From a media point of view, Donald Trump was unable to remain firm at the Republican convention that nominated him as presidential candidate for the third time.
From him acceptance speechwhich exceeded 90 minutes and stretched from midnight Eastern time through Friday, earned him much praise for his vivid account of last weekend’s assassination attempt, but changed direction to something similar to what most of his supporters see it regularly during the campaign.
“The ‘new’ Donald Trump calmed and silenced the nation for 28 minutes last night,” Axios’ Zachary Basu he wrote on Friday. “Then old Trump came back and screamed and barked and bored America for another 64 minutes.”
The convention was received as a well-managed show of unity around Trump’s Republican ticket and vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance. Conservative media figure Tucker Carlson may be biased – he spoke from the convention stage on Thursday – but he was giddy and laughing at what he had seen. “I’ve never been to a more fun convention or one with better vibes,” he said.
Trump began in a subdued tone as he spoke about a bullet hitting his ear at a political rally in Pennsylvania. He indulged in dramatic political theater: walking to kiss the helmet of a retired firefighter’s displayed uniform Corey Operatorwho was killed by the killer bullet aimed at the former president.
Trump’s speech was billed as a call for unity where President Joe Biden’s name would not be mentioned, but instead the Democrat’s name appeared twice after Trump changed the subject. Vanity Fair said the speech “gave America whiplash.”
NBC News reporter Garrett Haake, stationed on the convention floor, reported that “in the first half I saw a lot of wet eyes. In the second half I saw a lot of eyes closed.”
The New York Times said in a headline On Friday, Trump struggled to turn the page on “American carnage,” the phrase that drew attention at his inauguration as president in 2017. “On the final night of the Republican Party convention on Thursday, Donald J. Trump promised bridge political divisions and then took pleasure in deepening them.”
Similarly, Isaac Arnsdorf and Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post he wrote that Trump had involved “a new gesture toward unity around the same dark vision of American decline and aversion to political opponents and immigrants that defined his nine-year political career and transformed the Republican Party.”
The Fox & Friends’ morning show on Friday began with a long clip of Trump, who wore a bandage over his right ear, talking about the shooting.
“I thought it was a magical moment…it was a great speech,” said “Fox & Friends” host Lawrence Jones. However, Fox News analyst Karl Rove, while praising the way the convention was handled, said shortly after Trump left the stage that there was “weakness” during a speech that started and ended well.
On other networks, commentators noted its length and disjointed nature. Jen Psaki, Biden’s former press secretary and now an MSNBC analyst, said it was “longer than most American baseball games.”
Others sensed an opening for Democrats, who have been bathed in pessimism about Biden’s hopes — if he remains a candidate. Trump “dodged a bullet last Saturday and Democrats dodged a bullet tonight,” said CNN’s Van Jones.
“They still have to figure out what to do with Joe Biden,” said Jonathan Karl of ABC News. “There is still that movement to replace Joe Biden. But they believe, looking at this, that this is the candidate that (they feel) can win.”
While the portion reminiscent of Trump’s speech was familiar to his fans, it is rarely seen at length outside of networks like Fox and Newsmax, which attract conservative viewers. A much larger part of America was watching Thursday. Although television ratings were not immediately available, the Nielsen company said 18 million people watched the convention the night before, the majority concentrated around the time Vance — and Trump the following night — spoke.
With the balloons being removed from the convention hall in Milwaukee, the attention of the political press will quickly turn to who Democrats nominate to oppose Trump. The subject line of Friday morning’s influential Politico Playbook? “Biden’s world boils as Democrats move to evict him.”
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