“In the spin before the Republican National Convention began, President Trump’s team insisted we would get optimism, hope and uplift. Instead, the first night has brought a parade of angry and aggrieved — and mostly White — speakers who sound as paranoid as Trump. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) sounded frantic in declaring that Democrats would ‘disarm you, empty the prisons, lock you in your home and invite MS-13 to live next door.’ Really? This was aimed at no one not already convinced of the ‘Apocalypse Now’ view of America” writes Jennifer Rubin.
“In contrast to the upbeat videos and testimonies of the Democratic nominee’s good character, Republicans have largely relied on a parade of angry individuals standing on a podium. The setting had the feel of a local tea party confab, with many people speaking VERY LOUDLY to people already fully in their club. The white supremacy was barely disguised as 26-year-old Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA and Students for Trump said Trump is the ‘the bodyguard of Western civilization.’ Let me translate: Anyone who is not a White American is foreign, alien and ‘the other.'”