Republikanerne holder i denne uge deres konvent. Demokraterne beskrives som kommunister og Joe Biden som USAs svar på Fidel Castro. Frygt prægede dagsordenen, talerne havde åbenbart ikke fået Trumps memo om at han glædede sig til et opløftende program.
Elections in the United States. Republican Convention – Beijing Biden is a Loch Ness monster from the swamp
Republicans are holding their convention this week. Democrats are described as Communists and Joe Biden as the United States’ answer to Fidel Castro. Fear marked the agenda, the speakers had apparently not received Trump’s memo that he was looking forward to an uplifting program.
Of course, Trump could not feed himself. Already this morning, hours before the Republican convention was to run off the stack, he went on stage in North Carolina and spoke for half an hour, it is important to set the agenda in the American press from the morning hours. He said, among other things, that he would like the convention to be “uplifting.”
Most Americans do not follow politics on a daily basis. So when they sit down in front of the TV screen to watch the convention, it is often the first time they engage in politics before the election. This is followed by the debates, which also have many viewers. The conventions are big infomercials with hours of TV time for Democrats and Republicans.
And how did it go on Republicans’ first convention day? I was excited about how they would approach the fact that the United States is in recession, that we have a pandemic that is out of control and that social unrest is spreading in the big cities – and that it is all happening under Trump’s leadership.
The answer was simple. Republicans focused on the alternative being worse. Fear of the Biden-Harris combination was well fueled. In particular, Trump’s daughter-in-law Kimberly Guifoyle’s sectarian outcry warned: “They want to destroy America’s soul!” and played on the fact that Trump is a law and order president “if you are in need and need the police, then do not count on getting help from the Democrats,” she warned. Her boyfriend, Donald Trump jr. Added later that if the Democrats came to power, one could expect to get a voicemail message when calling 911, the US response to our 112.
Everything is China’s fault and Joe Biden represents the swamp
It was fascinating to see how Don Junior had learned several of his father’s hand movements to perfection. And also a little scary. Usually, the children of the president have the function of telling how wonderful a father they have been. Their role has been to humanize. That was not Don Junior’s speech. It was aggressive. In a sweeping sentence, he was told that everything about the situation in which the United States finds itself is “the fault of the Chinese Communist Party.” And then he went on to attack Joe Biden, whom he called a Loch Ness monster who had spent his entire life at times sticking his head up from the swamp, but otherwise had accomplished nothing. If you want to know what the main message was tonight, then you can watch Don Junior’s speech, it sums up the message of all the speakers.
Democrats were demonized and described as communists, comrades, radical socialists. It was said that the classical democratic party no longer exists but is now ruled by ultra-left-wing forces. One speaker even said, “The Democrats have brought us nothing but destruction.” In contrast, “Trump is the bodyguard of Western civilization,” as Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, put it.
He has accomplished so much – almost entirely himself
Trump’s handling of the corona crisis, which in the United States has cost more than 175,000 Americans their lives and is the country in the western part of the world hardest hit, was praised to the skies. We probably all remember when, at the beginning of the pandemic, he assured the Americans that viruses would disappear like a miracle. It did not and critics and political commentators claim that Trump is weak in his handling of the crisis. However, that was not the impression you got when you saw one speaker after another praise Trump’s “quick” and “wise” handling of the crisis. Several clips were shown by Democrats praising Trump for his help. Among other things. one of New York’s Democratic governor Andrew Cuomo praising Trump’s help with protective equipment and respirators – a clear manipulation of clips after following the public verbal fight between the two closely. Yes, Cuomo thanked Trump. It is common knowledge that if you want help from the federal administration, then you have to go out in public and praise Trump. Prior to this clip, however, there was harsh public criticism from Cuomo , as New York lacked respirators and protective equipment and could not get them.
The empathetic Trump
Empathy was also beaten but in a different way than we saw the Democrats do at their convention. Republicans know that Trump’s style offends some voters. Therefore, the focus was on Trump not being nice – like the weak Biden. No, Trump is tough, he says things the way they are. He does not advocate being politically correct, he does not advocate Cancel Culture . He is strong. A speaker claimed to have seen Trump show care in private. In a feature, Donald Trump stood in the White House with representatives of nurses, police, post office workers and truck drivers. It was toe-crunching awkward to see him try to talk to the common man. He obviously felt best when he was praised and could say something in general terms about a state or the profession described. How far the Republicans managed to paint a credible picture of a president who cares about the common man and woman, time will tell.
Nikki Haley, former Governor of South Carolina but by most Danes probably better known as the US UN Ambassador from 2017-2018, also gave a speech. She was more toned down in her voting and was busy pitching herself as a candidate, there is an election again in 4 years, but the message was the same: “Trump deserves 4 more years, communist China gave us the Corona virus” and ” The United States is not perfect, but our principles are. ”
No political vision
Trump’s polls are bad, really bad. The Republicans have not announced any political program for the next 4 years, should they win again. However, they have published their somewhat vague visions in point form. Two of them sound like “stop the endless wars” and “return to normal.”
My bid is that the average American would like to know how we get out of the pandemic we are in right now. The Americans have not yet seen a plan for how the Trump administration will fight the Corona pandemic. On the first day of the convention, there was no answer as to how the United States should get out of the pandemic it is in. But no political visions were presented of what American voters can expect if they vote for the Republican Party by it. upcoming elections.
Maybe Trump and I have different ideas about what’s uplifting. The speeches were primarily aimed at Trump’s base, I do not belong to that. I am not aroused by fear of change, of taxes, of a public hospital system. I get rather intimidated when Republicans rumble and roar in their rhetoric. What the United States the trumpeters want, I – and many millions of Americans – are not interested in. So no, the first day of the Republican convention was not uplifting – at least not for me.
(Google translate)
Danish-American Eyes on Society 