The Republican National Convention was recently completed.  It ran from 18 – 21 July and took place in Cleveland, Ohio; formerly known as the ‘mistake by the lake.’  There were many interesting facets to this convention.  Some good.  Some not so good.  One of my big concerns is that Grandma P has become a political junkie.  She watched more speeches during this convention than she has watched totally in the first almost 30 years of our marriage.    She maybe missed 90 minutes of the convention.  Should I be concerned?

Anyway, it is always more interesting to talk about the negative facets first, so here we go!

NEGATIVES

Do you realize how much money a convention brings into the hosting city?  It is in the tens of millions of dollars and the competition to be the host city is only exceeded by a city wanting to host the Olympics or a Super Bowl.  So, with the convention being in Ohio, where was the governor of Ohio, John Kasich?  Oh, I remember, he was one of the many participants in the Republican debates that swore they would support the eventual Republican candidate.  So much for your word, Mr. Boob.  You did not even have the decency to appear and welcome the delegates to your state.  You are only the first of many people that went contrary to ‘your  pledge of support.’

Ted Cruz.  What more can be said about a sore loser whose ego is barely eclipsed by the size of the state he represents.  That would be Texas.  Rather than show anything that approached denoting party unity, the wienie took his opportunity to extol his virtues, without endorsing Trump.  He was rightfully booed off the stage.  The next morning, he was speaking to the Texas delegation and was asked very pointed questions as to why he did not endorse Trump, the Republican candidate, as he had pledged.    Again, it was back to his principles and he was a master at ‘politcal speak’ in that his answers chewed all around the cookie without having to take a bite.  It was obvious it was all about him.  Never mind what is good for the country or what the electorate wants.   My respect for wienie Cruz has declined into negative numbers. (Is his ego so large as to run as a third party candidate just to defeat Trump and hand the victory to Clinton?)  Ted is lucky he has two more years to his term as senator, or he probably would have lost an election this fall.

Jeb Bush.  Another of those people that pledged support to the Republican candidate that just could not find the time or effort to attend the convention or even make a statement about party unity.  Quite honestly, he was not missed.  Jeb always seemed to be out of touch with what was important to the electorate, anyway.

The two people I am rather disappointed with are George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush.  As the two former Republican presidents, they could have at least made some statements via video to support the party principles and bury the hatchet about the divided party by at least wishing Trump well in his upcoming campaign.  I like and respect both of those gentlemen, and it would have been my hope that they would have risen above the butt kicking their brother/son took during the primaries and shown some interest in the political party that got them both elected.  I do not remember any former presidents shunning the following party conventions such as the Bush’s have done.

After Trump’s speech on Thursday evening, Texas billionaire Mark Cuban went into warp drive tweeting his dislike for Donald Trump, referring to him as stupid and lazy.  What is it with these Texans?  Ted Cruz, the Bush’s, and now Mark Cuban?  Just because you lost the Battle of the Alamo in 1836, doesn’t mean you should carry a grudge for almost 200 years!  Just because Trump is not from Texas, doesn’t mean he can’t be president.  So here are my words for all four of you…..“GET OVER IT!”  Do any of you four believe the country and world would be better off with President Hillary?  Mark Cuban supported Trump until a few months ago.  What happened?

POSITIVES

I was very impressed by the quality of the majority of speeches given during this convention.  Yes, there are always a couple of marginal speeches, and some were clunkers, but the vast majority were very, very good.  Did you notice how many of the speeches were given by minorities and women?

Newt Gingrich.  Some of the speeches were beyond excellent.  Newt Gingrich gave an excellent speech.  I wish my college professors were as good as Newt.  I may have gotten better grades if they were.  He laid out the difficulties our country and the world will be facing because of Islamic Muslim extremists.

The Trump Children.  I would not know how to pick the best speaker from the four Trump children that gave speeches.  Not only were the speeches outstanding in content, they were delivered to near perfection.  Donald, Jr., Eric, Ivanka and Tiffany all did an absolutely wonderful job.  If the children are truly a reflection of the parents, then I would say that Donald Trump has done an excellent job of parenting.

Melania Trump.  Another great speech by another Trump.  But almost as soon as it was completed, the Democrats started yelling ‘plagiarism,’ as 58 out of the 1400 words were similar to a speech Michelle Obama gave in 2008.  With all of the things that have happened recently, this is the what the Democrats focus on?  I would say that criticizing this speech as a part of what all is taking place in this country and the world is a clear indication of ‘pole vaulting over mouse turds’ by the Democrats.

Make America Safe Again.  Make America One Again.  Make America Great Again.  I don’t know what adviser came up with these slogans, but they pretty much framed the content of all the speeches given during the convention.  I believe all of these issues are important to the electorate. With the latest ambush of the police, with the latest terrorist attack, and with the largest racial divide occurring in this country during my lifetime, how could the electorate not be concerned about these issues?

Donald Trump.  I will give Trump an A for the content of his speech, but only a B+ for delivery.  As Grandma P pointed out, there were times when it appeared he was screaming.  (I noticed it, also.)  But Donald is a very passionate man, and it is obvious he believes the United States is heading in the wrong direction because of the policies of the present administration.  I agree with him.  He is not a professional, lifetime politician who makes large group speeches for a living and for contributions.  I find that to be an asset rather than a liability.  If he is elected, he can scream all he wants if he can correct those passionate issues.

The Party Plank.   I thought the Republican National Committee did an excellent job of framing the issues and direction of the party.  By tying the slogans with the content of the speeches, a viewer would definitely see the direction that the Republican party is taking.  Background checks for immigrants.  Check.  Second Amendment rights.  Check.  Border Security.  Check.  Reducing the national debt.  Check.  Creating jobs.  Check.  Placing citizens before immigrants.  Check.  Assuring citizen safety.  Check.  Support the police.  Check.  Rebuild the military.  Check.  Did I miss anything?  Probably.

Democratic Critique.  Now that the convention is over, Hillary and her media machine have framed the convention as nothing but ‘doom and gloom.’  Just like Chicken Little, the Republicans have been accused of promoting ‘the sky is falling, the sky is falling!’  Even though I find this somewhat amusing, I believe the issues brought forth at the convention were brutally honest about situations and conditions that need to be addressed and corrected.  Democrats apparently do not want to face these issues and continue to portray the world and our country as if everything is just hunky-dory. This is disturbing as it would be my hope that the two parties would come together to resolve some of these various, serious issues.

So there you have it, readers.  My assessment of the Republican National Convention was that I was seldom bored and it was done very professionally.  The speeches were, if not perfect, very informative.  There have been accusations that Donald Trump is not a conservative.  I cannot even fathom how that could be proposed after watching this convention.  One political pundit said it was one of the most conservative conventions he has ever witnessed.  I agree.

If Donald Trump gets elected and is able to do half of what was proposed at this convention,  the country will indeed be heading in the right direction.