Reality show trial
by Tom Sullivan
Soon after Republicans nominated reality TV star Donald J. Trump for president last night, New Jersey governor and failed Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie conducted a reality show trial for Hillary Clinton in prime time. It might have been less creepy if some faux cardinals burst onto the stage armed with soft cushions. But no, there was only one, soft Chris Christie repeating debunked allegations against Cinton and asking the mob(?) in the coliseum, “Guilty or not guilty?”
The theme for last night was Make America Work Again. Nobody seemed to speak to it. They were too busy attacking Hillary Clinton.
"Lock her up" pic.twitter.com/jAQXgMbkWe— Michael Cohen (@speechboy71) July 20, 2016
I wondered when someone would call for her head. I didn’t have to wait long.
Man behind me in Georgia delegation just said "off with her head" … and everyone around him laughed— Michael Cohen (@speechboy71) July 20, 2016
Yeah, that was just a matter of time. All that was missing was the Red Queen. It was at once comic and horrifying. Except for the “staggering” number of RNC delegates and dignitaries who stayed away because Donald Trump is that toxic in his own party.
This is actually dangerous. #RNCinCle delegates chanting, "Lock her up."— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) July 20, 2016
A few shots of crowd chanting guilty pic.twitter.com/cwwCcCXqtZ— Michael Cohen (@speechboy71) July 20, 2016
Show trials are just for starters:
If he wins the presidency, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump would seek to purge the federal government of officials appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama and could ask Congress to pass legislation making it easier to fire public workers, Trump ally, Chris Christie, said on Tuesday.
Christie, who is governor of New Jersey and leads Trump’s White House transition team, said the campaign was drawing up a list of federal government employees to fire if Trump defeats Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the Nov. 8 presidential election.
Just think of what great reality television that would be. It’s just that reality has little to do with this convention. The Republicans’ 2016 platform claims, “The president has been regulating to death a free-market economy he doesn’t like and doesn’t understand.” Politico asked delegates just how bad the economy is:
“Actually, we’re doing great,” says Donna Gottschall, a human resources consultant in Greenville, S.C. “Employment’s up. Housing’s up. Everything’s green in Greenville!”
“Oh, yeah, unemployment is way down,” says Al Baldasaro, a state legislator and retired Marine from Londonderry, N.H. “Obviously, it’s gotten better.”
“Things are wonderful in our town,” says Ranae Lentz, a Republican county chair from Bellefontaine, Ohio. “We can’t fill all the job openings.”
Yup. That bad.
But just how bad were last night’s RNC convention festivities? On NPR this morning, National Review Senior Editor Jonah Goldberg quipped that if you watched House Speaker Paul Ryan closely during his address, he was blinking T-O-R-T-U-R-E. Conservative New York Times pundit Ross Douthat also weighed in:
Everyone major figure who participated in this grotesquerie has disgraced themselves on a level unique in the history of our republic.— Ross Douthat (@DouthatNYT) July 20, 2016
Wednesday night perhaps there will be togas and lions. Picture Chris Christie.