Every Friday morning at 8:30 a.m., I join the Cardle & Woolley show, Talk 1370 Radio, in Austin to pick the week’s top Winners & Losers. This week the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee grabbed almost all the awards in the final tally. I was in Milwaukee for a couple days, but also viewed the Convention as it was designed to be experienced—via television and digital media. Here’s who won and who lost:
Former President Donald Trump is the big winner for the week, having put on a political convention that will rank among the best ever staged. (I haven’t missed one since 1988, so I am speaking with some authority.) The whole event was super charged by the fact that Trump survived an assassination attempt last Saturday. Liberal CNN commentator Van Jones said that he had not felt such enthusiastic energy from a crowd at a convention since 2008, when Obama was nominated.
The convention was choreographed perfectly to reach out to demographics that normally don’t engage in politics or pay attention to political conventions. There were a bunch of people identified as EDAs, “Every Day Americans,” on the schedule, along with dozens of more prominent but non-conventional convention speakers, notably social media influencer Amber Rose on opening night and Hulk Hogan and Kid Rock last night, just to point out a few. To contrast how amazing this was, some will remember when Republicans thought that having Clint Eastwood talk to an empty chair would engage voters.
The inclusion of the Gold Star Families whose loved ones were killed at Abbey Gate during Biden’s botched pull-out of Afghanistan was an unforgettable moment at the Convention as they repeated the names of every soldier that was killed and the delegates repeated them back. So were the remarks by the parents of Omer Neutra, who is currently being held hostage in Gaza, reminding people of the grim results of Biden’s foreign policies.
Melania Trump is a stunning winner this week. Her letter on Monday talking about her fears when her husband was shot and reminding Americans that every single “politician is a man or a woman with a loving family” was the first expression of the unity message conveyed by the Trump Convention. The rest of Trump’s family—his children and grandchildren—helped underscore Melania’s message and helped humanize Trump. His granddaughter Kai, who golfs with him, was terrific!
Texans had a great week at the Convention too—speeches by Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, who helms the largest city in the country run by a Republican, was an important message for urban voters. Our always electric junior Sen. Ted Cruz’s speech reminding convention watchers that outrages resulting from Biden’s open border policies that seem to occur “every damn day” was also show stopper.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s convention speech was tremendous. As the Governor who bused thousands of migrants to Democrat sanctuary cities, he has a national profile now. He showed the entire country the impact of a giant influx of illegal immigrants, demonstrating how border security became the priority issue for all Americans.
Wrapping up my highlight reel is Ambassador Nikki Haley, who may have given one of the most important speeches at the Convention, reaching out to swing voters and reminding them that they didn’t have to agree with Trump on every issue to vote for him because “we have a country to save.” There were a few boos in the Convention Hall, but they didn’t show up on TV even as her body language made it clear voters don’t even need to like Trump to vote for him. Her best riff contrasted Trump’s foreign policy record with Biden’s, saying “strong leaders don’t start wars, they prevent them.”
Florida Gov. Ron De Santis gave a fiery endorsement speech causing many in the Convention Hall to wonder why the knock on him was that he had no passion or charisma. De Santis gave one of the best lines of the week, describing the Biden White House as the “Weekend at Bernie’s” presidency as he laid out the choice for voters between strength and weakness.
Donald Trump’s Speechwriter clearly is a winner, having written a brilliant speech. The best line will resonate for the next four months—“I am running to be president of all America, not half of America,” something his opponent cannot say after his frequent attacks on “MAGA” people.
Unfortunately, after the first 30 minutes or so he went off on script and reverted to his long and rambling campaign rally speeches which, as one focus group member reported afterwards, are “very negative.” It’s has long been inexplicable that someone who understands media, entertainment and business as well as Trump does can’t manage to stop talking once he’s closed the deal. The positive spin, of course, is that the current president lacks to stamina to be able to talk for 92 minutes.
That said, the fact that Trump didn’t do as well as he could have doesn’t erase the fact that he did well enough to accomplish his mission and maybe wrap up the election. John King at CNN has an Electoral College map that shows that Trump went into the Convention with enough electoral votes to win and could be looking at a 330 electoral vote wrap up. The only relevant question in politics is “compared to what,” and Trump and his unified convention underscored the contrast with Biden and the dysfunctional Democrats.
Hate to drop another Van Jones quote, but this makes the point: “A bullet couldn’t stop Trump. A virus just stopped Biden.”
You would think that whoever Trump selected for his vice president should have made the winners list this week, but Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance didn’t do it, although I’m not ready to pronounce him a loser. “Hillbilly Elegy,” was a transformative book for many and his re-telling of his American dream story will be powerful on the campaign trail, but like many conservatives, including some Texas business leaders who spoke to the Houston Chronicle, I have concerns. Here in the Lone Star State, we understand how critical it is to have conservative economic policies to ensure that every Texan prospers. So when we hear talk from Vance about raising taxes on corporations, increasing the minimum wage, beefing up regulation and bolstering support for labor unions, it is a worry.
He is a brilliant guy and his convention speech was solid, bolstering his youth and his “dad” credentials. However, it was not as good as speeches given by Sen. Marco Rubio, Gov. Doug Burgum, Gov. Ron DeSantis or Gov. Glenn Youngkin—four other options Trump had to choose from, all of whom bring more to the table politically and experientially than Vance. Gov. Abbott and Ambassador Haley were two other wild card vice presidential options for Trump that would have been game changers if he had chosen either one. But Trump went with Vance, who will now be stomping for the ticket in the rust belt “blue wall” states that need to be nailed down for Republicans to win. If he’s successful, it will complete a political re-alignment that appears to be underway in the country.
The saga of the biggest loser of the week, President Joe Biden, is Shakespearian, kind of a combination of King Lear and the death of Julius Caeser. Poor guy, sitting at his beach house with COVID-19, learning the tough lesson that the Democrat machine giveth and it taketh away. I am sympathetic to an elderly man who doesn’t want to give up his life’s work, but Democrats should have thought about that when they shut down any way to challenge him in the primary and pretended that his cognitive decline wasn’t a problem, when, as we are learning now, they all knew that it was a serious issue.
As I am writing this, it looks like he will have to step aside, even as his team insists that he is “in it to win it.” Even if he wasn’t twisting in the wind, Biden would have made the losers list for his panicked promise to remake the Supreme Court and his forgiveness of a billion more in student loan debt, even after the courts blocked his last loan forgiveness vote seeking scam.
Here in Texas, my old boss, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is a winner too, for keeping the pressure up on CenterPoint for their massive failure in the wake of Hurricane Beryl in Houston and for launching a special senate committee on tropical storm preparedness. He is pushing to make sure that Texans are never left without power for days again.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle is a big loser. Every new thing we learn about the security failures at the Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania reveals how shabby her operation was on the ground. And her handling of the questions for lawmakers on both sides of the aisle since the shooting has been abysmal. Perhaps taking a cue from the President, she refuses to step aside. Biden should take a cue form Trump and tell her “you’re fired!”
Judge Aileen Cannon is also on the winners list for dismissing the confidential documents papers charges against Donald Trump. For those who think Judge Cannon’s action was partisan, read her ruling and then talk to any lawyer friend you have close by. The appointment of Special Prosecutor Jack Smith was clearly unconstitutional.
Let’s add Tarrant County to the winner’s list for ending a contract with a program called “Youth Advocate Programs” because of its DEI policies. Kudos to county officials for paying attention to the details on these contracts.
Finally, just so you know, Bud Light remains a loser, still reeling from the boycott launched last year when the company used Dylan Mulvaney, a boy who dresses like a girl, to spearhead an advertising campaign. Formally the number one light beer, they had slipped to No. 2 but now they are in the No. 3 position.
That’s it for now. Have a great weekend.
Sherry Sylvester is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and the former Senior Advisor to Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick.
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