President Trump’s efforts to build his appeal and define his opponent at the Republican National Convention, using pageantry and the White House as the backdrop, had little apparent impact on the electorate’s impressions of both him and Joe Biden, a new ABC News/Ipsos poll finds.

Lynne Patton, a Trump-appointed federal housing official, tricked four public housing residents into appearing in a video that was used for the Republican convention, the New York Times reports.

“Three of the four tenants in the public housing video were interviewed on Friday by The New York Times. All three said they opposed President Trump and were misled about the purpose of the video.”

McKay Coppins: “Every presidential-nominating convention is, to a certain extent, an exercise in hype and whitewashing. But Trump’s 2020 convention went further—rewriting the history of his first term with such brazenness that it seemed designed to disorient. The setting of the convention’s final night reinforced the surreality: the made-for-TV stage on the White House’s South Lawn; the cheering, unmasked audience of more than 1,000 standing shoulder to shoulder; the speakers blaring Lee Greenwood’s ‘God Bless the U.S.A.’ loud enough to drown out protesters at the gate.”

“Many of the Republican strategists I spoke with this week flatly acknowledged that their party was presenting a version of recent events that veered toward fan fiction. But given the bitter mood of the country and the dire state of the race, they said, the campaign’s desperation was understandable.”

Daniel Dale‘s fact check of the speech is worth watching: “This president is a serial liar, and he serially lied tonight.”

The third night of the Republican convention will be televised and livestreamed from 8:30 p.m to 11 p.m. ET.

Speakers include: Ivanka Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Kevin McCarthy and Donald Trump.

Leave your reactions in the comments. Members can join the discussion in The Cloakroom.

The third night of the Republican convention will be televised and livestreamed from 8:30 p.m to 11 p.m. ET.

Speakers include: Mike Pence, Karen Pence, Kayleigh McEnany and Kellyanne Conway. Donald Trump is also expected to make an appearance.

Leave your reactions in the comments. Members can join the discussion in The Cloakroom.

Associated Press: “An advocate of ‘household voting’ in which husbands get the final say. A woman who has argued that school sex ed programs are ‘grooming’ children to be sexualized by predators like Jeffrey Epstein. A candidate who has peddled in racist tropes and bizarre QAnon conspiracy theories.”

“President Trump has long surrounded himself with controversial characters who hold out-of-the-mainstream views. But the decision by the party to elevate some of those figures by featuring them in prime-time spots at the Republican National Convention or inviting them to witness this week’s events is drawing new scrutiny.”

Jonathan Bernstein: “As far as norms, I’m willing to give President Trump some leeway for using the White House as a backdrop for his appearances, given the pandemic and that he lives and works there. If it had just been (say) First Lady Melania Trump’s speech in the Rose Garden and the president’s own address from the White House on Thursday, I’d probably defend the idea.”

“But Tuesday night Trump went way too far, staging first a pardon and then a naturalization ceremony. As Susan Hennessey and Scott Anderson explained even before those two stunts, Trump’s White House is probably violating the Hatch Act, which prohibits government officials (other than the president) from using their offices for partisan political activity. As they say, the administration’s response is basically that ‘rules are for other people.’ Even if the White House’s increasingly implausible justifications somehow satisfied the letter of the law, Trump is thoroughly trampling on the basic principles involved.”

First Read: “Also, we’ve learned that if Washington wants its political norms back, it will need to pass legislation to do so.”

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany will speak at the Republican National Convention Wednesday night, “sharing a personal story and recalling President Trump’s support of her as a working mother,” Fox News reports.

Politico: “Halfway through the 2020 Republican National Convention, Trumpworld believes they’re nailing it — from the messaging to speakers to production values, smacking down predictions their event would be a chaotic mess due to the late planning after months of wrangling over an in-person celebration. Aides only had four weeks to schedule the part-live, part-virtual convention based out of a D.C. auditorium and the White House, with the majority of the speeches written in the last two weeks.”

Playbook: “Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addressed the Republican convention Tuesday from a rooftop in Jerusalem, where he was on a government-paid trip conducting diplomacy — even though State Department employees were expressly told this type of politicking was prohibited. (Had Hillary Clinton done this, Rep. Pompeo would’ve been on her case.) Trump pardoned a man from the White House on television during the convention, and naturalized five others — in conflict with four years of restrictive immigration policies. First lady Melania Trump addressed the convention from the Rose Garden, which she has recently refashioned to her liking.”

“Of course, much of this is improper, and, according to most every straight-faced expert, it’s a violation of the Hatch Act. It’s incumbent upon the news media to point that out. But do you think a single person outside the Beltway gives a hoot about the president politicking from the White House or using the federal government to his political advantage? Do you think any persuadable voter even notices?”