“Hillary Clinton can lose Florida, Ohio and Virginia — and I think she’ll win all 3 — and still be president.”
— David Plouffe, quoted by Bloomberg.
Ted Cruz’s Big Gamble
Byron York: “By allowing Ted Cruz to speak without an assured endorsement, Donald Trump took a gamble with his convention. By refusing to endorse the nominee of his party, Cruz took a gamble with his political future.”
“Trump lost his gamble when Cruz’s speech ended with boos and bad feelings as the audience realized Cruz would do no more than urge them to ‘vote your conscience‘ and would not endorse the candidate who soundly defeated him for the Republican nomination.”
“Cruz’s gamble is longer term. No one will know whether he won or lost until a few years from now.”
Politico: “The act of defiance promises to be a defining moment in Cruz’s political career. He antagonized millions of voters who made Trump the nominee — whether the New Yorker wins or loses, the political cost of that move could be very steep indeed.”
Trump Sent Ghostwriter a ‘Cease and Desist’ Letter
Tony Schwartz, the ghost writer of Donald Trump’s book The Art of the Deal, told NBC News that he received a “cease and desist” letter after speaking out against Trump:
Said Schwartz: “Yes, it is true. I got almost immediately that cease and desist letter delivered to me by FedEx. And, you know, it’s nuts and completely indicative of who he is. There is no basis in anything legal.”
He added: “This notion that I didn’t write the book is so preposterous. You know, I am not — I am not certain that Donald Trump read every word, but I’m sure certain that I wrote every word. And he made a few red marks on the manuscript and sent it back to me, and the rest was history. The idea that he would dispute that is part of why I felt I had to come forward. The notion that if he could lie about that he could lie about anything.”
Money Always Adapts to Power
New York Times: “While some of the party’s elite donors have shunned Mr. Trump’s coronation this week, they are still paying for it. Roughly 500 wealthy Republicans poured close to $16 million into the Republican National Committee’s convention account leading up to this week, according to disclosures made to the Federal Election Commission through last Friday. The biggest donors, giving more than $100,000 each, are also a veritable roll call of the stop-Trump movement, among them the billionaire investor Paul E. Singer and Marlene Ricketts, who bankrolled early efforts to deny Mr. Trump the nomination.”
Trump Plays Down U.S. Role In World Crises
Donald Trump told the New York Times that he would not pressure Turkey about conducting huge purges of its military or cracking down on civil liberties.
Said Trump: “I don’t think we have a right to lecture. Look at what is happening in our country. How are we going to lecture when people are shooting policemen in cold blood?”
GOP Delegates Turn on Ted Cruz
Sen. Ted Cruz “refused to endorse Donald Trump in daring and dramatic fashion on Wednesday, telling delegates to ‘vote your conscience‘ in a 20-minute snub that played out in slow-motion on national television,” Politico reports.
“It was a shocking rebuke coming from the same stage where Trump had become the nominee only 24 hours earlier and where he will address the nation on Thursday. And Cruz slowed to take in the scene.”
Trump Adviser Says Clinton Should Be Shot
New Hampshire state representative Al Baldasaro (R), an adviser to Donald Trump on veterans issues, said that Hillary Clinton should be put in a firing line and shot for treason, BuzzFeed reports.
Said Baldasaero: “She is a disgrace for the lies that she told those mothers about their children that got killed over there in Benghazi… This whole thing disgusts me, Hillary Clinton should be put in the firing line and shot for treason.”
Republican National Convention: Wednesday
With party business and Donald Trump’s official nomination all settled, the third day of the GOP convention is about unity. The night will culminate with a speech by newly-minted vice presidential nominee Mike Pence.
Add your own observations in the comments.
Quote of the Day
“Who cares? The fact is Melania gave a good speech, she is stunningly attractive, she’s stunningly articulate, and most of the people who are criticizing her can’t speak five languages. She’s a bright person, she introduced herself in a way that’s attractive, and she’s obviously very passionate about America.”
— Newt Gingrich, quoted by New York Magazine, on Melania Trump’s speech that lifted parts of a speech by Michelle Obama.
Convention Dispatch: Buying Votes
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The Trump Campaign Is a Mess
Amy Walter: “The fact that we are on day three of Melania Trump ‘Speech-gate’ tells you all you need to know about this campaign’s competence. An experienced and well-organized campaign would have had this buttoned up by the next morning. This campaign can’t even get everyone on their team on the same page.”
“The convention itself has been marred by poor time management and a lack of message discipline. The second night was dubbed “Making American Work,” and yet there was very little discussion of the economy or jobs. What is the point of giving each day a theme if your speakers are freelancing?”
GOP Groups Cut Johnson Loose
“Two prominent groups that back Republican candidates are scrapping millions of dollars in advertisements aimed at bolstering vulnerable Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) in the fall, as polls show him trailing former Sen. Russ Feingold (D),” The Hill reports.
Why Trump’s Convention Could Still Be a Success
Bill Kristol: “I’ve been attending Republican conventions since 1988. As of the Wednesday morning of these conventions, none has ever seemed more messed-up, more poorly managed, and more generally headed to disaster than that 1988 one, my first, in New Orleans. The Reagan-Bush handoff on Monday had been awkward. The rollout of the Dan Quayle vice presidential pick on Tuesday had been disastrous. Vice President Bush had entered the convention trailing Mike Dukakis in the polls. On Wednesday it seemed to almost everyone that he was very unlikely to get the bounce from the convention he needed.”
“He got it. Why? Because Dan Quayle gave a good speech Wednesday night, and, far more important, Bush gave a very good one Thursday night. The fact is that the presidential nominee’s speech dwarfs everything else at the convention in impact. It’s almost always the main thing, often the only thing, people remember. It’s what makes a difference, if anything does.”
“And this is why, much as it pains me to say it, and much as the convention wisdom that the convention has been a clown show so far is correct, Donald Trump could end up with a successful week in Cleveland.”
Pence Steps On the National Stage
First Read: “Now that the Republican convention has stabilized a bit after a very rocky start, tonight’s attention turns to VP running mate Mike Pence. Thanks to a less-than-typical VP rollout, Pence probably has a more challenging task to sell himself — and Trump — to the American public in his speech tonight than his predecessors did in 2008 or 2012.”
“Neither Sarah Palin nor Paul Ryan were overshadowed the way Trump overshadowed Pence when he formally unveiled him, speaking for 29 minutes before Pence got his chance to talk. Neither Palin nor Ryan got in 900 words in the first joint-ticket TV interview — compared with the presidential nominee’s 2,160 words — in what happened during Sunday’s Trump-Pence interview on “60 Minutes.” And neither Palin nor Ryan had to experience reports that the presidential nominee had immediate doubts he was making the right pick.”
A Family Affair
Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball: “Even the Kennedys didn’t have as many family members appear at the 1960 convention as Trumps have at this one. Naturally, family members have often been used as props, in a sense, occasionally seen in cameo roles in film or on the podium: LBJ’s daughters, Nixon’s daughters and sons-in-laws, the Ford and Carter children in 1976, the Bushes, and so on. And of course there will be (at least) three prominently featured Clintons in Philadelphia next week.”
“But to have a convention where the family members play a significant role each night of the convention is unprecedented. It’s obviously an attempt to humanize Trump and file down his rough edges — although it will take a lot more than a stable of attractive and well-spoken family members to do that. Trump made a virtue of necessity. So many senior politicians are desperate to avoid even the slightest taint from Trump. They’ll always be somewhere else when he’s in their state or district. Instead of the usual clamor for speaking slots, we understand Trump and the Republican National Committee had to reach out to some of the underwhelming cast of characters we’ve seen.”
Nothing Will Change Trump Supporters’ Minds
FiveThirtyEight: “Fact-checking Trump didn’t change his supporters minds about him in Swire’s study. After presenting participants with the various statements, the researchers debriefed the volunteers on which of these statements were true and which were false. Even when Trump supporters accepted that some of Trump’s statements were untrue (recognizing that a vaccine doesn’t cause autism, for instance) they did not change their voting preference. In other words, Trump supporters were willing to acknowledge that some of Trump’s statements were lies, but this didn’t alter their enthusiasm for him.”
“People whose support for Trump arises from animosity toward Clinton or discontent with the status quo are unlikely to be swayed by facts or revelations about Trump’s truthfulness or policy, and the same goes for Clinton supporters who loathe Trump.”
A Convention In Search of Unity and Energy
Rick Klein: “The Trump takeover of the Republican Party was formalized on Tuesday, amid some folded arms on the floor of a Republican National Convention that has lacked unity, energy, and emotional heft. It all occurred in the exact same place that Donald J. Trump famously raised his hand in a gesture that hedged on party loyalty, just about a year ago. That moment was electric in a way that nothing that’s happened in Cleveland this week has come close to matching. While Trump earned the Republican nomination, he did not and has not earned a united party. Little that’s happened through a sometimes flat first two days of his convention nudged things in that direction –- to say nothing of the wider nation he hopes to lead.”
The GOP Establishment Is Now with Trump
New York Times: “They didn’t want him. They fought against him. Privately, they still resent him. But in the early minutes of the evening, as the party’s senior leadership executed a final quashing of lingering anti-Trump efforts on the convention floor, they presided over Mr. Trump’s installation as the duly chosen Republican Party presidential nominee. They did it because the rules obligated them to, but also because it was politically necessary. If Trump loses the White House, it is imperative to the party’s establishment that he do so convincingly, undeniably, without sabotage, so that they cannot be blamed for the defeat.”
