Trump Makes His Acceptance Speech

I’ll admit that I did not watch all of it, just snippets for a few minutes at a time. Reading the transcript, though, is very, very different from having seen it on TV. You truly lose the flavor, which, IMO, seemed angry and bellicose. Perhaps I missed the parts where Donald was soft. Rather than reinvent the wheel, let’s go to Leon Wolf at Red State

But as the speech wore on, Trump quickly reverted to the angry, yelling monotone of Will Farrell’s “voice immodulation syndrome” character from Saturday Night Live that characterized his prior teleprompter performances. And combined with the actual rhetorical content of this particular speech, it made for a long, depressing, angry night.

By the time Trump was about 20 minutes into the speech, you were left with the impression that you lived in some third world hellhole and you never knew it before tonight. Although Trump was saying words that probably appeal to the majority of Americans about supporting the police, he finished repeatedly with promises that he, personally, would “RESTORE LAWWW AND ORRRDER” which ought to have raised the hackles of anyone with a single libertarian cell in their body.

Then things got ugly when Trump veered off script for the first time during the speech when discussing the Syrian refugees and angrily declared “WE DON’T WANT THEM IN OUR COUNTRY!!” The tone of Trump’s delivery got progressively worse and angrier the longer he went into his speech, to the point that by the end, he even sounded angry and confrontational when he was discussing the fact that he loved his family.

Even the crowd seemed confused about how to respond emotionally – or perhaps they were simply under the effect of some sort of bizarre mass hypnosis….

Watching the audience, they did seem confused. During the pauses, both planned an unplanned, many were just sitting there. Many broke out into chants of USA USA time and again (something you’ll never hear at the DNC), yet many were looking around, unsure as to what was going on. I don’t think I’ve ever hear a campaign speech from a presidential candidate like this one. This should have been the time to humanize Donald, to show his soft side, his caring, his ability to lead. Instead, what was probably passionate came off overly angry.

I’ll liken this to corporate trainers who speak really really loud. Have you ever had one? I’ve been in a few like that, and you start losing interest in listening to what this person who is YELLING AT YOU is saying.

Yes, there were times to be angry. Islamic terrorism for instance. But, it can’t mostly be loud. This was the speech the hardcore Trump supporters wanted, not the one needed to truly introduce Trump to the country as the GOP candidate.

It all leads to the question, what did they undecideds think? What of those who are on the fence regarding voting Republican against Hillary? Did this sway #NeverTrumps, or harden their position?

Here’s another point Leon Wolf makes

What was depressing to me – but by no means surprising – is that there was almost no attempt to articulate or defend the ideas of limited government or liberty under the constitution. As Aaron noted, Trump barely bothered to even mention the words (and didn’t mention “liberty” at all). Moreover, almost all of the concepts Trump mentioned throughout his speech of necessity involved expanding both the scope and intrusion of the Federal government.

This is something I’ve mentioned several times, here and on Twitter, as well as in Real World conversations. What are Trump’s notions of liberty, freedom, limited government, and adherence to the full Constitution? He doesn’t talk about this much.

Nor did Trump attempt to reach out to “heal the divisions” that arose during campaign season, and have even continue since Trump gained the necessary number of delegates. It’s not up to the aggrieved to heal nor put those aside. And Trump will need all the Republicans who are on the fence, and even those who are #NeverTrump to win. His hardcores work overtime to insult people who haven’t jumped on the Trump train. Trump could fix this. He doesn’t, and seemingly won’t.

Now, we await the polls to see if the speech moved the needle.

What are your thoughts?

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.

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