MILWAUKEE — Welcome to The Campaign Moment. This week, we’ll be with you every night through Thursday, running through the big moments and trends from the Republican National Convention.
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The big moment
Night 3 of the 2024 GOP convention introduced the nation to perhaps the least-well-known presidential running mate since Sarah Palin in 2008, first-term Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), who delivered the keynote address.
Vance’s big entree came even as the Democratic ticket remained unsettled, with increasing pressure on President Biden to bow out and Biden’s sudden disclosure of a coronavirus diagnosis Wednesday afternoon.
Here’s what we took away.
1. Vance’s speech sent a signal to the GOP of old
There were two big questions with Vance’s speech.
One was how would a guy whose 2022 Ohio Senate campaign wasn’t exactly a popular success play, in his big introduction?
And the second was how would he address tensions between his own politics and where his party has stood for years — specifically his isolationist foreign policy and anti-corporate populism? Some traditional conservatives blanched at his selection, which seemed to signal a real shift in where the party is headed.
On the first count, Vance delivered a capable if not exactly rousing speech. At moments, he betrayed his youth at just 39 years old, and he seemed overeager. His references to his humble beginnings played well. An especially strong moment came when he introduced his mother, whose drug problems featured significantly in his book, “Hillbilly Elegy.” Vance said she was about 10 years sober now.
As for the tensions between his policies and others in his party: Vance tried to play it off as healthy disagreement, but he also sent a subtly defiant signal to those he disagrees with.
“We have a big tent in this party on everything from national security to economic policy,” he said. “But my message to you, my fellow Republicans, is we love this country and we are united to win.”
Vance then preceded to highlight two conspicuous issues: opposition to NAFTA and the Iraq War.
“Somehow a real estate developer from New York City by the name of Donald J. Trump was right on all of these issues,” Vance said, “while Biden was wrong.”
Trump actually seemed to initially support the Iraq War, despite his frequent claims.
But that aside, it is also important to note that both of these policies initially got more Republican support than Democratic support. It was almost as if it was a concerted — if seemingly magnanimous — attempt to shove aside the GOP of old.
Later in the speech, Vance was more direct.
“We need a leader who is not in the pocket of big business but answers to the working man, union and nonunion alike,” he said, “a leader who won’t sell out to multinational corporations but will stand up for American companies and American industry.”
He added: “We’re done, ladies and gentlemen, catering to Wall Street. We’ll commit to the working man.”
Those comments weren’t specifically about his party. But they might as well have been. (The message was also at odds with how Trump often pitches his own policies to wealthy donors.)
These were the kind of comments that Republicans of the past might have seen at Democratic conventions and viewed as demagogic. Including them despite the pushback on Vance from the right was certainly a choice.
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2. Gold Star families emotionally went to bat for Trump on Afghanistan
A big focal point Wednesday night was the chaotic 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal, as Republicans sought to highlight a low point of Biden’s presidency.
The convention played a video of family members of 6 of the 13 U.S. soldiers killed, and some of them spoke afterward as others stood onstage.
“Joe Biden said the withdrawal from Afghanistan was an extraordinary success,” said Cheryl Juels, the aunt of Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole Gee. “Look at our faces. Look at our pain and our heartbreak. And look at our rage. That was not an extraordinary success. The humiliation of our nation was not an extraordinary success.”
It was an emotional moment. And this is a significant liability for Biden. His approval rating was declining somewhat before the withdrawal, but it went underwater almost immediately afterward and has never recovered. The period marked the most precipitous decline in his image ratings to date.
The featuring of the Gold Star families was also a notable reversal from the 2016 campaign season, when Trump actually attacked Gold Star parents who appeared onstage at the Democratic National Convention. Trump questioned whether the mother remained silent beside her husband because she was a Muslim. He also suggested the father was controlled by Hillary Clinton’s campaign. A number of Gold Star parents strongly criticized him.
Some Gold Star families have also criticized Trump for his reported comments dismissive of the sacrifice of slain soldiers.
3. Vice President Harris was a big focal point
With major questions about whether Biden will continue to lead his ticket, Republicans proceeded to focus more on the potential Democratic nominee-in-waiting, Vice President Harris.
She was invoked repeatedly early in Wednesday’s program — often alongside Biden, but perhaps tellingly, often in her own right.
Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Tex.) claimed the “greatest blame” for obscuring Biden’s condition lies with Harris: “She has put party above country, and she is as unfit in character as Joe Biden is in body and mind.”
Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) linked Harris to the Afghanistan withdrawal, saying neither Biden nor she “deserves to be saluted as commander in chief or to sit in the Oval Office.”
The mayor of East Palestine, Ohio, blamed Harris for not reaching out after a major train derailment there.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) cited Harris as being the face of Biden’s border policy, saying, “Kamala Harris isn’t able to do any job.”
Gaetz added: “So they can run Biden from the nursing home, Harris, George Clooney, Robert De Niro, whoever they want to run. We are on a mission to rescue and save this country.”
4. ‘Law and order,’ meet Trump’s convicted allies
A big theme Tuesday night was the rule of law and “law and order.” But for the second straight night Wednesday, we got a taste for how selective that emphasis is.
Among those present were four convicted criminals aligned with Trump: former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone, Trump-endorsing former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich (D) and former Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro. Manafort, Stone and Blagojevich, each granted clemency by Trump in 2020, were sentenced to a combined quarter-century’s worth of prison; Navarro got out of prison earlier Wednesday after serving four months for contempt of Congress.
Navarro was given the stage for a surprisingly long speech, in which he told the crowd, “In Trump’s America, you didn’t have to worry about being locked up for disagreeing with the government. I went to prison so you won’t have to.”
Navarro was convicted after refusing to comply with a subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee. While the subtext of his speech was that he was politically targeted, the judge in the case assured him earlier this year, “Let’s make clear, Dr. Navarro: You are not a victim of a political prosecution. … These are circumstances of your own making.”
Navarro claimed in his trial that Trump had asserted executive privilege over his testimony while he was president, but Navarro never provided direct evidence of that. And Trump advisers and attorneys didn’t vouch for that claim.
On Thursday, of course, a felon named Donald Trump will accept the GOP nomination.
Take a moment to read:
“Jeffries, Schumer privately warned Biden he could imperil Democrats” (Washington Post)“Secret Service was told police could not watch building used by Trump rally shooter” (Washington Post)“Vance urged DOJ to enforce Comstock Act, crack down on abortion pills” (Washington Post)“Where J.D. Vance stands on key issues: Abortion, guns, Ukraine and more” (Washington Post)“DNC sticks with Biden virtual roll call, despite doubts that it’s necessary” (Washington Post)“How has Trump transformed the Republican Party? Look at the platforms.” (Politico)