Debacle. Embarrassment. Disgrace. These, and a host of others we won’t repeat, are the words being used to describe the opening day of the United States Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio. None are words you want to see associated with the process of sending a person to the Oval Office in Washington.
One word that isn’t being used is “surprise”, though. The convention is already living up to the spectacle that many were expecting. Political observers have been predicting a Republican implosion for several years, based on the trail of political wreckage and vitriol the Grand Old Party has left over the American political landscape over the past 50 years. That the party’s inevitable meltdown should happen as it is on the verge of nominating a man that embraces everything wrong with Republicanism does seem appropriate and the Republican Party deserves every racist, plagiarised, hate-mongering minute of it.
While many would like to blame presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump and his ongoing bombastic and venomous campaign for the current antagonistic atmosphere, the blame is equally attributable to past Republican leaders such as Newt Gingrich, Ronald Reagan and even Richard Nixon. Those leaders’ efforts to increase the party’s voter base by embracing Evangelical Christianity, hyper-nationalism and white cultural values are directly responsible for the rise in racial and ethnic hostility dominating the party today. However, that this mentality is showing up on the convention floor, as delegates complain of Brown Shirt-tactics being used to suppress the #NeverTrump movement, is beyond revolting.
It is still too early in the convention to know just how the opening-day antics on the convention floor will affect Trump’s presidential chances, but the early consensus is that it was everything that the GOP was hoping to avoid. Recent polls already suggest a commanding lead by Democratic presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton, so a good showing by both Trump and the party was critical if they had any hope of narrowing the gap before the upcoming Democratic National Convention. That hope looks to be evaporating quickly.
As a result, Trump seems to be doubling-down on the hate speech in an effort to unite the party under the banner of common fears, with Muslims again being placed at the forefront. It is just another affront in a long line of Republican bigotry and intolerance. It will do nothing to unite the party or improve Trump’s image as a national leader. It will certainly do anything but make American great again.
