With the republican National Convention scheduled to air Monday through Thursday evenings, there are certain things we all expect–frequently hyperbolic statements about Donald Trump being the greatest president of all time–but with many details still in flux as the opening approaches, there are a number of things that we should expect to see, and not see, over the eight hours of televised coverage:
A “high school musical” feel to it: republicans will attempt to duplicate the smoothness and professionalism of the Democratic National Convention, which exceeded expectations for the first virtual convention. The RNC hired two former producers of “The Apprentice” to polish the show: Sadoux Kim, a deputy to “The Apprentice” creator Mark Burnett who was a one-time judge of the Trump-owned Miss Universe pageant; and Chuck LaBella, who also produced the Comedy Central roast of Trump. Both were brought in at the beginning of July to design the programming, but the positive reception of the Democratic convention likely threw all their reality show/beauty pageant plans into the shredder. Despite Trump’s protestations that the DNC show was “unwatchable,” he watched every second of it and obviously made immediate demands of the production team to fit his whims. The problem: “The Apprentice” took five weeks and scores of hours of taped action to produce a one-hour pre-scripted episode in which Trump appeared for 10 minutes, tops; a beauty pageant isn’t known for high production values. The slap-dash production of these segments will be evident, as will the ersatz nature of the clones of Democratic features.
No masks–well, with one exception: While much of the republican convention canceled, reformatted or relocated due to Trump insistence on having crowds cheer him–and then realizing that that wasn’t such a great idea–you’ll find very little adherence to public health guidelines. No social distancing when there are people together and most certainly no masks. EXCEPT, there will be one person–identity as yet unknown–who will make an overt act of removing a mask for the camera. It’ll happen early in the convention, and perhaps they’ll make it a daily spectacle for that sacrificial lamb to do in front of the camera.
Trump, Trumps and more Trump: More than 10% of the speaking slots are taken up by immediate members of the Trump family: Melania, Junior, Ivanka, Ewic, Tiffany, Lara (Ewic’s wife), Kimberly Guilfoyle (Junior’s made-to-order step-Oedipal complex), and of course, Donald. And there will be LOTS of Donald: he’s scheduled to make an address each night of the convention. The republicans dare not have Trump interact with normal people in the way Biden interviewed people; it would be become a monologue about Trump.
No mention of Trump’s failures: Trump needs to run on his view of his administration, which according to his followers means showcasing “raving success.” There will be no mention of the coronavirus death toll. No mention of a GDP that had a record plunge. Nor of the 50 million people who lost their jobs since March, or rent assistance, or federal unemployment supplemental payments. What you will hear is of an amazing stock market and a vaccine right around the corner.
Lots of stories about violence: The Trump campaign is based entirely on fear. The fear of liberals. The fear of not being in the majority. The fear of minorities. Antifa. Taxes. Loss of history (Confederate history, of course). But there will be a lot of video of the protests, particularly the violent aspects of some of the BLM demonstrations. One of the scheduled speakers is the mother of a man who died after an accident involving a drunk immigrant. And don’t be surprised if it’s revealed that much of the footage used came from foreign countries.
No discussion about fiscal responsibility: $3 trillion annual federal deficit. Increased trade deficit. Trump planning on defunding social security. ’nuff said.
Other things to look for in the RNC Bingo Card/Drinking Game:
- Trump referencing the “Russian Hoax.”
- Calling the pandemic the “China Virus.”
- Claims that Biden made money off China.
- Mail fraud. Lots and lots of mail fraud.
- Hunter Biden.
- Ivanka and Jared doing a great job.
- “Democrat-run cities.”
- Talk about how Trump inherited a screwed up America.