GOP tries to rewrite history yet again for Trump's pandemic incompetence and inaction
The GOP keeps trying to rewrite history as a quarter-million deaths lie ahead with a failed policy, as if any death toll could be spun positively.
3 takeaways from the first night of the Republican National Convention
1. A promise of optimism, quickly abandoned
The GOP claimed that this convention would be significantly more optimistic than Democrats’ last week. Most of what we got Monday was decidedly not that.Cuban American immigrant Maximo Alvarez, in an impassioned speech, suggested Democrats and possibly even Biden are secretly putting the country on a path to communism.
“I’m speaking to you today because I have seen people like this before. I’ve seen movements like these before,” Alvarez said, adding that things he heard from some Democrats “don’t sound radical to my ears; they sound familiar. Fidel Castro was asked if he was a communist. He said he was a Roman Catholic.”Some of the headliners were less about the “doom and gloom,” notably former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley and fellow South Carolinian, Sen. Tim Scott (R). Attacks are standard fare for conventions like this, but the thrust of the night was not as advertised.2. A focus: Combating allegations of racism
One of the focal points — both in the choice of speakers and what some of them said — was the perception that Trump is a racist and that there is a racism problem in the GOP and the country.Polls have shown half of Americans or more believe Trump is a racist. Trump has suggested that minority congresswomen should “go back” to their countries (despite most of them having been born here) and called a judge of Mexican descent biased against him, which then-House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) called “the textbook definition of a racist comment.” He also recently retweeted a video that included a supporter saying “White power,” later deleting it but declining to disavow it.
3. Rewriting history on the coronavirus
The novel coronavirus is the issue Trump would rather not have looming over him. Polls show his approval rating on the pandemic dropping into the low to mid-30s, as the death toll climbs ever closer to the upper bound of what Trump himself would constitute a successful response.
But the convention began its prime hours Monday night by focusing on the unavoidable topic — and in one major way attempting to rewrite history.
Fact checking Night 1 of the Republican National Convention https://t.co/Gn6EgjSbF6 #RNCConvention2020 #RNChaos #TrumpChaos #rncFactCheck
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) August 25, 2020
CNN's Daniel Dale Fact-Checks 'Realm of Disinformation' on RNC Convention's First Night: 'Quantity of Dishonesty' Was More Than Four Nights of DNC's Conventionhttps://t.co/l0npVDxGXT
— Mediaite (@Mediaite) August 25, 2020
Donald Trump’s coronavirus response has been a disaster. Here’s a look back at how he handled the first 100 days of the greatest crisis of his presidency: https://t.co/NjEEFzg05x
— Mother Jones (@MotherJones) April 29, 2020
Opinion: The Republicans are a one-man party https://t.co/qH6TBRst9R
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 25, 2020
Watching this ‘RNC’ convention just reinforces my long-held belief that Tea Party fringe ideas are now the dominant ideology of the GOP. It’s an incoherent and inchoate “libertarian” Party whose only principle is disparate individuals selected to speak for their like-mindedness.
— Gary Elshaw 🏴 (@godard) August 25, 2020
There’s a number of mentions of ‘cancel culture’ here, as though it were a Democrat domain. In the same breath, often a myopia, *any* political party that disenfranchises the voices of those who disagree with them epitomises ‘cancel culture’. https://t.co/7doSwyVWe8
— Gary Elshaw 🏴 (@godard) August 25, 2020
After watching Don Jr and his girlfriend tonight (and Trump everyday), I think I need to read “Der Totale Rausch” (Total Rush), a book about how many Nazis were high on amphetamines.
— Steven Beschloss (@StevenBeschloss) August 25, 2020
To help complete the picture…
Black females: 86%-2% Biden
White males: 46%-34% BidenAt least in this poll, the 2020 gender gap is about the same size as the racial gap among college students.
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) August 25, 2020
“All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and for exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country.” – Nazi military leader Hermann Göringhttps://t.co/CGqVkNhA99
— Patrick (@TrickFreee) August 25, 2020
This is better than godfather part 2.
— Mike Birbiglia (@birbigs) August 25, 2020
