Following the disastrous Democratic National Convention (DNC), the Republican National Convention (RNC) was a major success for Republicans, completely shifting the state of the race and birthing new stars for the party.
The Republican National Committee, chaired by Ronna McDaniel, decided to spend each night focusing on a specific component on the American dream: the land of heroes, the land of promise, the land of opportunity, and the land of greatness.
Another striking contrast between the RNC and the DNC was the focus on the everyday American. The DNC featured emcees and musical performances from the Hollywood elite that stole the spotlight from the common American. On the other hand, the RNC made an effort to highlight speeches from everyday Americans impacted by President Trump’s policies who, at times, outshined established politicians.
On Night 1, Andrew Pollack stole the show with an emotional speech about his daughter Meadow who was killed in the school shooting in Parkland, Florida back in 2018. Pollack railed against the restorative justice educational policies of the Obama/Biden administration saying, “I learned gun control laws didn’t fail my daughter. People did.” He would later recount how much it meant to him when President Donald Trump ended these restorative justice policies.
On Night 2, Nick Sandmann, the Covington Catholic student who was unfairly branded as a bigot by media outlets for standing in front of an angry protester, discussed how the mainstream media seek to destroy anyone who disagrees with their narrative. Sandmann and his classmates were harassed by a group of angry agitators who directly confronted the students. A longer video showed Sandmann did nothing wrong; however, some media outlets refused to address the new evidence as Sandmann has settled defamation lawsuits with CNN and the Washington Post. Describing the horror he felt being the target of the rage mob, Sandmann argued “their anti-Christian, anti-conservative, anti-Donald Trump narrative was all that mattered,” not his reputation or his life.
The speeches from the Republican politicians also hit the mark. On Night 2, Daniel Cameron, current Attorney General of Kentucky, emerged as a rising star in the Republican Party who put himself in good position to run for governor in 2023 or replace Senator Mitch McConnell in 2026 should McConnell retire. Cameron spent a portion of his speech denouncing the rioting and violence in the streets referring to the Republicans and Trump as the “defenders of life and of individual liberty.”
However, the most impactful line of his speech came when Cameron discussed Joe Biden’s checkered history on race: “Mr. Vice President, look at me, I am black. We are not all the same, sir. I am not in chains. My mind is my own. And you can’t tell me how to vote because of the color of my skin.”
On Night 3, former Director of National Intelligence and US Ambassador to Germany Ric Grenell explained the successes of President Trump’s America First policy doctrine. Emphasizing the failed foreign policy of Joe Biden, Grenell discussed how American communities collapsed “when Washington stopped being the capital of the United States and started being the capital of the world.” Grenell discussed how President Trump is bringing the troops home, signing peace deals, and rebuilding the military.
But, the best moment by far in his speech came when Grenell discussed who’s really in charge of the Trump White House: “You’re in charge, not lobbyists, not special interests, not warmongers, or China sympathizers, or globalization fanatics.” Grenell’s speech led some on the right to suggest he run for president in the future or be nominated as the Secretary of State in a second term for President Trump.
President Trump closed out Night 4 stressing law and order, highlighting the DNC’s failure to address and condemn the riots in the streets, and excoriating Biden for his weak stances on China. The president’s speech on the South Lawn of the White House really signified a shift in the race for the White House, forcing former Vice President Joe Biden to change his campaign strategy, leaving his basement and entering the campaign trail. However, the president’s speech was not the most emotional speech of the night.
In the middle of Night 4, viewers were brought to complete silence and unwavering attention when Ann Dorn addressed the convention. Multiple people who attended the White House lawn ceremony recounted how the crowd went completely silent. Dorn, the wife of fallen St. Louis police captain David Dorn, recounted the horrors she has to relive everyday. During the early hours of June 2, David Dorn received a call from a friend’s alarm company who discussed how the door had been breached at the friend’s pawn shop. Dorn helped with security at the pawn shop, so he got out of bed and went to assess the situation. When Dorn began protecting the pawn shop, he was murdered. His murderers live streamed his execution on social media. Ann Dorn noted that their own grandson was watching the stream, seeing his own grandfather murdered in cold blood. Dorn went on to discuss how life is not a video game: “David is never coming back.” Breaking the hearts of Americans everywhere, Dorn remarked, “I relive that horror in my mind every single day.”
The RNC showcased the growing contrast between the Democrats and the Republicans. While the Republicans spoke of law and order, the Democrats seemed to ignore the riots and violence in the streets at their convention with no mention whatsoever of the riots. The Biden campaign seemed to go immediately into panic mode and announced future campaign stops by Biden and Harris when their internal poll numbers seemingly dropped, given the drastic shift in behavior. The RNC put President Trump in the driver seat to win reelection.
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