I wasn’t going to watch Trump’s speech last night because I figured it was going to be the same things he’s been saying his entire primary run. But I ended up watching it anyway because I knew it was going to be an important moment in this election.
I’ve never actually watched an entire speech of his so I don’t know how this compares to the rest of them, but it was disturbing on a few levels.
There was no policy
There was no policy behind anything he said. I had a feeling this would be the case based on the primary debates I’ve watched being the same way. But surely as a nomination acceptance speech you should have something about policy and how you’re going to achieve all these things you’re saying.
I’m hearing all these promises about fixing the country’s problems, but I still don’t know what his actual plans are to fix them. Perhaps this is because he doesn’t actually know how he’s going to do these things either.
Incoherent ramblings and sound bites
Not only was there no policy, but his rantings seemed to have very little direction and coherence. A prime example was when he was talking about repealing Obamacare and making health care better (without telling us how), and the next sentence out of his mouth was about fixing the TSA.
In no way are those two related, and he never mentioned the TSA before or after in his 75 minute speech. A single sentence about the TSA, spoken merely to rile up the crowd and get more applause and cheers.
Doom and gloom
There was not a single message of hope in his angry ramblings. Everything he was talking about was doom and gloom. Our country is a disaster because of the current administration. He’s preying on the fears of the American people.
We should be afraid of foreign terrorists coming into our borders. We should be afraid of illegal immigrants destroying our economy. We should be afraid of the crime rates being “as high as they’ve been in 25 years” (which, by the way, is completely false – crime rates are near the lowest they’ve been since the early 90s).
Narcissism on display
There was a very visible demonstration of his narcissism. Not only was his speech the longest acceptance speech since 1972, but he’s stressed many times that he is the only one who can fix the country. He is the only person qualified to lead the next 4 years. Trust in him completely and the American people will be better off.
And the crowd ate it up. I don’t want to be overly dramatic, but I felt like I was watching a movie. I can envision this speech being played over a montage of pre-apocalyptic riots and the police state purging opposing views as a dictator rises to power.
His daughter, Ivanka, had a beautiful speech introducing her father. She talked of his compassion towards everyone and how he instilled values of hope and big dreams in his children. How he respects all of his employees, from the high-powered executives to the construction worker pouring concrete.
Not a single shred of this loving, compassionate, respectful man was evident during this fearmongering, narcissistic speech. Please keep this man out of the White House.
Dan Hauk 