Can Donald Trump unite the country?
“Yes, we can,” the former president insisted on the final night of the Republican National Convention (RNC), a day focused on unity.
““We stand together or we fall. I’m running for president not for half of America, but for all of America,” Trump said tonight in a speech that focused on the assassination attempt that nearly took his life on Saturday.
There was very little policy talk in the speeches that night. Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) mentioned some of the GOP priorities in a sentence or less. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo criticized Joe Biden for his weak foreign policy. Tax hikes and a porous border were mentioned only sporadically.
The lack of policy discussion reflects changes in the 2024 Republican Platform, which significantly downplays many of the traditional Republican promises unless they clearly contradict them. Whereas once it fully supported the Second Amendment, it barely mentions the right to bear arms. Whereas once it called for a constitutional amendment to protect the unborn, it now says abortion policy should be left to the states. Whereas once the Republican Platform promised to reform the imminent bankruptcy of Social Security and Medicare, the current platform promises not to “cut a penny” in benefits.
For Trump, this was a feature, not a bug: From the podium, he said the new policy platform was “very short compared to the long, boring, pointless policies of the past.”
Tucker Carlson hit the nail on the head when he said he’d “never been to a convention with such a good atmosphere” during his speech on Thursday, after which Hulk Hogan ripped his shirt off in his corner to reveal a Trump Vance tank top and nails on the Capitol building.
A consistent theme in the party platform and among speakers at Thursday night’s convention was a tough stance on immigration.
“We have become the garbage dump of the world,” Trump said, accusing the Biden administration of porous border controls and of South American countries emptying their “prisons,” “psychiatric hospitals” and “psychiatric hospitals” and sending them to the US.
Trump has tied immigration to everything. On the growing budget deficit, he said immigrants are taking away Social Security. On elections, he said Democrats want illegal immigrants to come into the country and vote for them. He even talked about surviving an assassination attempt. Trump said he saw a graph showing the rise in illegal immigration and turned around just in time to dodge a bullet aimed at his head.
Trump promised unity but continued to criticize the current administration on multiple occasions, including on crime, inflation and taxes.
“under of the current management, we teeth surely One Country in decline. we have of inflation crisis that teeth make life Harder, Affordable price, to be devastated of income of work and low-income family and “It’s shocking,” Trump said.we Also have of illegal Immigration crisis and the take place right now As we sit here in this beautiful Arena. the One Large scale Intrusion upon our Southern Border that Have Spread the word Tragic crime, poverty, disease and destruction.”
The only time Trump praised Democrats was for their ability to “steal” the election, and he made sure to denounce the reporters in the room, drawing loud boos from the audience.
He denounced trade with Mexico and China (“They’re robbing our country”) and promised to bring manufacturing to America.
During the lengthy speech, Trump mentioned several more outlandish policy ideas, including his support for a right to try experimental drugs (allowing terminally ill patients to try experimental medicines) and a new idea to make tipping tax-free.
Overall, Trump’s lengthy speech delivered a typical Trump message: things are bad now, but things will get better under his leadership. It remains to be seen whether this message will unite the country, or whether his poorly thought-out policies will improve the country.
