A FAMILY AFFAIR: FIRST LADY, ERIC AND TIFFANY TRUMP HIGHLIGHT DAY 2 OF GOP CONVENTION
President Donald Trump couldn’t have written a better script for a reality show than the one playing out in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where vehicles were burned Monday night after Jacob Blake was shot at least a half-dozen times in the back Sunday.
While the overarching theme of the 2020 Republican National Convention is “Honoring the Great American Story,“so far convention speakers have resurrected the theme of law and order vs. crime and chaos that has been used in the past to turn out votes.
Four years ago, it was the threat that a Democratic victory would mean the end of Second Amendment and the right to bear arms. At this convention it is a three-headed bogeyman— socialist, anarchist and looter — that have delegates sounding the alarm.
Speakers, including Donald Trump Jr., have hammered away at the looting and rioting that broke out in cities like Chicago, Minneapolis, Portland and Seattle after the brutal police killing of George Floyd.
“It’s almost like this election is shaping up to be church, work and school vs. rioting, looting and vandalism,” the president’s son said Monday night, while police in the Milwaukee suburb were going toe to toe with hundreds of angry protesters.
George Pearson, Will County GOP Chairman, a Black man and a convention delegate, believes Trump will get a bigger slice of the Black vote this time around, in part, because of the civil unrest.
“Everyone looks for security. We want good policing. we stand with good policing. We stood with everyone with the murder of George Floyd. Regardless of his background, he did not deserve to die like that. But the reckless lawlessness that occurred afterwards was more revenge than seeking justice,” he said.
Pearson, like other African Americans supporting Trump, blame Democrats, the party that brags about Black voters being its “backbone,” for the entrenched poverty in some Black neighborhoods.
“Trump has actually done things to increase revenue which gives us an opportunity for homeownership among Black people and that helps Black people build wealth,” he said.
Kim Klacik, a Maryland congressional candidate, blasted the Democrats during her speech, ticking off the problems that many African Americans routinely complain about.
“Abandoned buildings, liquor stores on every corner, drug addicts, guns on the street. That’s now the norm in many neighborhoods. Sadly the same decay exists in many of America’s Democratic-run cities and yet the Democrats assume that Black people will vote for them no matter how much they let us down and take us for granted. We are sick of it,” she said.
Vernon Jones, a Black state representative from Georgia, described himself as a lifelong Democrat when he took the podium at the slickly produced virtual convention.
“Joe Biden has had 47 years to produce results but he’s been all talk and no action. Joe is like so many of the Democrats who have been making promises to Black voters for decades. We’ve been their captive audience,” Jones said.
Before going to Congress, Jones said he directed “one of the largest public safety departments in the Southeast.”
“I’ve seen tragic shootings on both sides. Officers killing citizens and citizens killing officers in the line of duty. Police officers are our fellow citizens. They have families too. Unfortunately, Democrats have turned their backs on our brave police officers. They call it defunding, and it’s a danger to our cities, our neighborhoods and our children” he said in his convention speech.
“Our police need more funding, not less — for frequent psychological examinations, for non-lethal remote restraint technology and for more de-escalation and use-of-force training,” he argued.
“I’m hear to tell you, Black voices are becoming more woke and louder than ever. The Democratic Party has become infected with the pandemic of intolerance, bigotry, socialism and anti-law enforcement bias and a dangerous tolerance for people who attack others, destroy their property and terrorize our own community. That’s what this election is all about,” he said.
When police can shoot a Black man multiple times in the back for doing nothing, it also plays into Biden’s slogan that we have lost the soul of our country.
Every busted-out window. Every burned-up car. Every looted store. Every violent encounter between a protester and a police officer reinforces the message that the Republican Party is trying to get out to America’s voters this week.