Summary
The first day and night of the 2016 Republican national convention is complete. Here’s what we learned:
- The program reached its dramatic climax with a splashy entrance by Donald Trump, who emerged in a cloud of blue smoke to We Are the Champions by Queen. He said “we’re gonna win so big” and introduced his wife, Melania, the next speaker.
- There was a moment of major uncertainty on the arena floor in mid-afternoon when the presiding officer ignored and spoke over an attempt by delegates opposed to Trump to derail a rules adoption process. The movement failed.
- The failure of the Anybody but Trump movement complete, it appeared that no hurdle remained to Trump’s official nomination on Tuesday.
- Monday evening’s program was devoted to national security issues, which meant a movie about Benghazi and emotional testimonies by parents who had lost children to intoxicated drivers who turned out to be undocumented migrants.
- At times the hearty opposition of the arena crowd to illegal immigration seemed to tip over into an antipathy toward immigrants more broadly, and from there to foreigners or anything falling outside the tightly defined boundaries of “USA! USA!” a repeated chant.
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“The world outside our borders is a dark place, a scary place,” retired Navy Seal Michael Luttrell said to applause. “America is the light.”
- Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani brought the crowd to its feet with some charged lines about race and policing. “When [police] come to save your life, they don’t ask if you’re black or white, they just come to save you!” he said.
- The program seemed to stretch later than expected, with Melania Trump speaking more than an hour before the end, and senator Joni Ernst delivering her headliner speech to an emptyish room.
- The crowd seemed charmed by Melania, clapping enthusiastically at her heavily accented descriptions of how much her husband loves America. But it was revealed that she had borrowed lines verbatim from the speech Michelle Obama gave to the 2008 convention.
Melania Trump plagiarized Michelle Obama tonight, and here's the video to prove it: pic.twitter.com/gCDeJL04zY
— (((Yair Rosenberg))) (@Yair_Rosenberg) July 19, 2016
- The day began with the Trump campaign disparaging non-attendees. Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort said the Bushes were “part of the past” and said Ohio governor John Kasich was “embarrassing his state” by not participating in the convention.
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Cleveland police reported that two protests of 450-500 people concluded “peacefully” and there was just one arrest Monday for misdemeanor obstruction and resisting arrest.
That’s it for tonight. See you back here bright and early tomorrow. Thanks for all the comments.
Updated
Melania Trump borrows lines from Michelle Obama
A number of lines in the robustly applauded speech delivered by Melania Trump at the Republican national convention on Monday night appear to have been lifted verbatim from a speech Michelle Obama delivered at the 2008 Democratic convention.
Journalist Jarrett Hill was among the first to point out that lines Donald Trump’s wife spoke about the necessity of hard work and strong family values seemed familiar.
“Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values, that you work hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond and you do what you say you’re going to do,” Obama told the gathering of Democrats in 2008.
“From a young age, my parents impressed on me the values that you work hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond and you do what you say you’re going to do,” Trump said in 2016.
The resemblances in the speeches go further, as illustrated in the video mashup below:
Melania Trump plagiarized Michelle Obama tonight, and here's the video to prove it: pic.twitter.com/gCDeJL04zY
— (((Yair Rosenberg))) (@Yair_Rosenberg) July 19, 2016
CORRECTION: Melania stole a whole graph from Michelle's speech. #GOPConvention
— Jarrett Hill (@JarrettHill) July 19, 2016
WATCH: https://t.co/8BCOwXAHSy pic.twitter.com/zudpDznGng
Updated
Now Reince Priebus is back out. He recognizes delegate Christine Brooks from DC. She makes a motion that the convention adjourns.
The resolution is adopted by voice vote, although a few stalwarts shout “no,” apparently wanting to stay all night.
Priebus strikes the gavel in a one-down, three-to-go kind of way.
It’s a wrap. We’re hearing a loud Sweet Caroline cover.
Zinke wraps up. “Montana, I love ya!” he says. California continues to chant USA! USA! It’s unclear what’s supposed to happen now. The people left onstage leave it, after a pause.
Now they should probably just turn the lights off. But there’s a pause. Nothing is happening. Is it over?
No, Paula White, senior pastor of New Destiny Christian center in Florida, takes the stage to pray.
Up next is Representative Ryan Zinke, for whom the room is even emptier than it was here:
The floor of the convention at @SenJoniErnst gives her headliner speech at #RNCinCLE pic.twitter.com/fX6ap1b6WF
— Josh Lederman (@joshledermanAP) July 19, 2016
Jason Beardsley, former master sergeant with the US special forces, becomes the next speaker not to be the last speaker.
“It’s time for us, once again, to choose freedom over tyranny,” he says.
The Iowa delegation has sat back down, except for two guys. Three delegates from West Virginia remain, unless those are other people taking a break in the West Virginia chairs.
Ernst’s speech is painfully echo-y because the Q arena is so increasingly empty. She is soldiering on. The Iowa delegation is standing at attention, almost literally, and dutifully applauding each applause line.
“Donald Trump will not hesitate to call radical Islamic terrorism by its name.” She becomes the fifteenth person to make the charge.
Updated
Now they bring out about ten chairs. The last speakers are joined onstage by military veterans.
The delegates are streaming out. Those California folks are having a great time and sticking around, though. Maybe because they’re on Pacific time and simply not tired?
Here’s a pic of the empty seats:
Senator Ernst begins, addressing, extremely optimistically at this hour, “millions of my fellow Americans watching around the country.”
Updated
Flynn began speaking right when Melania left stage. Now she’s long gone. And he’s stiiiill talking. Even the media is leaving, some of them.
And they're out: Donald and Melania's motorcade just zipped by. https://t.co/UJbw3O9VWG
— Scott Bixby (@scottbix) July 19, 2016
Flynn is reacting to the crowd chanting “Lock her up! lock her up!”
“You know why we’re saying that?” he says. “If I did a tenth of what she did, I would be in jail today.”
Then he says, “Crooked Hillary Clinton, leave this race now” and is finally applauded.
He says something about the country being founded on Judeo-Christian values and being the greatest country in the history of the world. “Now is the time to elect fresh, bold leadership.
“We are just beginning,” Flynn says. Is Joni Ernst backstage cursing him? There are fewer and fewer spectators waiting around for her.
Former top Obama adviser Dan Pfeiffer thinks the night’s schedule has gone off the rails, which – listening to what feels like the 100th minute of Flynn’s speech, and looking ahead to the senator, congressman and military veteran yet to speak – feels plausible.
Delegations to have left the area now include a good share of Connecticut, Florida, Utah, etc.
Why in the world would the Trump campaign not end the night with Melania Trump's speech?
— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) July 19, 2016
From a planning and timing perspective, the first night of this convention has been an absolute disaster
— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) July 19, 2016
they couldn't manage the schedule, Ernst is falling out of primetime, empty seats etc. Total amateur hour https://t.co/4Oo0r7oyW1
— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) July 19, 2016
Hillary Clinton retweets the campaign account Literally_Trump, rolling its eyes at his big entrance:
Literally. #RNCinCLE pic.twitter.com/LgwTgR7rOO
— Literally Trump (@literally_trump) July 19, 2016
Trump’s entrance on to the stage earlier, all silhouette and dry ice, is coming in for some mockery online.
"Tonight Matthew, I'm going to be... a presidential nominee." #RNCinCLE pic.twitter.com/8xhQFlC6pY
— Tim Stanley (@timothy_stanley) July 19, 2016
#SquadGoals pic.twitter.com/ABcamHrxi8
— Alex Seitz-Wald (@aseitzwald) July 19, 2016
— Tom Phillips (@flashboy) July 19, 2016
— Will Sommer (@willsommer) July 19, 2016
On the left is Trump's entrance. On the right is WWE wrestler the Undertaker's entrance. pic.twitter.com/WxniQUurLq
— Gideon Resnick (@GideonResnick) July 19, 2016
The stands are emptying fast. Even some delegations have left. Minnesota, looking at you. Flynn is not an electrifying speaker, for this crowd. But the star power of Melania Trump had them entranced:
Melania Trump: "If you want someone to fight for you...I can assure you he's the guy. He will never, ever give up." https://t.co/fuihTnpVZm
— ABC News (@ABC) July 19, 2016
If only Caroline Aherne was still alive to ask Melania Trump what first attracted her to billionaire Donald Trump
— Dan Roberts (@RobertsDan) July 19, 2016
Updated
Lt general Michael Flynn is next. He gets to be the one that the crowd streams out during. He says his message is “wake up America.” But the aisles are full of spectators leaving. Most delegates have remained in their seats.
Melania Trump describes plans as first lady: help women, children
Melania Trump:
“My husband offers a new direction, welcoming change, prosperity and greater cooperation...
“Donald intends to represent all of the people, not just some of the people,” she says. That includes, for the record, all races and religions, “and the poor and the middle class,” she says. She does not mention rich people.
This part definitely sounds like a movie trailer:
Now is the time to use those gifts like never before for purposes far greater than ever. And he will do this better than anyone can, and it won’t even be close.
Melania Trump says the primaries are done and “let us all come together.” “The race will be hard fought. There will be good times and hard times...It would not be a Trump contest without excitement and drama....
“If I’m honored to serve as first lady, I will use that wonderful privilege to try to help people in the country who need it most.”
She says she’ll help women and children. To help “every child live in comfort and security, with the best possible education.”
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Melania Trump says that Trump has proven he “knows how to win” and “how to remain focus [sic] on improving our country.”
Then Melania Trump reads what sounds like a bedtime story about the benevolent king Donald Trump:
“If you want someone to fight for you and your country, I can assure you, he’s the guy. He will never ever give up, and most importantly, he will never let you down.”
“He’s tough when he has to be but he’s also kind and fair and caring.”
“This kindness is not always noted... that is one reason I fell in love with him to begin with.”
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Melania Trump hails Bob Dole
“I traveled the world, working hard in the incredible arena of fashion,” she says. When she moved to New York she saw the hard parts of life and the nice parts.
“I was very proud to become citizens [sic] of the United States,” she says.
“I would like to take a moment to recognize an amazing veteran, the great senator Bob Dole,” she says.
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Melania Trump says the 16 Republicans Trump beat are talented. “They deserve the respect and gratitude of all of us.”
But she’s biased about her husband. She’s known him 18 years and he has loved the country the whole time without a hidden agenda.
“I was born in Slovenia, a small beautiful and then-Communist country in eastern Europe,” she says. She says her mother introduced her “to fashion and beauty” and her father instilled in her a love of travel.
Her accent is undiminished, pace Bixby:
Melania Trump has probably been holed up in Trump Tower mainlining Rosetta Stone and will come out speaking flawless Received Pronunciation.
— Scott Bixby (@scottbix) July 19, 2016
Trump says it’s his great honor to present the next first lady, “My wife, an amazing mother an incredible woman, Melania Trump. Thank you.”
He actually read that off a Teleprompter.
Here’s Melania.
She’s whistled and applauded. Trump leaves the stage.
“You have all been very kind to Donald and me, to our young son Barron and to our whole family,” she begins.
“We love you!” somebody yells.
epa05431313 Donald Trump walks onstage to introduce his wife. Photograph: David Maxwell/EPA
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Trump takes stage
Now they’re playing Queen We are the Champions and suddenly here’s Trump.
The crowd goes, as they say, wild.
“Oh we’re gonna win, we’re gonna win so big,” he says.
Updated
Giuliani: 'there is no next election. This is it'
Giuliani strikes an apocalyptic tone.
There is no next election. This is it. There is no more time for us left to revive our great country. No more time to repeat our mistakes of the past.
Washington needs a complete turnaround and Donald Trump is the agent of change and he will be the leader of the change we need.
Giuliani’s done. He about blew the roof off.
Another protester attempts to interrupt but is shouted down by chants of USA! USA! USA!
“It means we’re getting to them. It means we’re getting to them,” Giuliani says. Trump/Pence 2016: We’re getting to them.
Giuliani says any time New York had a tragedy Trump would reach out to help and insisted on doing it anonymously. Which is what Trump himself has claimed about charitable donations that have not been able to be confirmed despite the exhaustive reporting efforts of the Washington Post’s David Farenthold.
“I am sick and tired of the defamation of Donald Trump by the media and by the Clinton campaign!” Giuliani says. He’s impassioned. The crowd is too.
Now Giuliani is gesturing with both fists: “radical Islamic terrorism!” He is in control – there’s no spittle or anything – but he’s getting the crowd excited because he is so impassioned he seems on the verge of losing control.
“Radical Islamic terrorism!” Giuliani says. “You know who you are, and we’re coming to get you!”
The crowd loves the idea of going after the terrorists and any mention of killing the terrorists and getting tough against the terrorists. Giuliani is giving it to them in pure undiluted form.
Giuliani: 'this is a man with a big heart'
Former NY mayor Rudy Giuliani says “thank you New York, for a New Yorker for once on the ticket, Donald Trump.”
He says he’s here to speak about a very serious subject, how to make America safe. He says most people don’t feel safe.
A big early applause line: “We say thank-you to the Cleveland police department for protecting us. Thank you! We know the risk you’re taking.”
Giuliani then scores the most powerful moment of the evening yet, applause-wise, with what appears to be an improvised riff (it’s not in the Teleprompter) about race and policing:
“When [police] come to save your life, they don’t ask if you’re black or white, they just come to save you!” he says.
Giuliani is pumped, and the crowd loves him. By far the most animated speaker of the evening.
We pray for our police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge and their families; And we say thank you to the Cleveland Police Department for protecting us and all police officers protecting all of us.
We also reach out with understanding and compassion to those who have lost loved ones because of police shootings unjustified and justified.
It’s time to make America safe again.
It’s time to make America ONE again.
I know it can be done because I did it by changing New York City from ‘the crime capital of America’ to according to the FBI the safest large city in America.
What I did for New York City.......
Donald Trump WILL do for America.
I have known Donald Trump for almost 30 years. And he has created and accomplished great things. But beyond that this is a man with a big heart.
Updated
Protester interrupts proceedings
There’s some kind of commotion in the stands. It appears to be a protester. Sessions drones on. The protester, a woman, is rocking back and forth in the stands with an arm raised. She appears to have calmed down. She’s not a delegate. She has a pink flag or banner of some kind. It’s not legible from here. It appears it could be a Code Pink protester.
Sessions drones on, then he’s done, then Rudy Giuliani is introduced, and the protester has yet to be removed.
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Sessions sticks in a line not in his prepared remarks:
Let’s consider the facts. We lawfully admit 1.1 million permanent residents annually, more than any other country.
But then he adds a line about “most of them” being law abiding, good people. The crowd claps uncertainly.
Updated
Now onstage is senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Trump’s first, strongest and proudest supporter in the senate.
He’s applauded wholeheartedly. But in contrast with most speakers tonight, his speech is pretty textbook Washington stuff, and the applause through these lines is merely pro forma:
Average Americans have been the first to know something is wrong with this economy.
Our middle class is steadily declining, with our African American and Hispanic communities being hurt the most. But, the Washington establishment, the media, and big corporations have been in denial.
Fellow Republicans, we must understand that the incomes of middle class Americans today are $4,186 per year less than in 1999.
This is an economic disaster. We are on the wrong track and the people know it.
Yet, Hillary Clinton’s plan is more of the same: more government, more taxes, more regulation, more immigration, and more debt.
Updated
Baio backs Brexit
Celebrity and convention speaker Scott Baio told the Guardian in an exclusive interview tonight that he supported Brexit.
“You left. I love it,” he said, echoing the presumptive Republican nominee in supporting the UK withdrawing from the European Union.
Baio, who proclaimed in his remarks that Trump isn’t a messiah but “just a man,” has long been a vocal supporter of the Republican nominee. The star of television sitcoms like Joani Loves Chachi and Charles in Charge, Baio told the Guardian that he found the experience of speaking “sort of surreal” but “great fun.”
The actor said he planned on continuing to be active supporting Trump through November. “I want Donald Trump to be elected president so whatever I have to do I’ll do it,” Baio told the Guardian.
Baio said before Trump picked Mike Pence to be vice president that he was “ a big Condoleezza Rice fan.” However, he added “I like Mike Pence. I like him a lot.”
The actor noted that while he thought Pence was “a really good choice,” he didn’t think the vice presidential selection mattered. “Trump is Trump. He is going to win this thing on his own. That’s my feeling.”
One arrest on day one – police
Here’s an update from the Cleveland police, who report just one arrest so far today:
· Two mid-scale protests concluded peacefully.
· Protesters numbered between 450 and 500 individuals, combined.
· Bicycle officers were dispatched to discourage conflict between opposing positions.
· There are no scheduled protests after 6 p.m. today.
· No reported physical damage to City of Cleveland property.
There was one arrest:
· A female was arrested on a felony warrant and misdemeanor of obstruction of official business and resisting arrest.
· Although there were no related arrests, police confiscated a small knife, gas masks and a slingshot – all items listed on the prohibited items list.
Updated
Cotton says “help is on the way”. Here’s an excerpt from his speech:
Thirty-five years later, I did the same. Against the wishes of my family, I gave up my legal career and I volunteered for the Army. I became an infantryman. I went to Iraq and Afghanistan. My dad said he felt like God was punishing him for what he did to his dad.
But God wasn’t punishing them; God had called us to serve. Just as He calls so many of you.
My family isn’t extraordinary; in fact, we’re very ordinary. From farms in Arkansas to fire stations in New York, many families could tell the same story. The defense of this country is a family affair.
We don’t fight because we hate our enemies, but because we love our country. We love its freedom. We love that we’re born equal and live free, that no one rules without consent.
We know these things are worth fighting and dying for because they make life worth living for.
Our warriors and their families don’t ask for much. But there are a few things we’d like.
A commander-in-chief who speaks of winning wars and not merely ending wars, calls the enemy by its name, and draws red lines carefully, but enforces them ruthlessly.
And politicians who treat our common defense as the chief responsibility of our federal government, not just another government program.
This isn’t much to ask for, but eight years without it is more than enough. So I say again: In a Trump-Pence administration and with a Republican Congress, help is on the way.
In response to a speech at the Republican National Convention by the mother of a foreign service officer who was killed in the terrorist attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012, in which she declared that she blames Hillary Clinton “personally for the death of my son,” Hillary Clinton’s rapid-response team issued a statement debunking the rumor that Clinton issued a “stand-down” order to US military personal in the area during the attack, writes Scott Bixby:
“This unfounded allegation has been widely debunked,” the statement reads. “Multiple bipartisan investigations have concluded that no ‘stand down’ order was ever issued to U.S. military personnel in Tripoli. Even Republicans from the House Armed Services Committee have refuted this claim.” The statement also repeated the testimony of former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and the Africom general commander who confirmed that they had received no “stand-down” order from anyone that night.
“In fact, contrary to the GOP’s erroneous allegations, military assets were allocated and mobilized to address the crisis,” the statement continues. “The military’s ability to respond was limited - not because of Clinton or any official’s doing - but due to the status of U.S. forces that night and the speed of the attacks that unfolded.”
“The fact is,” the response paper concludes, “all of the numerous official sources analyzing the military response –from the countless interviews with military officials, to congressional reports, to the Independent Accountability Review Board—have concluded that the military did everything it could, given the circumstances, in their response to the attacks.”
Now Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas.
Glenn is full of happy one-liners. He looks like he’s having a good time up there.
On Clinton:
We know she loves her pantsuits. But we should send her an email and tell her that she deserves a bright orange jumpsuit!
The crowd likes it. He’s done.
El Paso county commissioner Daryl Glenn, who’s running for senate in Colorado, says he’s “often asked, why are you a Republican?”
“Well, he says, “it’s because the Democrat party is the party of handouts” and after seven-and-a-half years “all you have left in your pockets is change.”
“Did you see the new black panthers outside? Where’s Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. They don’t speak for black America and they don’t speak for me.”
He says it’s not about black or white or brown America, it’s about the United States of America. He’s cheered. Then he says “All lives matter” and he’s cheered more.
Almost 10pm here in Cleveland, and the crowd, which is packed to capacity on the floor, though there are scattered empty seats in the risers, seems ready for the big names.
There are a couple senators to get through before Melania, however.
How sharp is Antonio Sabato Jr’s view of where the country is headed and where it must go? He’s sure the president is a Muslim, so there’s that.
Antonio Sabato Jr., who just spoke at #RNCinCLE, tells @ABC's @Nawazistan and @Locs_n_Laughs that he "absolutely" believes Obama is a Muslim
— Ben Gittleson (@bgittleson) July 19, 2016
Next up: U.S. Representative Sean Duffy of Wisconsin and his wife, Rachel Campos-Duffy, whom he met while appearing on the reality TV show The Real World.
The couple has eight children. “Who said nothing good comes out of reality TV?” they crack.
They say they keep their lives sane by following simple house rules. The joke is that the last two rules are “no private servers” and “no lying especially to the FBI.”
Campos-Duffy outs herself as a descendant of Mexicans. But her grandparents emigrated legally so it’s OK.
Governor Mike Pence is in the house.
Trump running mate Pence in VIP box in #RNCinCLE pic.twitter.com/4SUabjqbfd
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) July 19, 2016
And look who’s here:
The Trump's have arrived. pic.twitter.com/mTOCGW3W9u
— Eric Marrapodi (@EricMarrapodi) July 19, 2016
Updated
Next up is sheriff David Clarke of Milwaukee County, whom a lot of people know from Fox News.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to make something clear,” he begins. “Blue lives matter in America!”
Big big applause line.
He hails the news of the acquittal of Lt Brian Rice, tried in the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore by the “malicious prosecution of activist states attorney Marilyn Mosby,” he says.
Updated
Congressman Michael McCaul, chairman of the Homeland security committee, is speaking. He warns against the threat of “radical Islamic terror” and says “a Trump administration will take on this fight.”
“You may have fired the first shot, but rest assured, America will fire the last,” he tells the terrorists. There are chants of USA! USA!, but McCaul is kind of flat on the chanting thing, mustering only a listless “USA.”
Donald Trump is due on stage in Cleveland to introduce his wife Melania later this evening.
But he hardly seems glued to the convention program so far.
During the painful speech by Pat Smith, the mother of one of the Americans killed in Benghazi, the presumptive Republican nominee phoned in to Fox News to discuss the recent killings of police officers and the decision of his former rival John Kasich not to show up to the convention.
According to Politico, he said that “in certain circumstances” the Black Lives Matter movement could be blamed for the killings of the officers. “They certainly have ignited people and you see that … Everybody is free to say what you want to say up to a point. But when you are calling death to police and to kill the police, essentially, which is what they said, that’s a real problem.” There is no evidence of any leading figures in the movement ever calling for the killing of police.
Of Kasich, the governor of Ohio, Trump admitted: “If I were him and gotten beaten that badly I probably wouldn’t show up either.”
But he said that from the “standpoint of honor” Kasich should have shown up to the Cleveland convention: “Even if this were for the Democrats he should at least show up and say hello and how are you doing?”
Next up is a fear-inducing video about immigration. Fear-inducing because the entire bass bandwidth of the Quicken arena’s impressive sound system is brought to bear. The video then reveals Kelly Terry-Willis and Kent Terry, broadcasting live from the Arizona-Mexico border.
Their brother, Brian Terry, was a Border Patrol agent who died on patrol, with guns in the attack against his group traced to the Fast and Furious gun-walking program.
Tiegen and Geist finish up with this:
Benghazi is not about politics. It’s about opportunities.
Opportunities taken when we defied stand down orders and opportunities squandered when Hillary Clinton failed to protect her people on the ground. Had she done her job, we would not have had to compromise the annex.
Ty, Glen, Sean, and Ambassador Stevens would be alive today. Now we as Americans have the opportunity to elect someone who will make this country safe again.
Someone who will have our backs. Someone who will bring our guys home.
Someone who will lead with strength and integrity. That someone is Donald Trump.
We did our part. Now do yours. Thank you.
The crowd rises to its feet to applaud. Most of them do.
Congressman discourses on unique civilizational role of 'white people'
During a round-table discussion regarding the uniformly white leadership of the Republican party, six-term congressman Steve King of Iowa declared that white people have contributed more to the advancement of human civilization than any other “sub-group of people,” igniting a firestorm of crosstalk that almost resulted in one of the panelists walking off the set, writes Scott Bixby:
“This whole ‘white people’ business does get a little tired,” said King, a six-term congressman, of critiques that the homogeneity of Republican leadership has lead to policies insensitive to racial and religious minorities. Fellow panelist Charlie Pierce, a writer for Esquire, had declared that demographic realities imply that the 2016 election “is the last time that old white people will command the Republican Party’s attention, its platform, and its public face.”
“I’d ask you to go back through history and figure out where these contributions that have been made by these categories of people that you’re talking about,” King continued. “Where did any other sub-group of people contribute more to civilization?”
“Than white people?” asked host Chris Hayes incredulously.
“Than Western civilization itself,” King responded, “which is rooted in western Europe, Eastern Europe and the United States of America, and every place where the footprint of Christianity settled the world. That’s all of Western civilization.”
The set immediately broke into a torrent of nearly unintelligible denunciations from fellow panelists Pierce and April Ryan, Washington bureau chief for American Urban Radio Networks.
“What about Africa? What about Asia?” asked Ryan. “No, no, no, no, no.”
Hayes, attempting to moderate, told the panel that “we are not gonna argue the history of civilization,” and closed the segment by uneasily declaring that “on cable news, we are not going to resolve the relative strengths of various strands of civilizational prowess.”
Hayes tweeted after the incident that he was “taken aback” by the congressman’s statements, and that he should have allowed Ryan to respond:
1. I was pretty taken aback by Steve King's comments. I probably should've blown through beak and let @AprilDRyan respond. But...
— Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) July 18, 2016
Updated
Tiegen and Geist continue. The crowd seems to have tuned out, lost the thread of the narrative. A few laugh lines or potential laugh lines have passed with no reaction. There’s the sound of low chatter throughout the room.
“After I got Oz up, he kind of mumbled a little bit... I went over to the next guy there was... I rolled him over, immediately checked for a pulse... didn’t get anything... I got the flashlight, checked for a pupil dilation, and there was nothing. So I knew he was gone.”
Mark Geist and John Tiegen, members of a security team assigned to the embassy annex in Benghazi, and survivors of the 2012 attack, stand up to tell the story of the attack. It’s a detailed account (they’ve written a book about it).
Both boast of shooting “terrorists” dead. “You’d take that guy out and another guy would pop up then another guy’d pop up,” says Tiegen.
“It was kind of like ... whack-a-mole,” Geist says. “A guy’d stick his head up and you’d shoot him.”
That’s applauded. The venue has been filled with talk of taking on terrorists. Here are two guys who have actually killed multiple terrorists, and at Benghazi no less.
Tiegen gives Geist a hard time for putting gauze in his ear for sound protection. “It was really funny – looks like he’s got a tampon in his ear!” Tiegen says, and the crowd laughs. “Sorry.”
The account is lengthy. “That’s when the second mortar hit. Hit about fifteen feet to my right... my left arm about six inches above the wrist was kind of hanging off at a 90-degree angle.”
Updated
Mother of Benghazi victim: 'I blame Hillary Clinton personally for the death of my son'
A wrenching speech now from Pat Smith, mother of Sean Smith, one of four Americans killed in the 2012 Benghazi attack.
“The last time I talked to Sean, the night before the terrorist attack, he told me, ‘Mom, I am going to die,’” she says. She says Sean told her that the consulate was under-secured. And the next day he was killed.
“To this day, I don’t know why a computer guy like Sean was sent to Benghazi,” she says. She sounds as if she may break down in tears at any word.
“For all of this loss... I blame Hillary Clinton!” she says. And she’s applauded.
“I blame Hillary Clinton personally for the death of my son. Personally!” she says. There’s a strange interplay between her palpable sadness and the crowd’s palpable excitement at her fierce blaming of Clinton.
“Whenever I call the state department, no one will speak to me, because they say I am not a member of the immediate family,” she says.
“Hillary Clinton is a woman, a mother and a grandmother of two. I am a woman, a mother and a grandmother of two. How could she do this to me? How could she do this to Any American family?”
Her face is twisted in what appears to be anguish, and anger.
“Donald Trump is everything Hillary Clinton is not. He is blunt, direct and strong.”
“He will not hesitate to kill the terrorists who threaten American lives,” she says.
She’s applauded, the lights go on, and a video about Benghazi rolls. But she does not move, standing at the lectern in the shadows as the video plays. Someone comes out and escorts her back.
Is it normal for convention speakers to say the other party's nominee is a murderer who should be in prison?
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) July 19, 2016
Updated
In Luttrell’s telling, to leave the United States is to risk instant death or worse:
“The world outside our borders is a dark place, a scary place,” he says. “America is the light.”
“The only way we’re going to keep America safe is to have an elite military, alright?” Luttrell says. He seems a bit choked up. He’s emotional talking about how political leaders must lead by example.
Then Luttrell says he’s going to go off script, that “I’m used to speak from the heart and not reading this.” But he keeps reading from the Teleprompter. “In order for any life to matter, we all have to matter,” he says.
Tonight Trump may be Rick Perry’s answer for what’s wrong with America. Unless you read his web site, where Trump is still a cancer:
So, @GovernorPerry (speaking now) may want to take this off his website #RNCinCLE pic.twitter.com/BPyDtiwWHJ
— Dave Levinthal (@davelevinthal) July 19, 2016
Perry: “Tonight our commitment is this: making America great again starts by taking care of our veterans.”
The crowd is on its feet, and they keep applauding when Perry announces, “please welcome American hero, the lone survivor, Marcus Luttrell!”
Now that’s applause. He’s clapped and clapped and clapped. He can’t even start speaking. The crowd starts chanting USA! USA!
Here’s Luttrell’s thumbnail bio:
Marcus Luttrell is a retired U.S. Navy SEAL and author of the book Lone Survivor, in which he tells the harrowing tale of a fierce battle in eastern Afghanistan in 2005. Since returning from war, Luttrell has started the Lone Survivor Foundation and become involved with The Boot Campaign. He also has written a second book, Service, which honors and praises all members of the military
Next up: former Texas governor Rick Perry. He gets even bigger cheers than Baio when he walks out.
The first thing Perry says is the last thing he said before leaving the stage in a mic check a couple hours ago: “Hello Cleveland!” There are a lot more people in the arena this time to cheer.
Baio closes with this: “Of course, let’s make America great again. But let’s make America America again.”
That’s excitedly applauded too, everyone likes the idea.
Scott Baio controversially says Trump is not the Messiah. Then he mentions Hillary Clinton, and everyone boos.
“I agree,” he says.
Updated
The actor Scott Baio – Happy Days, Joanie Loves Chachi – takes the stage, to excited applause. Baio has some serious star wattage in this room.
Baio thanks Trump for inviting him to speak:
“I can’t tell you how much of an honor it is to be up here and talk about a man that I trust with the lives of our country and the health of our country. America, the greatest country God ever created.
“But for you first time voters, it’s important you know what it means to be an American. It doesn’t mean getting free stuff.”
Big cheers.
Duck Dynasty’s Willie Robertson is the first speaker. His speech is about how “Donald Trump will have your back.”
He’s charismatic: “I’ve always said that me and Mr Trump have three things in common. We’re both successful businessmen. Although I flew here commercial. We both have hit TV shows. And we both have intelligent wives who are much better looking than we are.”
He has a good line about the pundits who were wrong: “It must be humbling to be so wrong about so much for so long.”
Updated
Who’s that guy down there dancing to the Honky Tonk Woman cover, signing autographs, waving to besotted fans and in short cutting the figure of big man on campus? Fox News’s Sean Hannity is in the house:
Updated
Guardian Washington bureau chief Dan Roberts runs into Geert Wilders:
Far right Dutch politician Geert Wilders seems right at home in Trump's America pic.twitter.com/s5kq9nhuMx
— Dan Roberts (@RobertsDan) July 18, 2016
Here’s Wilders in action on Twitter:
This is a war.
— Geert Wilders (@geertwilderspvv) July 15, 2016
And it will not stop until we close our borders for Islam and de-Islamize our societies.
No more terror.
No more Islam!
The Guardian’s Ben Jacobs spent some time on the floor before the convention was called back to session:
Delegates dance pic.twitter.com/5C9fwF6yau
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) July 18, 2016
It's Newt pic.twitter.com/0tK9XxJIpW
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) July 18, 2016
The blind singer Marlana Vanhoose has just brought the crowd alive with a powerful rendition of the national anthem. A lot of people sang along. At the end they clapped, whistled and cheered.
Here’s Vanhoose singing a couple years ago:
The convention has again been called to order by RNC co-chairman Sharon Day.
Now you can have your preferred candidate for breakfast. Just $40 a box!
Daniel and Darrin are selling Trump Flakes and Clinton Crunch today – $40 a box – to pay for school. pic.twitter.com/1F1mraIaEk
— Scott Bixby (@scottbix) July 18, 2016
Official Republican platform calls for building a wall
Republicans adopted a platform on Monday that embraces Donald Trump’s controversial proposals on immigration, including a stated commitment to building a wall along the US-Mexico border, writes Guardian politics reporter Sabrina Siddiqui:
The long-awaited platform, a blueprint of the party’s agenda in 2016, was agreed upon by a voice vote on the floor of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. While there are few surprises in its contents, much of which was made public at a meeting of the Republican Platform Committee last week, the influence of Trump is apparent with respect to the presumptive nominee’s signature issues of immigration reform and trade policy.
The platform takes a hardline on immigration, calling for a border wall and “protecting all ports of entry.”
“The border wall must cover the entirety of the southern border and must be sufficient to stop both vehicular and pedestrian traffic,” it states.
The document also demonstrates little sympathy for undocumented immigrants.
Barack Obama’s executive orders in 2012 and 2014, which provided deportation relief to millions of immigrants brought to the US as children and immigrant parents of US citizens and lawful permanent residents, are dubbed as “unlawful amnesties.” The platform calls for a Republican president to immediately rescind them. It moreover casts suspicions on the roughly 11 million undocumented migrants in the US and immigrants more broadly, as Trump has repeatedly done on the presidential campaign trail.
“In a time of terrorism, drug cartels, human trafficking, and criminal gangs, the presence of millions of unidentified individuals in this counter poses grave risks to the safety and sovereignty of the United States,” the platform reads.
“Our highest priority, therefore, must be to secure our borders and all ports of entry and to enforce our immigration laws.”
While it does not endorse Trump’s proposed ban on Muslim immigration, the GOP agenda includes more watered-down language to acknowledge national security fears and their intersection with who seeks entry into the US.
The platform seeks “major changes” to how the US grants entry to refugees and asylum-seekers, stating that refugees who cannot be carefully vetted – “especially those whose homeland have been the breeding grounds for terrorism” – should be denied entry. There is also a mandate to apply special scrutiny “to those foreign nationals seeking to enter the United States from terror-sponsoring countries or from regions associated with Islamic terrorism.”
Some reflections of Trump in the platform put Republicans at odds with party orthodoxy, particularly on trade and financial reform.
Further to come shortly...
Updated
GOP leaders face down last-ditch effort to derail Trump nomination
Republican leaders faced down an angry last-ditch effort to derail the nomination of Donald Trump on Monday amid extraordinary scenes on the floor of the party’s national convention in Cleveland, write the Guardian’s Dan Roberts and Ben Jacobs:
Trump’s four-day coronation as the party candidate degenerated into chaos as rival factions shouted and jeered attempting to drown one another out.
Ignoring howls and whistles from opponents of Trump, the convention chair twice refused calls for a roll call vote which would have counted the number of people backing the rebellion, insisting instead that a package of procedural rules be passed solely on a voice vote.
The rebels, a coalition of diehard Trump opponents and conservative activists dissatisfied with the party establishment, believed they had secured the support of 11 states, more than enough to force the vote during an afternoon of backroom scheming and arm-twisting.
However, after a long period of chaos and confusion on the convention floor, the presiding officer, congressman Steve Womack of Arkansas, dashed their hopes by revealing that delegates had been arm-twisted to withdraw their names from the petitions that would force a roll call vote and that the effort had failed.
In the angry aftermath, large numbers from several state delegations, including those from Colorado and Washington, walked out of the hall in disgust and the opening session at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, intended to show party unity, was left marred by repeated calls of “roll call vote” from the floor – Trump loyalists could be seen walking the floor encouraging delegates from friendly states to chant “U-S-A, U-S-A” to drown out the damaging cries of dissent.
Read the full piece here:
Bob Dole is in the house – the only former Republican presidential nominee to attend (Mitt Romney, John McCain and the Bushes are sitting this one out):
Early highlight of #RNCinCLE: @SenatorDole at Quicken Loans Arena. cc @jmartNYT @adamnagourney pic.twitter.com/tuXBeCxCBG
— John Heilemann (@jheil) July 18, 2016
A Donald Trump supporter with a primetime speaking slot at the Republican national convention, who is billed as a small business owner employing more than 100,000 people, is actually a “multi-level marketer” who does not employ anyone, reports the Guardian’s Jon Swaine:
Michelle Van Etten was personally invited by the Trump campaign to address the Republican party gathering in Cleveland, Ohio, during a pro-business session on Wednesday evening titled Make America First Again.
The official schedule for the convention states: “Michelle employs over 100,000 people and is a strong supporter of Donald Trump, knowing his policies will support businesses all across America.”
In an interview on Monday, however, Van Etten said the billing was incorrect. “I don’t employ,” she said, adding that she did not know who wrote the text.
Read the full piece here:
Excerpts from tonight's speeches
About a half hour ago, party officials asked lingerers on the convention floor to clear the space so that delegates may move back to their chairs. Some delegates are doing so. Florida appears to be in place. The Texas cowboy hats are missing. Iowa is in the house.
Here’s a taste of what the delegates will hear, in addition, apparently, to Rudy Giuliani reading the Gettysburg address. What follows are the highlights of the speech highlights released this afternoon by the RNC, with thumbnail bios as supplied by the Republicans:
Willie Robertson, CEO of Duck Commander and Buck Commander, star of Duck Dynasty
“We need a president who will have our back.
“I can promise you this: no matter who you are, DONALD TRUMP WILL HAVE YOUR BACK.
“If you’re looking for a job… or trying to grow a business… DONALD TRUMP WILL HAVE YOUR BACK.
“If you’re a serviceman fighting overseas… or a cop keeping us safe at home… DONALD TRUMP WILL HAVE YOUR BACK.
Scott Baio, Actor and Television Producer
“We have a choice in November. We can go for Hillary Clinton: who wants to continue the same policies that are wrecking this country. Policies that make us unsafe. A woman who somehow feels entitled to the presidency . . . that she is somehow owed it.
“Or we can go for Donald Trump: A man doing this from the goodness of his heart and genuinely wants to help. A man who knows how to get things done . . . and a man who says what he means and means what he says.”
Mark Geist— aka OZ: U.S. Marine Corps veteran, Fought in Battle of Benghazi
“Thank you America for showing us the support and dedication that should have been offered by Hillary and her State Department to those who saved their butts.
“Opportunities taken when we defied stand down orders and opportunities squandered when Hillary Clinton failed to protect her people on the ground.
Had she done her job, we would not have had to compromise the annex.”
Kelly Terry-Willis and Kent Terry, The Brian Terry Foundation [“Brian Terry was a Border Patrol agent who died tragically while protecting our nation’s border with Mexico.”
Speaking about the late Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry:
“Brian was supposed to come home to Michigan for Christmas for the first time in three years. Instead of celebrating the holidays with him, we buried him not far from the family home. Two weapons recovered at the scene were traced to the Obama Administration’s doomed “Fast and Furious” gun-tracking operation. No one was ever held accountable for its failure.”
Sherriff David Clarke, Sheriff of Milwaukee County
“Donald Trump understands that what can make our nation safe again is a recommitment to a justice system in which no government official, not even those who have fought their way to the marble and granite halls of Washington; no private citizen, not even Hillary Clinton; and no group of people, despite the fervor with which they press forward their grievances, can claim privilege above the law.”
Tom Cotton, US senator from Arkansas
“Our warriors and their families don’t ask for much. But there are a few things we’d like.
“A commander-in-chief who speaks of winning wars and not merely ending wars, calls the enemy by its name, and draws red lines carefully, but enforces them ruthlessly.
“And politicians who treat our common defense as the chief responsibility of our federal government, not just another government program.”
Lt. General Michael Flynn, former director of the defense intelligence agency
“I promise you that Donald Trump knows that the primary role of the President is to keep us safe. He recognizes the threats we face and is not afraid to call them what they are. Donald Trump’s leadership, decision-making and problem-solving abilities will restore America’s role as the undeniable and unquestioned world leader. He will lead from the front, not from behind. He will lead with courage, never vacillating when facing our enemies or our competitors. And he knows that the advantage in life, in business, and in wartime goes to the competitor that does not flinch and does not broadcast his game plan.”
Joni Ernst, US senator from Iowa
“Unfortunately, Hillary Clinton cannot be trusted. Her judgment and character are not suited to be sitting in the most powerful office in the world.
“With Hillary Clinton it’s always about her, when it should be about you. Donald Trump is focused on you. He gave voice to a movement of millions of Americans who are tired of politics as usual, and I know as president he will work tirelessly to keep our nation safe.”
Updated
Action on the floor! Former Texas governor Rick Perry appears onstage to make sure the microphone is working. He counts up to five and then back down to one.
Then he says, “Hello, Cleveland!” and people applaud. Perry sounds good in a basketball arena.
Updated
Action on the floor: former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani appears onstage and begins reading the Gettysburg address from a Teleprompter. Giuliani is on the list of speakers tonight.
He stops at the “far above our poor power to add or detract” line. There’s scattered applause and someone yells “Rudy!”
Hillary Clinton has tweeted footage of Republican delegates objecting to the adoption of rules opening the way to Trump’s nomination by voice vote:
Today’s #RNCinCLE theme: “Law and Order.”https://t.co/CSpr7PgkMS
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) July 18, 2016
RNC begins with moment of silence for Baton Rouge police officers – video
Mark Burns, a small-town South Carolina pastor and passionate Trump supporter, delivered a benediction that asked not so much for divine blessing as for divine intervention on behalf of Donald Trump against the “liberal Democratic party.”
If God drives a car, it has a Trump bumper sticker, to hear pastor Burns tell it:
1/ I've heard a lot of prayers by religious leaders of different faiths at RNCs & DNCs. But nothing like this. pic.twitter.com/RYfpn58TNi
— Amy Sullivan (@sullivanamy) July 18, 2016
Updated
Here’s video of Washington state delegate Eric Minor, a member of an “anybody but Trump” delegates group led by Coloroado’s Kendal Unruh, calling the refusal to hold a roll call vote “a miscarriage of justice.”
Eric Minor, an anti-Trump delegate from Washington, voiced frustrations after a raucous rules debate on the floor. pic.twitter.com/GbBCATpAMS
— Mikayla Bouchard (@MikaylaBouchard) July 18, 2016
(via New York Times)
Updated
Some more pro-Trump merchandise on sale on the streets of Cleveland, courtesy of my colleague Paul Owen.
Kasich drops by steakhouse
Ohio governor John Kasich, a notable absentee from the convention, held a somewhat chaotic event at a steakhouse just five minutes’ walk away, Guardian Washington correspondent David Smith writes:
First, journalists who had sent RSVPs were told there was no space and they should wait outside. Eventually the matter was resolved and they were ushered into a sweltering back room, where an organiser repeatedly begged cameramen to move back so the guests - Republicans from Illinois – could get to food tables.
Kasich turned up later than planned and talked amid a melee of reporters and guests clutching phones, microphones and cameras. He had only just got started when he was briefly interrupted by music blaring loudly from the sound system. He spoke mainly about Illiniois, even though most of its delegates were not in the room and the national media would doubtless have preferred at least a reference to Donald Trump.
Kasich also cited Ohio’s progress in jobs growth, running a surplus and rising from 48th most desirable place to do business to the top 10. “We don’t want to cut anybody out,” he said, “We are a big tent but we have to act like it and we have to have ideas and policies that allow us to expand who we are as Republicans without abandoning our principles.”
Kasich was the last rival to drop out of the primary race against Trump and there will be some in the Republican establishment who wish it was him on stage accepting the nomination this week. With a nod to the potential for violent protests, he urged: “Stay safe. They’re doing everything they can here with the secret service, the highway patrol, state and local law enforcement and people from all over the country. Stay in the perimeter as best you can. That’s important.
“We hope we’re going to have a great convention, a great success. I think it’s so critical that the House and the Senate stay Republican and we continue to pick up seats in the legislature because in those places we’re seeing the most amount of progress.”
After six minutes he was done. A TV reporter attempted to ask him a question but Kasich declined to answer. Guests swooped on the mini-cheeseburgers.
Moments after Kasich had left, a man called out to the party that delegates should return to the arena to support Trump in what turned out to be a short-lived floor fight.
“Any Illinois delegates: there’s a fight on the floor right now,” he said. “If you’re for Trump you’ve got to come back to the room.”
The Illinois steakhouse party far from empty after call to come to Trump’s aide. Lots of refreshments here pic.twitter.com/mDn4dnXKDB
— Tom McCarthy (@TeeMcSee) July 18, 2016
Updated
Protests throughout the city of Cleveland remained peaceful on Monday as authorities reported only one arrest by the late afternoon, reports Oliver Laughland.
At a rally in the city’s Settler’s Landing park, organized by the lobbyist and former Trump strategist Roger Stone, around 400 Trump supporters assembled as a host of fringe politicians, conspiracy theorists, talk radio hosts and singers took the stage.
Many in the crowd, some of who claimed an allegiance to the Bikers for Trump group, carried firearms, despite calls from the city’s largest police union for Ohio governor John Kasich to temporarily suspend the state’s gun laws amid security fears.
During an enraged diatribe, Alex Jones, operator of the conspiracy website InfoWars, frequently decried what he described as the “globalist” policies of the Democratic party and claimed presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton was a “foreign agent” of the Chinese and Saudi Arabian governments.
“We’re sick and tired of what we’ve been seeing, and that’s why we want Donald Trump,” Jones said as members of the crowd branded Clinton a “reptile”, a “bitch” and chanted “Hillary for prison”.
“Trump’s a great guy and has amazing courage,” Jones continued, “but we don’t have to put our faith in any one individual, it’s all of us together the line of liberty coming together, nothing is going to be able to turn this around.”
Wayne Dupree, an African American conspiracy theorist and radio host, told the crowd he left the Democratic party in 2008 after discovering they were responsible for slavery and founding the KKK.
“Take your ass to the ballot box and vote for Donald Trump,” Dupree screamed as the crowd roared.
Stone, who arrived at the event late dressed in a cream suit, paid tribute to Jones and other conspiracy minded journalists including the Matt Drudge, and told the crowd that Trump’s rise was “not about Republicans versus Democrats” but “elites v Donald J. Trump”.
He then led the crowd in chants of “No Justice, No Peace,” as he called for the arrest of Clinton over the misuse of her personal emails during her tenure as secretary of state.
A member of Bikers for Trump, who gave his name only as “Dave”, told the Guardian he had rode in from Wisconsin as he displayed his loaded pistol, carried in a brown leather holster.
He claimed he brought it for protection against members of the Black Lives Matter movement, whom he described as “terrorists” set on “assaulting law abiding citizens”.
Despite the animosity, the event remained peaceful.
A spokesman for the city of Cleveland said police had arrested only one individual by late Monday afternoon. That person, a white woman, was arrested in the city’s public square on an outstanding warrant. Police made one arrest on Sunday after, they said, a protester at another march, reached for an officer’s gas mask.
Updated
Republican National Convention ratifies party platform
In a swift vote, the delegates at the Republican National Convention ratified the party’s 2016 platform, with only a few scattered “nays” audible from the press section.
Co-chair of the Republican National Convention’s platform committee and Oklahoma governor Mary Fallin has taken the stage at the RNC, asking the contentious audience whether they are ready to “make America great again!”
A man from the bleachers shouts “Roll call!” as others cheer.
“The platform is among the most important work we do as a party,” Fallin, a vice presidential short-lister, says.
Steve Womack: 'There is insufficient support' for roll-call vote
Rep. Steve Womack, appearing uncertain, has retaken the lectern as entire state delegations shout “roll call vote!”
“I need your help and your cooperation,” Womack says, attempting to project calm. “Without objection, the chair will put the question on adoption of the report from the Committee on Rules,” Womack continues, after retaking the lectern.
“Roll-call!” more shout.
“In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it,” Womack says, after another vote by acclamation.
“I make a motion that we have a roll-call vote on the rules,” the chair of the Utah delegation says.
“The secretary received requests from a total of nine states on a roll-call vote,” Womack responds, but received requests to rescind those requests from three states. With a seven-state threshold to call for a roll-call vote, Womack says, “the chair has found insufficient support for the request for a record vote.”
Updated
RNC floor erupts as leadership attempts to circumvent #NeverTrump
Republican delegates attempting to force a vote on a so-called “conscience clause” that would un-bind delegates from having to vote for Donald Trump were gaveled down by Rep. Steve Womack.
Alternating chants of “Trump! Trump! Trump!”, “U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!” and “Roll call vote! Roll call vote!!” echo across the floor of the RNC as the more than 2,000 delegates leap to their feet either in protest of the vote or in celebration of it.
The #NeverTrump contingent, headed by Utah senator Mike Lee, appear pleased to have driven the Republican leadership from the podium after the fight. As funk music plays in the background, Lee tells reporters that “the podium has been abandoned.”
“I want a roll-call vote,” Lee continued.
Updated
Love podcasts? Check out the pilot of Politics for Humans.
Guardian US politics reporter Sabrina Siddiqui gets you ready for two weeks of convention madness. She’s joined by Beth Reinhard, who covers national politics for the Wall Street Journal and Alex Conant, a partner at Firehouse Strategies and former communications director for Marco Rubio’s presidential primary campaign.
We’re still testing out the direction for this politics podcast, and we’d love to hear from you: What would you like us to cover this campaign season? With political news fatigue, what perspective would you find most helpful? Please leave us feedback and suggestions in the comments below or submit them through this encrypted form.
The closest Ohio governor John Kasich is coming to his party's convention this year #RNCinCLE pic.twitter.com/OT7pNjZWT9
— Dan Roberts (@RobertsDan) July 18, 2016
The Guardian’s Oliver Laughland is getting close with Bikers for Trump:
. @oliverlaughland getting personal with bikers for trump #RNCinCLE pic.twitter.com/OTdMbrCewQ
— Mae Ryan (@MaeRyan) July 18, 2016
David, of @Bikers4Trump, is carrying a loaded pistol and says he's "here to help police" against "thugs" #RNCinCLE pic.twitter.com/LMZBiAQ9DB
— Oliver Laughland (@oliverlaughland) July 18, 2016
Radio host Wayne Dupree now telling crowd that the Democrats were responsible for slavery and the foundation of the KKK #RNCinCLE
— Oliver Laughland (@oliverlaughland) July 18, 2016
Video contains nudity:
Caught your attention, eh? One hundred women posed nude for an art installation near the site of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, yesterday, carrying large mirrors that they shone in the direction of the convention, as a way to reflect “the knowledge and wisdom of progressive women.”
The artist behind the project, Spencer Tunick, said the installation was also a way for women and minorities to positively channel “their anger through art against the hateful repressive rhetoric of many in the Republican party.”
If Tiffany Trump doesn’t sing at the RNC, we will demand a refund.
The Republican National Convention, featuring a slate of young speakers, appears to be putting a brave face forwardin spite of a long-established deficit of support from voters under the age of 30.
Alex Smith, the first female chair of the College Republicans in the organization’s 124-year history, told the assembled delegates that “Millennials cost us the White House four years ago, and that’s caused some of the political elite to write us off.”
But, Smith cautioned, “We are some crazy, freedom-loving people!”
“For too long, Republican leaders haven’t been making our case to millennials,” Smith said of the so-called Grand Old Party. “There’s just too much ‘old’ and not enough ‘grand’ in how we express our values to the next generation of voters.”
But “Together, we are an unstoppable force the cause of freedom!”
Later, Young Republicans president David Cook - who appeared to be at least 40 years old - said that “Republicans face an uphill battle with young Americans in contrast to the party of unicorns and fairy tales.”
But “there is no better illustration of the American dream” for young people, Cook said, than the Republican ticket of Donald Trump and Mike Pence.
Updated
#Classy.
Speaker profile: Willie 'Duck Dynasty' Robertson
Featuring reality television personalities, supermodels and soap opera stars, program of speakers at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this week is a massive departure from traditional convention fare.
With 26 speakers scheduled to address the convention just today, we’re going to be introducing speakers with a miniature biography, including their choicest comments from the RNC stage and a quick evaluation of whether the speaker would still be here if Donald Trump weren’t the Republican nominee.
First up: Willie Robertson, CEO of Duck Commander and star of Duck Dynasty
RNC-provided biography: “The star of A&E’s hit series Duck Dynasty, Willie Robertson, is the CEO of Duck Commander and Buck Commander, a New York Times bestselling author, traveling speaker, father of five, and an avid outdoorsman.”
Fun facts: Robertson’s father, Phil, endorsed and campaigned with Texas senator Ted Cruz during the Republican presidential primaries, and was floated as a potential United Nations ambassador by the senator.
Sample tweet:
Hear the story of my first time at the RNC in '08 on this weeks podcast. Totally got on tv!https://t.co/HjEJotATET pic.twitter.com/iFqqlq2zlU
— Willie Robertson (@williebosshog) July 18, 2016
Would he address the RNC any other year? If Ted Cruz were the nominee, Phil Robertson would likely have jumped the queue, so we’ll say “no.”
The Texas delegation:
Hee-yah pic.twitter.com/RFnAZco2mt
— Dan Roberts (@RobertsDan) July 18, 2016
The RNC’s proceedings feature a house band, currently singing (shouting, really) a rendition of Cleveland Rocks by the Presidents of the United States of America.
Sample lyrics:
Cleveland rocks!
Cleveland rocks!
Cleveland rocks!
Cleveland rocks!
And it goes on like this.
Hours before the beginning of the Republican National Convention’s first night of primetime programming - themed “Make America Safe Again” - Hillary Clinton’s campaign has released a blistering statement on what it called Donald Trump’s “dangerous and divisive national security proposals.”
“From Trump and his running mate Mike Pence’s shared support for a ban on Muslims, to their advocacy for the use of torture, to Trump’s proposals to allow more countries to have nuclear weapons, to his secret plan to defeat ISIS, to his cozying up to strongmen and dictators like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jung Un, to his threat of abandoning our allies, one thing is clear: a Trump presidency would leave both our country and the world dramatically less safe,” the release stated.
Calling out Trump’s positions in subheads labeled “Islamophobia,” “Torture,” “Nuclear Weapons” and “Praise for Dictators,” the Clinton campaign accuses Trump of thinking “very little of the United States” and endorsing policies that are “ineffective, unethical, and dangerous.”
RNC chair Reince Priebus calls convention to order
“This convention will come to order!”
With the crack of a gavel, Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus has officially opened the Republican National Convention here in Cleveland.
After a presentation of colors, the Pledge of Allegiance, the national anthem (performed by a children’s group called the Singing Angels) and the invocation - originally to have been led by Ivanka Trump’s rabbi, before he pulled out after pressure from his congregants - the convention has officially begun.
Ben Carson, former Republican candidate turned surrogate for Donald Trump, has blamed America’s lack of unity on the decline of Christianity.
Speaking at a Latino Leaders Network lunch, Carson said: “All this divisiveness you see going on right now in our country, I personally believe it is intentional from those who want to destroy this country or at least bring it back down to size, according to their philosophy.
“But I believe that God blessed this country for a reason and it was because we were a decent people who honoured him. Our founding document, the Declaration of Independence, talked about certain inalienable rights give to us by our creator. Every coin in your pocket, every bill in your wallet, says, ‘In God we trust’. Our pledge of allegiance says, ‘One nation under God’.”
The neurosurgeon warned: “And now we’re in the process of trying to throw all of that out. And as we throw all of that out, I think the baser instincts begin to take over, and can’t you see this hatred and this divisiveness that is going on? This is something we have to put an end to because a house divided against itself cannot stand. I think we need to begin to de-emphasise the external characteristics and begin to emphasise the character of our American people.”
Carson said he is advising Trump on education policy and commented that China and India’s vast populations meant that the US cannot afford not to develop all its people. He also commented that the phenomenon of face transplants show the folly of discriminating by race.
Leaving aside the riots at the 1968 Democratic national convention in Chicago, the precursors to the presidential race have always been rather staid. The most exciting thing to happen is usually a balloon drop or maybe Clint Eastwood talking to an empty chair.
In fact, the conventions were so famously boring that back in 2002, the West Wing aired an episode where the fictitious broadcast networks banded together and told the White House they would be limiting the amount of air time they’d be giving them. Then 2016 happened.
Thanks to the heated race between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and the completely insane one-man horror show that is Donald Trump, this year everyone is obsessed with the conventions. Just like on the West Wing, television is reacting accordingly, but with even more coverage than ever before, mostly with late-night talk shows.
The Daily Show, which has always made hay out of the political process, is sending a team of nearly 90 people to both Cleveland for the Republican national convention and Philadelphia for the Democratic national convention. To give themselves an even bigger advantage, host Trevor Noah will go live at 11pm ET on both 21 and 28 July immediately following the big speeches given by Trump and Clinton, respectively. (Late night shows are usually filmed earlier in the evening.) The Comedy Central staple will also be airing those episodes on Facebook Live so all of those millennial cord-cutters we hear so much about can get a taste of the show without paying for cable.
Jon Stewart, who used to anchor the Daily Show, will be joining his old friend Stephen Colbert, whose Late Show on CBS will also be going live for the next two weeks, but at 11.35pm ET, giving Noah the slight edge timing-wise.
It’s still unclear what Stewart’s role will be, but it’s sure to get his liberal base very excited. Colbert also has a great slate of political guests lined up in including fellow Daily Show alum and current HBO host John Oliver, progressive saint Senator Elizabeth Warren and disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner.
The Denver Post’s editorial board has called for a min-insurrection at the Republican National Convention this week, publishing an editorial urging Colorado’s delegates to the convention to refuse to back “a racist, misogynist megalomaniac” for the Republican nomination, comparing presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump to an abusive spouse.
“The state party’s delegates find themselves in a unique situation, and they should make the most of it,” the editorial board writes. “If ever a vote required the kind of purity test activists are so fond of, refusing to back a racist, misogynist megalomaniac would be the time.”
Citing the refusal of the vast majority of the state’s congressional delegation to attend the convention, as well as Trump’s poor fit with the “more libertarian Colorado conservative base,” the editorial board pushes for the delegates to abstain from voting.
“We understand that the party is under practical pressures that now look insurmountable,” the editorial board concludes. “But Donald Trump would be bad for the nation and bad for the Republican brand. A principled abstention preserves the spirit of the rules. And if enough delegates from other states join in and give them the chance, then Colorado’s delegates should dump Trump.”
“When you find yourself in an abusive relationship, the smart thing to do - the right thing - is to get a divorce.”
The Guardian’s Oliver Laughland has updates from the sparsely attended Women Vote Trump event here in Cleveland, where the presumptive Republican nominee’s difficulties with female voters appear to have influenced turnout:
"I like a man you can judge by his actions," Ann Stone at Women Vote Trump event (attended by 17 people) #RNCinCLE pic.twitter.com/Ddpnuf4VP3
— Oliver Laughland (@oliverlaughland) July 18, 2016
Diamond and Silk now telling crowd (who are loving it) "He (Trump) can do no wrong in our eyes" #RNCinCLE pic.twitter.com/mQprda1UKC
— Oliver Laughland (@oliverlaughland) July 18, 2016
This guy, wearing an "I love women who vote Trump" T-shirt, now being invited up to take a bow #RNCinCLE pic.twitter.com/mPJuFfgw0g
— Oliver Laughland (@oliverlaughland) July 18, 2016
Q&A now happening, but crowd so small the panel are asking themselves most of the questions #RNCinCLE pic.twitter.com/1Wgm30LXR4
— Oliver Laughland (@oliverlaughland) July 18, 2016
The chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee has defended Donald Trump and denied that he will cost the party seats in the House of Representatives.
“We’re all adjusting,” admitted Greg Walden, a representative from Oregon, at an Atlantic magazine breakfast. But he added: “You go round the country race by race and you realise we’re in pretty darned good shape.”
People are worried about national security and the economy, Walden said, and have turned to Trump because “they’re looking for a fighter”.
He also praised the candidate’s running mate. “I think Mike Pence is a good choice. He’s a very thoughtful guy... You build a team, it’s not just one person.”
Although Trump is behind Hillary Clinton in fundraising, the Republican National Committee is better organised, Walden claimed. “The Democratic party is no longer the party of Bill Clinton. It’s the party of Bernie Sanders.”
Michael Steele, former chairperson of the Republican National Committee, dismissed criticism that Trump has failed to provide stars in the convention line-up. Looking around the room, he asked: “Can we get comfortable with the idea that Donald Trump just doesn’t care?”
The only thing that matters to him, Steele argued, is put himself, his wife and children on stage. “This is about branding.”
Trump was “torn” over his vice-presidential pick, Steele added. “I think his heart really was with [Chris] Christie.” But his family and campaign chairperson Paul Manafort advised otherwise. Steele, now a political pundit, said there is a side to Donald Trump that the public often don’t see. “The guy I’ve got to know actually genuinely cares about workers, individuals, communities of people. He’s still paying the bills of people who left his employ 15 years ago.
“That side of the narrative does not get discussed. I don’t know why he’s allowed [the negative] narrative to really define his persona.”
Looking forward to the election against Clinton, Steele predicted a high voter turn out. “I think the debates are going to be the most watched public events in the history of this country,” he said. “The candidates animate people in a way that makes them want to lash out with their vote.”
The Atlantic event also heard from David Wasserman, an analyst at The Cook Political Report. “The golden triangle of the electoral college this year is Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania,” he said. “A lot of us pay exclusive attention to Donald Trump at our peril because in a lot of these districts polls show Hillary Clinton is just as unpopular.”
Outside the Quicken Loans Arena, knockoff pro-Trump merch has emerged as a cottage industry:
#MakeAmericaGreatAgain pic.twitter.com/8ACLCDxPBJ
— Scott Bixby (@scottbix) July 18, 2016
Late-night comedian Stephen Colbert was as stealthy as a man could be while wearing an electric-blue wig, but cell-phone video has surfaced of the former Colbert Report host doing a bit on the main stage of the Republican National Convention as Caesar Flickerman, the toothsome host of The Hunger Games.
Although if Flickerman looks like anybody, it’s Paul Manafort.
Even after Lesley Stahl grilled him about it, Indiana governor and designated running mate Mike Pence has not deleted this tweet:
Calls to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. are offensive and unconstitutional.
— Governor Mike Pence (@GovPenceIN) December 8, 2015
New Clinton ad: Donald Trump 'sounds a lot like a threat to humanity'
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is causing a little bit of mischief during the week of the Republican National Convention, watering the seeds of discord sown during a contentious primary that has left some Republicans worried that their party has left them behind.
Cut to Clinton’s latest web video: “Confessions of a Republican II,” a spiritual successor to an iconic 1964 advertisement that featured character actor Bill Bogert wondering what has happened to his party. Bogert makes a return to Clinton’s sequel, raising many of the same concerns about Trump that he did about Goldwater, a similarly divisive party nominee who flouted conservative orthodoxy.
“I was a Republican who voted for Eisenhower and Nixon. My father was a Republican, his father was. The whole family was,” Bogert says. “But Donald Trump... He’s a different kind of man. This man scares me.”
“A friend of mine said to me, ‘Listen, just because a man sounds irresponsible during a campaign doesn’t mean he’s going to act that way.’ Well, I don’t buy that. Trump says ‘we need unpredictability’ when it comes to using nuclear weapons! What is that supposed to mean? When a man says that, he sounds a lot like a threat to humanity.”
“I’ve thought about just not voting, but you can’t do that - that’s saying you don’t care who wins, and I do care,” Bogert continues. “I think the party is about to make a terrible mistake in Cleveland, and I’m going to have to vote against that mistake on the eighth of November.”
Chris Christie is getting mouthy...
Christie tells MI GOP of Pence: "We don't need a nother big mouth from Congress...What Donald needed was a partner who governed."
— Dustin Racioppi (@dracioppi) July 18, 2016
Campaign manager Paul Manafort said that his comments earlier this morning regarding John Kasich’s decision to avoid the Republican National Convention are not a symbol of disunity, but rather part of the “healing” process.
“We wanted him to participate and he chose not to,” Manafort said, also speaking to the absence of the Bush family, including two former presidents and a failed presidential nominee. “We hope that when the Bush family decides to participate again in the political process that they will join us... but healing takes time.”
“It is a difficult situation when the host-state governor doesn’t participate in the convention process,” Manafort admitted.
Donald Trump to introduce Melania Trump at RNC tonight
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will introduce wife Melania Trump tonight for her speech to the Republican National Convention, breaking form by appearing onstage before his own official acceptance of the party’s presidential nomination.
“Mr. Trump will be accompanying his wife to the Q,” campaign manager Paul Manafort told reporters during a morning press briefing, referring to the Quicken Loans Arena. “He will introduce her tonight, and then she will speak. They will then, after her comments, jointly leave and go back to New York. He’ll be coming out here formally on Wednesday.”
Melania Trump’s speech - her first major address as a potential first lady - is the kickoff of a series of family testimonials that Manafort said “will describe Donald Trump the man - it’s the part that I think is historic,” Manafort says, pointing out that a record five members of Trump’s family will speak at this week’s convention.
Melania Trump, referred to on the RNC app and her own website as “the aqua-eyed beauty,” is rarely seen on the campaign trail, and in the past has only spoken for a few minutes to introduce her husband.
Updated
Republican National Convention CEO Jeff Larson and Donald Trump’s campaign manager Paul Manafort have taken the dais here at the RNC’s morning press briefing, where the day’s plans will be laid out.
“We, I think, have a good program today, with a number of speakers we laid out yesterday,” Larson says. “Antonio Sobato will be speaking this evening, Mary Ann Mendoza, immigration-reform advocate... there’s a whole host of great speakers.”
“We’ll conclude with Mrs. Trump speaking tonight,” Larson continues, referring to Melania Trump, the Solvenian-born former model who is rarely seen and even more rarely heard on the campaign trail. “The first day’s gonna turn out to be very good.”
Manafort takes the lectern to speak to campaign-related matters.
“Our goal all week is to present a picture of Donald Trump that is broader than just the campaign image that people have developed from the primary season,” Manafort says. “We also understand that, since Mr. Trump has not been active in the political arena prior to becoming a candidate a year ago, the biography of the man... is not well-known.”
The goal of this week’s convention, Manafort elaborates, is to introduce Trump “not just as the political figure running for office, but as the father, as the businessman, as the compassionate human being he is when the spotlights aren’t on.”
“We really have got three different groups speaking today... you’ll have certainly the family and personal aspect presented through Melania Trump,” Manafort says. “You then have some people who have been affected by world events who will be speaking to the issue of making America great again,” and then others speaking on political figures speaking to policy.
More news from MSNBC’s Morning Joe, where former House speaker Newt Gingrich blamed what he characterized as the poor state of race relations in the US on President Barack Obama.
“As long as you have Barack Obama doing what he did over the last few years, if you’ve had seven-and-a-half years of a black president, seven-and-a-half years of a black attorney general, Gallup reports race relations today are worse than any time in the last 17 years,” Gingrich said.
Why?
“Because how often has he hit the police,” Gingrich said of Obama. “He hit the police in Cambridge and he was wrong. He hit the police in Ferguson, he was wrong. He hit the police about Florida, he was wrong. At what point does the president have some obligation to say, you know - there are two parts of this. One, we’ve got to better understand the experience of being black in America and in places like Chicago where 3,200 people have been killed in the Obama presidency, we had better have a strategy that works. We don’t.”
Gingrich also spoke to being passed over as presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s running mate, telling Morning Joe that he was pleased just to be considered.
“It was a great honor to be considered,” Gingrich said. “As I said to Trump at the time, you know, you could run a two-pirate ticket [Ed.: Yes, he said pirate.] and then Trump and I – we would certainly have had a lot of catalytic energy… I think he made the right decision that having a balanced ticket will actually, in the long run, serve him well.”
We’re waiting for the morning #RNCinCLE briefing - which will begin “momentarily,” according to an RNC staffer - but before we kick off today’s slate of platform votes, speakers and protests, a quick story of intra-party sniping during a week of putative party unity:
Paul Manafort, Donald Trump’s campaign manager, told MSNBC’s Morning Joe this morning that the host governor of the Republican National Convention is not being as, well, gracious as he might hope.
“He’s hurting his state - he’s embarrassing his state, frankly,” Manafort said of John Kasich, the Ohio governor who has chosen to host a listening tour around the state this week instead of attending the convention.
“You know what, he’s making a big mistake,” Manafort said. “He’s making a big mistake. He’s looking at something that’s not going to happen. He’s hurting his state - he’s embarrassing his state, frankly. But... most of the Republicans who aren’t coming are people who have been part of the past. And the people who are part of the future of the Republican Party are, frankly, going to be here participating in the program.”
Republican national convention: day one
Good morning, and welcome to the Guardian’s campaign live blog, coming at you live from Cleveland, Ohio, site of the long-anticipated Republican national convention.
Less than 20 hours before kickoff, the Republican National Committee finally released its full slate of speakers, events and themes for this week’s convention on Sunday, the theme of which was perhaps best summed up by presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s campaign chief, Paul Manafort:
This is a Trump convention.
Rather than the typical slate of party leaders, loyalists and luminaries, the 2016 RNC program largely features a “non-traditional” roster of Trump’s family members, business associates and personal friends, with the stated agenda of helping “the American people understand more about Donald Trump, the man”, as Manafort put it to the press yesterday.
Each day is programmed around a theme, carefully tweaked from Trump’s ever-present campaign slogan of “Make America Great Again,” that loosely corresponds to its speakers. Today’s theme: “Make America Safe Again.” With speakers largely focused on threats posed by terrorism and undocumented immigrants, the stated goal of today’s speeches are to emphasize that “the policies of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have left us vulnerable,” according to the program.
We’ll have more on the full roster of speakers as the day begins, but here’s a sampling of the headliners: Melania Trump, Lieutenant General (ret.) Michael Flynn, Iowa senator Joni Ernst, Concerned Veterans for America advisor Jason Beardsley and Montana congressman Ryan Zinke.
Before we go full-tilt on the RNC, here’s a quick rundown of what you need to know from the campaign trail this weekend:
- In their first joint interview on 60 Minutes, Donald Trump and running mate Mike Pence revealed an uneasy union as host Lesley Stahl grilled them on major policy differences on immigration, international trade and their personal styles. Trump frequently interrupted his running mate, with Pence speaking about 50 times and Trump more than 100.
- Key Trump line: “I think I am, actually humble. I think I’m much more humble than you would understand.”
- A West Virginia Republican lawmaker said yesterday that his comments on Twitter calling for Hillary Clinton’s public execution were not meant to be taken literally. In the tweet, House of Delegates member Mike Folk said that the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee “should be tried for treason, murder, and crimes against the US constitution … then hung on the Mall in Washington DC”.
- Samaria Rice, the mother of Tamir Rice, has one message for Donald Trump ahead of the convention in Cleveland: “I wish he wasn’t coming here.” “Donald Trump doesn’t really care about the murders of Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, and other young men,” Rice told the Guardian. Her 12 year-old son was shot dead by a white Cleveland police officer as he played with a plastic pellet gun in Cleveland in November 2014. “I don’t really think that he has a need to care, because I don’t believe that he cares for African American people anyway,” she said.
- The head of the Cleveland police union called on the governor of Ohio to declare a state of emergency and to suspend open-carry gun rights during the Republican national convention, following the killing of three officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, yesterday. “I don’t care what the legal precedent is, I feel strongly that leadership needs to stand up and defend these police officers,” Steve Loomis, the head of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association, told Reuters in an interview at the union’s headquarters on Sunday. “An AR-15, a shotgun, multiple handguns. It’s irresponsible of those folks, especially right now, to be coming downtown with open carry AR’s or anything else,” Loomis told CNN. “I couldn’t care less if it’s legal or not.”
Caught up? Good – now on with the show ...
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