Reactions to Day 2 of RepCon 2020

Laura will be a Cat 4 Hurricane before landfall :(

Day 2 of RepCon should have been titled “A middle finger for America”, since trump and his sycophants gave the middle finger to the constitution, to our laws and norms, to the Hatch act, to reproductive rights, to POC, and to the truth. It was a night of “we can we get away with anything” and “what are you going to do about it?” Melania capped the night with a soporific speech, hoping people will forget the fire and brimstone speeches of yesterday.

Let’s take a look at what the pundits and luminaries are saying —

Feels like the whole using the White House as a backdrop for a political campaign has been completely normalized already. It’s never been done before for a reason. It’s a violation of the Hatch Act, it’s a misuse of government resources & an abuse of power.

— Mimi Rocah (@Mimirocah1) August 26, 2020

Legalese from the WH -

As a lawyer who used to enforce the Hatch Act at the White House, this is absolutely not how it works. If they filmed it knowing and intending that it would be used at the convention (which they obviously did), it violates the law. https://t.co/oG4r1cqVYv

— Daniel Jacobson (@Dan_F_Jacobson) August 26, 2020

Hatch Act violation festivus

It's less like a series of Hatch Act violations and more like a Hatch Act violation festival.

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) August 26, 2020

Disgraceful -

This is the first time in at least 75 years that a sitting secretary of state -- @SecPompeo -- has addressed a national convention to nominate a party’s presidential candidate.

More on how much this breaks with history: https://t.co/gkKbiYO0yD

— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) August 26, 2020

Some day, the Israelis will get it.

Mike Pompeo is speaking from Jerusalem, a city he pretends to want to protect, but, as an Evangelical Christian, only wants to exist so Jesus can destroy it and kill all the non-Christians living there, so Mike can have his jackpot in Heaven. (BTW, don't tell the Israelis!)

— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) August 26, 2020

Pompeo, with visions of 2024, did not impress anybody -

Very sparsely attended. He is like a backup Division 2 quarterback who is delusional enough to think he is going to play in the NFL. Terrible speech. https://t.co/ww0pByKKfH

— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) August 26, 2020

Corruption and nepotism on full display —

As Pam Bondi accuses the Bidens of nepotism, note the GOP speaker lineup beneath her. pic.twitter.com/J4IEPWu3E1

— 𝙅𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙋𝙖𝙜𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙧𝙮 (@Jose_Pagliery) August 26, 2020

Kudlow is a hack.

Larry Kudlow just said Trump “successfully fought” the #coronavirus pandemic. He spoke in the past tense, as if the crisis is over. Thousands are dying every week. This is crazy propaganda. #RepublicanConvention

— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) August 26, 2020

A simple explanation for the trump family speeches -

They would if they had one. A positive anecdote that is. https://t.co/hhdAq1iQZt

— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) August 26, 2020

Eric was on a lying spree —

Pretty amazing how many lies Eric Trump is able to fit in a single sentence. Biden doesn’t want to defund the police, and the Trump tax cuts weren’t the biggest in history, etc., etc.

— Matt O'Brien (@ObsoleteDogma) August 26, 2020

So far, Eric Trump has used more lies than verbs.

— Bryan Behar (@bryanbehar) August 26, 2020

Erasing history is what republicans do —

Nearly 180,000 Americans have died from this pandemic.

More than 1,000 died just today.

You would never know it from this convention, which is taking place in another universe.

— Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) August 26, 2020

The base does not care about any of this anyways ...

Just out of curiosity, what part of nationwide economic paralysis, recession, and a death toll of 170,000 is the Republican convention touting as a reason to re-elect this guy?

— Seth MacFarlane (@SethMacFarlane) August 26, 2020

On the naturalization stunt at the WH -

Another USCIS staffer:

“It’s sick that they’re using naturalization as political theater given all the administration has done to limit legal immigration and that USCIS was days away from furloughing two thirds of its workforce.”

— Hamed Aleaziz (@Haleaziz) August 26, 2020

They only speak to Les Déplorables.

It all looks absurd to us because the convention isn’t aimed at us. It’s aimed squarely at Trump’s "base".

Playing entirely to Trump's base isn't as stupid as it seems.

Yes, Trump will lose the election, but he'll stay relevant, and that's what he wants.

1/ https://t.co/BnytLB7WLc

— Teri Kanefield (@Teri_Kanefield) August 26, 2020

In case you thought the craziness was subdued tonight —

In case anyone is confused this is a different RNC speaker than the one who tweeted today about the Jewish plot to enslave the goyim https://t.co/Ote1FEXbia

— Michelle Goldberg (@michelleinbklyn) August 25, 2020

The verdict is in for Melania’s speech -

One thing I’m sure of is that speech wasn’t plagiarized

— Farhad Manjoo (@fmanjoo) August 26, 2020

Of course, she did not write that speech.

Has Melania ever actually met her husband? She seems to be describing someone else, someone very different than @realDonaldTrump

— Joe Lockhart (@joelockhart) August 26, 2020

Bette — be best!

Why are they promoting this awful person, #melania? Was it in her contract? She says it feels like just yesterday they were at their first convention. Maybe to you, Mel. For the rest of us every day has been a horrible slog thru the 9th Circle of Hell. #beBust

— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) August 26, 2020

Fact-checkers had a hard time keeping up with the lies -

The second night of the Republican National Convention featured more misleading and false claims. Here are the facts. https://t.co/lzhcpNswR5

— CNN (@CNN) August 26, 2020

Team Biden has stayed active with their messaging -

When they say “the best is yet to come,” that’s a threat. pic.twitter.com/SoKKF9KQYO

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 26, 2020

The question is whether this display of corruption, lawlessness and naked lies is attracting any Independent votes for trump and republicans. I hope it’s driving them away. But the republican full-bore effort to suppress and manipulate the vote is much more worrisome. Let’s stay alert, let’s stay on message, let’s GOTV.

And for those in the path of hurricane Laura, please prepare and stay safe.

Now, let’s hear your informed opinion!