be here’
Trump started out well, describing his near-death experience in subdued, awe-struck tones. Described hearing the whizzing of the bullet as it went through his ear. (At his convention, will Joe Biden give a blow by blow for tripping over that sandbag?) The Donald thanked the deity for his survival. Displaying the firefighter apparatus of Corey Comperatore, killed by the would-be assassin, was brilliant stagecraft.
(We pause here to marvel at the logistics of putting on a four-day, live show: rounding up the speakers, pushing them on-stage at the right time, cuing the right music or video, housing and feeding the delegates, deciding which state delegation sits where, issuing media credentials, wanding anything that moves, et cetera.)
Trump gave shout outs to the city of Milwaukee, praised the Green Bay Packers, and pointed to “the governor,” meaning Scott Walker sitting among the hard-to-miss cheeseheads (as Bob Uecker might say) in the front row. Missed a chance to credit Sen. Ron Johnson when discussing the Right to Try legislation.
All downhill from there. Trump reminds us of the good Catholic running behind schedule who prays to God for a parking space, promising many a good deed. Voila! One opens up. “Never mind,” sayeth the driver, looking heavenward, “I found one.” Butler PA may have affected Donald Trump but that is not to say he is a changed man. Still jabbers too much, for one thing.
Trump revisited ghosts of his Christmases past: the stolen election and “crazy Nancy Pelosi” come to mind. How did Hannibal (the cannibal) Lecter find its way into a presidential nomination acceptance speech? At least, he did not promise to be anyone’s retribution.
Is it Game On!?
We appreciate pithiness (never mind the word count of this blogge). Here is former Obama functionary Van Jones on CNN:
“If Joe Biden had given a speech that incoherent, that rambling, that undisciplined, Democrats would have hit Biden with a tranquilizing dart and dragged him off. .. [Trump] was the worst part of his own convention. … Welcome back to the campaign now.”
In conclusion: Still and all, an all-beef, double patty Whopper of a convention! Here we must ask: where was Barron? Maybe it’s like the State of the Union address: one cabinet secretary must absent himself from the chamber lest that 20 year old in Pennsylvania has allies.
9 responses to “Is he still talking?”
Did anyone expect Lefty’d react otherwise? Had Trump given an “I Have A Dream” oration with Lincoln at Gettysburg brevity, Lefty would have slobbered that his shoes were improperly tied.
The Lefty $#!T-SHOW Extraordinaire is in complete, cacophonous freefall, and it’s everything they can do to spin away from it.
You’d think they’d have saved up some of the ‘nadless happy crap energy they’ll desperately need for the fast-approaching Total Protonic Reversal, AKA the democrat Convention.
Lefty’ll get what they richly deserve…Good & Hard; all the hate-filled, anti-semitic, clueless, gimmee gimmee identity groups Lefty unscrupulously legitimized will devour each other in Must See T.V. Prime Time, while making Sherman’s March to the Sea look like a Sunday picnic.
The Gotch
TRUMP IS THE PREVIEW OF THE 2ND COMING!! BANK IT!!
Wondering why a certain contingent of despicable Lefties want a clearly Alzheimer Addled DementiaJoKe to remain the democrat candidate?
Tossing all the ballots already marked and…um…set aside to be…er…cast in swing states would be ecologically unsound and contribute to Global Warming, am I right…..?
The Gotch
Republicans clearly had momentum until Trump spoke last night. Trump didn’t understand the tone of the convention and reminded so many why; he cannot restrain himself. Just had to shoot his mouth off and went off on a tangent. He had the Democrats on their heels until his rambling, 92 minute speech. Trump being Trump. Not surprised. And no, I don’t like Biden, either. I am what they call a “double hater.” Both candidates suck.
Well, haters gotta hate, hate, hate. These the current candidates. Dems can change their figure head but cannot cover up their terrible policies on every level that have only helped the investor class and non-citizens. Bye Felicia!
I myself tuned out the speech about 15 minutes from the end. However, I do not buy that it was anything other than consistent with and good for the rest of the convention, which obviously reflected Trump’s own hand and spirit in every way. The first 20 minutes or so on Butler etc. was magnificent and likely was the part the vast majority of the public saw. The rest was a Trump rally in which Trump enlisted and bantered with the audience (the cheeseheads, for example) in a way unique in political rally-dom. It was all for the already convinced. Also, it went on long enough that the media hacks could not get the chance to spin it before the rest of us hit the hay. All in all, Trump succeeded in resetting entirely the way the country will view him. Only question now is can he sustain it, especially the first part, to the end and relieve us all of the insufferable prudes who have ruled us for these past four years.
Good point: he kept the media hacks dark until after midnight, Eastern time.
I see a bunch of “lefty” bashing, but nothing about what trump said, which was gibberish. Over blown claims of greatness and a list of grievances stretched out over 90 min. told me nothing. The exact definition of an empty suit.
Breaking: “Biden withdraws from race, endorses Kamala Harris.”