JD Vance showed up throwing the age card.
Donald Trump Jr. let off some steam.
And for the second night in a row, there was a lot of discussion about immigration, which is the spearhead of MAGA and former President Trump's favorite political cudgel.
Times columnists Anita Chabria and Mark Z. Barabak were in Milwaukee and put aside beer and cottage cheese to offer their lucid assessment of the third day of the Republican National Convention.
Barrabac: So the big moment Wednesday night was Vance's formal acceptance of the vice presidential nomination and his handwritten address to the nation.
Much was made of the blue dress worn by his wife, Usha, when she introduced her husband.
Usha Chilukuri Vance, in a much talked-about blue dress, introduced her husband at the Republican National Convention.
(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
What did you make of Vance's speech? Do you think his wife, who left her practice at a left-wing San Francisco law firm immediately after Trump named Vance his running mate, was sending some kind of secret message?
Chabria: I'll start with the dress. I'm in a hotel with lots of conventioneers packed into the lobby. Every day I've heard men and women argue about whether it's okay to wear blue instead of red. I'll repeat what a lady from California said in the coffee line: there's nothing wrong with red, white or blue.
To be honest, I assume her dress was chosen by others or at least approved. So no, she's not asking for help.
But I'm following Mr. Vance's speech: that long, long, meandering speech that ended at his family cemetery several times. For those of you who missed it, he tried to remember how many generations of his family were buried in the same spot on a mountain in eastern Kentucky.
I think it was meant to show how carefree he really is and that he's not actually a Trump-sycophant, power-hungry, anti-abortion, billionaire-dependent guy. It may have worked in his book, but the audience didn't seem engaged inside the room and he started to visibly lose steam towards the end.
That you thought?
Barrabac: I found it a bit long, as you suggest. There are a lot of references to his childhood in “Hillbilly Elegy.”
And a side note about his beloved Mawmaw — the grandmother who raised Vance while his mother struggled with addiction — and the 19 loaded guns scattered throughout their home. (The public loved it. Never mind the recent assassination attempt on Trump. The more weaponry, the better!)
It should be noted that Vance is virtually a blank slate, despite his successful memoir and being turned into a film directed by Ron Howard.
A poll conducted by the Associated Press and the University of Chicago after Vance was elected found that 6 in 10 respondents did not know enough about him to have an opinion. Honestly, I'd guess that number is closer to 9 in 10.
So if you were just getting to know Vance, you would have seen a young man singing his heart out to the MAGA score in an affable style.
At 39, he is exactly half Trump's age, but Vance naturally chose to focus on President Biden, who, at 81, is three years ahead of the Republican candidate.
Vance was just a kid, he noted, when then-Senator Biden voted for trade deals that helped hollow out the Rust Belt where Vance grew up. He was in high school when Biden voted to support the war in Iraq, which Vance, a Marine veteran, criticized. (Try doing that at a Republican convention circa 2004.)
“Joe Biden has been a Washington politician longer than I have,” Vance said.
Fact check: true.
What did you think of Don Jr.'s intervention at the microphone?
Chabria: Well, if the goal of the convention was to give a kinder, gentler view of the party, Don Jr. ignited that with a grievance-filled speech.
But what struck me most was the upside-down world Republicans have created around their policies. If you closed your eyes and listened to just those parts of the speech, you'd be forgiven for thinking you were listening to a Democrat.
Speaking of the “extreme” Democratic Party, Trump said: “They want us to believe somehow that the only way forward is backward: where hiring decisions are based solely on race, where justice is only for those with the right opinions, where the streets are a luxury only for the elite.”
This idea that Democrats are backward-looking and prejudiced has been omnipresent here, not just in Junior's speech. It's a little disconcerting, because I'm brought back again to the actual Republican platform, which is about taking America backward. This is especially true when it comes to abortion, a word I have not heard uttered even once inside the convention hall.
So I think what we're not hearing is just as important as what we are hearing.
But I’ll end with this: Don Jr.’s oldest daughter, Kai Trump, 17, also gave a very moving speech. It was her first time on stage and she was terrific. She spoke of a grandfather who is “caring and loving” and “gives us candy and soda when our parents aren’t looking.”
She deserves recognition for her balance and authenticity.
Barrabac: Agreed. And it is surprising how Trump, who never cared much about showing his softer side – quite the opposite – has used this convention to let his family members smother him in their affection.
In many ways, this convention has been a split-screen experience, depending on whether you tuned in from start to finish or just watched the hour or so that the major networks aired in prime time.
When they were just friends and countrymen, speakers let their identities fly with all sorts of pronoun jokes, attacks on Senile Joe and Crazy Kamala (her name mispronounced on purpose), calls for mass deportation, and other rhetoric meant to warm MAGA hearts.
Then it was all rainbows and lollipops once the rest of the US came online.
That, as you pointed out, changed when Junior showed up just before Mr. and Mrs. Vance.
“We will never forget the lies of left-wing politicians [and] “From his allies in the media,” Trump said, not sounding very unifying.
“Who is really in charge of the country?” he asked. “It’s obviously not Joe Biden. Is it Jill? Is it Hunter? Is it Barack Obama?” (The convention hall was booed by those in attendance.)
“Maybe it’s the ghost of Corn Pop,” he scoffed, alluding to a story Biden has often told about facing off against a bad guy in his youth.
That got a big laugh from those in the know, but probably made the other 99% of Americans say, “What?”
Chabria: I admit, I had to Google it (so I can spare everyone else the trouble). It’s a reference to an alleged gang member Biden knew in his youth, a story some find problematic on its own because of its depiction of race.
But beyond the big-name appearances, there were moments in two previous speeches that made me think.
First, Thomas Homan, Trump’s acting immigration policy chief for a while, gave a terrifying speech about deportation. He called our current policies “national suicide” and warned undocumented immigrants: “You better start packing your bags now.”
This in a room full of pre-printed posters, in red, white and blue, naturally, calling for “Mass Deportations NOW!”
There are rumors that Trump might bring Homan back in a second administration. I cannot emphasize enough that this plan to separate families, even those who have not broken any laws and have been here for years or even decades, is a central plank of Trump's agenda.
I don't think these are just words, and anyone who has family, friends or community members who could be harmed should take this seriously.
The second moment I want to highlight was when one of the “everyday Americans” on the agenda, petroleum engineer Sarah Phillips, took the stage and spoke about the need to revive domestic oil production (which is, in fact, booming).
The crowd began chanting “Drill, baby, drill,” an old chant dating back to the Sarah Palin era. This is not a crowd that believes in climate change. A second Trump term will almost certainly end most, if not all, government action on that front.
Any other speakers that stand out to you?
Barrabac: We would be remiss not to mention Peter Navarro.
The one with the long and strange career: from environmental candidate for mayor of San Diego, critic of Pete Wilson (he accused him of demagoguery on the issue of immigration for political gain) and Clinton acolyte (Navarro spoke at the 1996 Democratic National Convention) to trade adviser to the Trump administration and, most recently, prisoner.
After spending four months in federal prison, Navarro took the stage to a long, rousing ovation. He was engaged in attempts to overturn the 2020 election — he even laid out a roadmap for theft — and was jailed for ignoring a congressional subpoena (the courts rejected his trumped-up claim of executive privilege).
On Wednesday night, the chameleon-like Navarro took on a new role: political martyr.
“I went to prison so you don’t have to,” he declared in a strange, highly caffeinated surfer dialect. “I’m your wake-up call.”
“The J6 committee demanded that I betray Donald John Trump to save my skin,” he continued. “I refused.”
Navarro issued a stark warning: “If they can come for me, if they can come for Donald Trump, be careful. They are coming for you!”
Which is certainly true if you ever help plan a coup attempt seeking to overturn a free and fair election in the United States.
But the night wasn't all sarcasm and self-pity, was it?
Chabria: No, it wasn't. The moment I found particularly poignant was when the families of the Gold Star soldiers were honored. These were the loved ones of the 13 soldiers killed at the Abbey Gate of Kabul airport during the withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
Although it was Trump who signed the deal to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan in 2020, he left office before the deadline to do so, leaving the logistics in the hands of Biden. Biden’s withdrawal was chaotic, leaving behind many Afghans who had helped the United States. Many of those who managed to reach the United States are stuck in a migration quagmire.
So there is just cause for criticism and anger, even though Biden has met with many of the families who lost their loved ones, despite reports to the contrary.
The families on stage Wednesday night were angry, but more than that, heartbroken.
Their pain was palpable, especially when Alicia and Herman Lopez, who lost their son, Marine Corporal Herman Lopez, read the names of the fallen aloud. The crowd chanted the names and I think everyone watching honored the sacrifice and felt the pain.
Barrabac: It was incredibly moving and a somber reminder that our politics and the actions of our elected leaders have real consequences in flesh and blood.
