I’m in Cleveland—affectionately known as the “bug on the lake”—for the Republican National Convention. This is the third GOP convention I’ve attended. Each one has had its moments of weirdness, but this one manages to cram a lot into the first two days.
I get it. Donald Trump is not a politician, so you can’t expect political correctness and all that. But we’re not talking about political correctness; we’re talking about basic competence.
Paul Manafort, we’re told, was hired for his ability to organize the convention, to ensure there were no challenges to Trump in the Rules Committee or on the floor. Manafort used his arm-twisting magic to thwart delegate attempts to untie delegates, but he forgot to manage what was happening on stage.
Monday at the convention was a disaster.
It wasn’t just one thing; it was all things. Even the victories were ultimately defeats. For a convention organized by a “convention expert,” there were a lot of rookie mistakes.
Manafort began the day with an unnecessary attack on Ohio Gov. John Kasich for missing the convention. Think what you will about Kasich’s decision to skip Cleveland; he’s a popular governor in a key state in the fall election.
It was self-destructive to push his supporters away. Just say, “We wish he was here, but he’s not. We’re focused on the convention and uniting the party.” That’s it, and let’s move on. Manafort didn’t do that.
In addition to the on-court brawls and turnovers, Trump’s team made a lot of unforced errors.
First came the speaking order. Donald’s wife, Melania, was the headliner, but she didn’t close out the evening. Why not?
When Melania finished, the delegates finished. But the speakers didn’t. Why speeches after the headliner? The opening band doesn’t play after Guns ‘N’ Roses.
The scheduling mishap left Lieutenant General Michael Flynn speaking to a half-empty room. A terrible impression for an critical speech by a man with a lot of stuff.
After scheduling problems, the morning was greeted by allegations of plagiarism in Melania Trump’s speech. They were minor but critical. As a writer, I find plagiarism offensive, even though what she was accused of is minor, it matters. The way it was handled—sort of admitting it, then denying it, then defending it by quoting “My Little Pony”—gave the story legs it wouldn’t have had otherwise. Another unforced error, made worse by the response to it.
Monday was behind us, and hopes were high for Tuesday night. Once the battles on the dance floor were over, all that had to happen was the delivery of the prepared speeches.
The theme of the evening was supposed to be “Make America Work Again,” but that wouldn’t have been obvious from the words spoken from the podium.
With the exception of a brilliant speech by Donald Trump Jr., House Speaker Paul Ryan and a former soap opera actress turned avocado farmer, jobs and the economy were insufficient.
Tiffany Trump gave a low, sweet “I love my daddy” speech, well delivered by a juvenile, composed, recent college graduate. But it was not a “needle-moving” speech.
Donald Jr. could have a future in politics if he wanted to.
Speaker Ryan’s speech was the main attraction, but it wasn’t in prime time so most of the country didn’t see it.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie delivered a blistering indictment of Hillary Clinton’s corruption. But, again, it wasn’t prime time.
Why make powerful speeches if no one hears them? It’s like Frank Sinatra only singing in the shower. Keeping them out of prime time was a grave mistake.
Dr. Ben Carson gave a meaningless speech, and the evening ended awkwardly with a prayer by Sajid Tarar, head of Muslims for Trump. I understand the reasoning behind his speech—the media burned a lot of calories portraying Donald Trump as an anti-Muslim bigot. But Tarar’s closing prayer came two speeches after what should have been the final speech, and again, delegates had mostly left. A terrible sight for viewers at home.
The topics fit together well, but so does who speaks and in what order. Strategy matters, and Paul Manafort and his team clearly didn’t have it the first two nights of the convention.
Manafort dodged all challenges on the floor, but he appears to have ignored the most critical part of a presidential nominating convention — what the audience at home sees. Outside of debates, candidates will never have as enormous an audience listening to them as they and their supporters lay out their vision for the country as they do at their convention.
There will always be some grit in the gears of the convention because there are so many moving parts. But focusing on the grit and not focusing on the gears was a mistake that no one saw coming. The media will highlight every mistake, try to make every straw the one that breaks the camel’s back while shaking every straw off the back of the donkey that is the Democratic nominee. That’s how the media works, you know that going in and you have to act/plan accordingly. So far, they haven’t done that.
The Trump campaign has until Thursday night, until the balloons fall and burst, to right this ship, because between the time they fall and November 8th, there will be no more free air for their message, nor a enormous audience to fill it. I hope I can say that is the case…
