The Tribune

With Charlie Harper

Looking back, maybe we should have seen it coming. But it was quite unexpected. It was unethical if not yet illegal. And it might yet prove to be a real turning point.

It was actually two things. It was, first, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s campaign speech from the roof of the famous King David Hotel in Jerusalem as a highlight of the second day of the 2020 Republican National Convention. And it was, second, the lengthy, stirring, somehow normal address to the nation by First Lady Melania Trump before a rapt Rose Garden audience behind the White House.

Pompeo, who is widely tipped as an early favourite to either succeed Trump or oppose Biden in 2024, ably recited a list of the President’s claimed foreign policy successes. There have been several, most notably getting in the face of China.

In so doing, Trump has confronted the issue of Chinese megalomania more directly than any other recent American President and he has won quiet admiration for it in many corners of the world, even as he has behaved like a buffoon too often for the taste of many other leaders.

Pompeo shattered American tradition in joining the convention in a partisan way as a sitting Secretary of State. In addressing the convention - and nation - from the White House, Trump and his wife both politicised “America’s house” in similarly unprecedented fashion.

But Mrs Trump hit a home run. Visibly struggling at times to keep her composure on this biggest of stages while speaking in a language clearly not her native tongue, Melania departed from the embarrassingly mendacious, craven tone of the RNC to address the huge issues that actually face Americans.

She sounded suspiciously like a human being.

Relatively invisible for most of her husband’s first term as President, Melania delivered only a light pitch for his re-election. Instead, she departed from the dreary litany of untruthful obsequiousness of other speakers to appeal for national unity in the face of COVID-19, a looming national economic depression and continuing civil unrest over racial inequalities.

Unlike so many other speakers, she didn’t misrepresent Trump’s dreadful civil rights record, obvious indifference to the severity of the pandemic or obstinate refusal to admit that only the federal government can rescue the country from its economic woes.

Melania’s appearance was certainly the highlight of the first two days of the RNC. It will likely remain in first place as the convention concludes this evening.

On Monday, the first speaker at the 2020 virtual Republican national convention, like almost all of them, was videotaped. Looking wooden and robotic, 26-year-old campus conservative organiser Charlie Kirk set the tone for the night by referring to President Trump as the “bodyguard of western civilisation”.

You may admire Trump. He may disgust you. You may look the other way at some of his boorish, sophomoric behaviour in favour of his steadfast commitment to his campaign promises. You may feel that his wilful, cynical ignorance imperils the future of the US and maybe even the world. Or maybe you are somewhere in between.

But whatever your feelings about him, Trump has obviously commandeered the Republican Party, and this has never been more clearly on display than this week as he and Vice President Mike Pence were re-nominated for second four-year terms.

The first night set the tone for the week. After callow Kirk, a parade of videotaped tributes followed for a couple of hours. The biting, often defensive tone of the speakers’ comments and sharpness of their personal attacks on Democratic nominee Joe Biden seemed to underscore the desperation the Republicans reportedly feel about the November election.

Here’s first son Donald Trump Jr.:

“This election is a choice between church, work and school and rioting, looting and vandalism. Joe Biden is basically the Loch Ness Monster of the swamp. For the past half-century, he’s been lurking around in there. He sticks his head up every now and then to run for President, then he disappears and doesn’t do much in between.”

Trump and his followers shouldn’t necessarily be faulted for hewing to the lines of argument and rhetoric that led him to victory four years ago. But to offer little more than general conservative bromides and venomous attacks on the opposition does make you wonder if they feel they have any accomplishments to boast about.

Here’s Ohio congressman Jim Jordan, a leading Trump cheerleader in the House of Representatives:

“Democrats refuse to denounce the (Black Lives Matter) mob. They’re trying to take away your guns. Democrats won’t let you go to church, but they’ll let you violently protest. Democrats won’t let you go to work, but they’ll let you riot. Democrats won’t let you go to school, but they’ll let you loot.”

While liberal cable TV anchors furiously fact-checked some of the numerous misstatements and lies by Trump supporters, Fox News glided in and out of its coverage to highlight commentary by old party warhorses like George W. Bush’s “brain,” Karl Rove, and others. It didn’t seem like the Republican Party was really trying very hard to win over those American voters who remain undecided ahead of the election.

It seemed more that the party leaders, and Trump in particular, had simply decided to double down on pandering to his significant base of support in an effort to ensure as many of them as possible turn out to vote for him.

Some of the more strident speakers were actually yelling and shouting at the cameras in front of empty ceremonial rooms at the Commerce Department’s Ronald Reagan building, where most of the video was shot.

Don Jr’s girlfriend, former Fox News babe Kimberly Guilfoyle, said Democrats “want to destroy this country, and everything that we have fought for and hold dear. They want to steal your liberty, your freedom. They want to control what you see and think and believe, so they can control how you live. They want to enslave you to the weak, dependent, liberal, victim ideology to the point that you will not recognise this country or yourself.”

Speaking earlier, her boyfriend did much better than many expected. Don Jr. delivered his remarks on time and with a polished, practiced cadence that speaks well of the dedication he has reportedly shown in honing his skills. His performance was only marred by his eyes: they were forever welling up, looking like he had applied too many eyedrops before coming to the podium to speak.

Other speakers repeated the stupendous charges that a President Biden would raise taxes for 82 percent of Americans, that he and his band of socialist supporters would eliminate 10 million jobs and that they would pursue policies permitting abortion right up to the point of birth.

This is all nonsense of course. But Republican and Trumper audiences are accustomed to this mendacious hyperbole. What sticks in the mind is that these hand-picked speakers and their content coaches couldn’t find anything more credible to talk about.

South Carolina produced two of the better speakers on Monday evening. Black US Senator Tim Scott, the final speaker, delivered measured, human remarks that were certainly partisan but highly credible. And former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador Nikki Haley did almost as well. She was rougher and relied on Republican critiques of the United Nations that date back at least to the 1950s. But she impressed many observers.

Former NFL star running back Herschel Walker was actually quite convincing in his endorsement of Trump, praising the President’s 37-year friendship with him. The several other black speakers mostly just hectored the Democrats and Biden with tired and mostly inaccurate blather.

Trump himself appeared on camera several times on the convention’s first two nights, in staged meetings with released hostages, convention delegates, health care workers and newly naturalised US citizens.

Compelled by the occasion to be quiet, respectful and to listen to others, Trump visibly struggled with his task but made it through without major mistakes. But he was clearly uncomfortable in a public role that obliged him to play second fiddle to other people.

The national political conventions are traditionally the last chance for a big score in the polls for presidential candidates. We’ll soon see how Trump did. But one thing was clear at the RNC. His wife looked and spoke much more like a President than he did.