Despite many, many efforts to derail the train—including a last moment of “Never Trump” desperation on the convention floor—Trump is now the official Republican nominee to become our 45th president.
As has been a signature of every moment of this year’s campaign trail, unexpected drama and last-minute twists abounded. At least 12 Republican staffers from California fell ill yesterday with norovirus, sending them to the hospital. And on the heels of Melania Trump’s plagiarism accusations, Donald’s son Donald Trump Jr. stands accused of lifting part of his speech last night from an American Conservative article.
Sideshows aside, the nomination itself had no hitches, giving only abstract hints of deep divisions within the Republican Party ranks. Following Trump’s official selection, however, party members largely spent three hours piling on Hillary Clinton—rather than praising their own candidate.
The Washington Post points out that some of the Hillary-bashing was downright unhinged, accusing her of enabling her husband’s sexual abuse, and repeatedly calling for her arrest over Benghazi and the private email scandals. At one point she was even accused of being Lucifer him/herself.
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.), certainly an uneasy Trump supporter at best, gave what many would call the most clear-eyed and unifying speech at the convention. Instead of just knocking Clinton down, he discussed the future of the conservative movement—and the party rifts that led up to last night.
“Democracy is a series of choices. We Republicans have made our choice,” he said.
“Have we had our arguments this year? Sure we have. You know what I call those? Signs of life—signs of a party that’s not just going through the motions, not just mouthing new words for the same old stuff.”
No more mouthing new words for the same old stuff.
