A week of unforced errors
The Republican National Convention ended as it began last week, with a great distraction that was eminently avoidable by Donald Trump’s campaign.
Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign manager, set the tone early by calling Ohio Gov. John Kasich “petulant” and “dumb,” saying he was “embarrassing” the state by ducking the Cleveland convention. That was hamhanded on a couple of counts: First, it drew attention to something that would have been a footnote; also, Kasich happens to be very popular in a battleground state that Trump must win to have a chance in November.
Melania Trump’s speech would have been the highlight of the night if not for the readily detected fact that some of her memorable lines were virtually identical to those of Michelle Obama in her 2008 speech at the Democratic convention. The Trump campaign then dug itself into a deeper hole by denying the obvious — it was plagiarism — and trying to blame the Clinton campaign for blowing the whistle. Actually, it was an unemployed journalist from California who did so.
Just as the story was fading 36 hours later, Trump gave the issue new loft by gloating on Twitter that “all press is good press!” A Trump speechwriter admitted to having written those lines after consulting with Melania, offering fodder to a huge media contingent looking for fresh angles.
Then came the Wednesday night debacle: Sen. Ted Cruz, who finished second to Trump, took the stage and pointedly avoided endorsing the candidate. Trump loyalists booed lustily when it became apparent that the Texas senator would go no further than urging his fellow Republicans to “vote your conscience.” It was indisputably the story of the day, eclipsing attention on vice presidential nominee Mike Pence’s speech. It’s simply incomprehensible that Trump strategists would envision any advantage to giving a prime-time slot to a still-bitter, famously acidulous rival who had made plain that no endorsement would be forthcoming in Cleveland.
Cruz elaborated on his continuing contempt for Trump the following morning by reminding everyone that the nominee had attacked the senator’s wife and father.
At a Thursday lunch, Trump took a few shots at Kasich, Cruz and another vanquished rival with deep roots in the party: Jeb Bush. It was not exactly a way to unify a party whose internal strains were evident all week.
Trump’s speech offered an opportunity to expand his support beyond the hall where true believers were in the majority. He showed no inclination to do so. The tone was foreboding, the content was short of any solutions, and the self-absorption was off the charts. “I alone can fix it,” Trump said of the hellish state of the union he characterized. At 75 minutes, it posed an endurance test for all but the most fixated political junkie.
Republican leaders once worried about how they might recover from a brokered convention. Trump rallied in the primaries to preclude that potential nightmare. Instead, an undisciplined campaign gave them a broken convention that might be no less difficult to repair.