Let's talk about the Republican National Convention in Cleveland

[Maggie Mae]

How embarrassing. 

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

 

 

We've also got an outbreak of Norovirus.

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2016/07/19/republican-national-convention-norovirus-outbreak-california-rnc/

 

And this brilliant bit by Stephen Colbert. 

 

Other talking points include: 

• Scott Baio (WHHHHAT?)
• Of Trump's plagiarism 
• the prayer 

[Mecca]

Don't feel too bad RNC California delegates. Trump and the Republican convention gives me the runs and makes me vomit too. 

[Imagine20]

Am I the only one completely confused by this convention?  The speakers aren't quite polished, plagiarism gate,  and Trump literally phoned in his very short speech at 9 ET.  This seems like an incoherent disaster. 

[Mecca]

34 minutes ago, Imagine20 said:

Am I the only one completely confused by this convention?  The speakers aren't quite polished, plagiarism gate,  and Trump literally phoned in his very short speech at 9 ET.  This seems like an incoherent disaster. 

It is a disaster. The GOP is a disaster. Notice the only people that speak kindly about Trump share DNA with him? All the others rip Hillary and forward their own agenda. Just highlights how fractured this party is. Trump is a disorganized mess. A Trump presidency would be the same. 

[Natalie22]

28 minutes ago, Imagine20 said:

Am I the only one completely confused by this convention?  The speakers aren't quite polished, plagiarism gate,  and Trump literally phoned in his very short speech at 9 ET.  This seems like an incoherent disaster. 

Oh my god, it's freaking amazingly beautiful.   I'm having a great time in Canada watching this.  Whites are responsible for all the good things in society, hillary is responsible for the plagiarism, Obama is most definitely a muslim, and immigrants are invading the US.  So, so amazing to watch.  

Fun Fact:  Even Sarah Palin turned down an offer to speak at the convention.  It's bad when even she knows better than to participate.

[Ali]

@Natalie22 I might enjoy it if it were a movie or if I knew it was not possible for him to become president. Instead I am desperately hoping that Hilary gets elected. If she does, it still doesn't solve the problem of the hateful bigots in this country that have been united by this idiot. Will your country take me and my family if he gets elected and things are as bad as we fear?

[Natalie22]

@Ali I've heard it's fairly difficult, but it might not be worth it.  If Trump gets in, I have a feeling it'll be worldwide destruction - or he'll get bored/annoyed that things don't go his way and quit 6 months in. In which case, you may still want to leave....

[47of74]

CNN said there were three types of delegates at the 2016 Cleveland Steamer Republican Convention.

cnn.com/2016/07/20/politics/republicans-at-the-rnc/index.html

Quote

We've encountered three types of Republicans:

All-in for Trump

#NeverTrump until the end

Settling for Trump, maybe

 

[Mecca]

Oh..... It is getting good up in the arena tonight. The Ted Cruz speech has the room in an uproar and the booing is louder than the cheers.

Now, anyone that knows me on here knows how much I despise Ted Cruz, but I am happy he trolled them all tonight at the RNC and refused to endorse Trump. Trump was nasty to Heidi Cruz and said some rather horrible things about her. Sure, this might make Cruz look like an asshole to the republicans, but it made me a happy girl tonight.

[JMarie]

Whenever the reporters are filmed outside the convention center, there's a couple of people holding segmented black placards with fundy phrasing on them.  Are they from Westboro?

[RoseWilder]

The looks on the faces of the Trump family when Ted Cruz didn't endorse him were fantastic: 

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/rnc-2016-donald-trump-unity-225915

This has been the most entertaining five minutes of my life. Pass the popcorn. 

[Natalie22]

I'll join you @RoseWilder!  For you: .  Enjoy   This has been an amazing week.  The Canadian coverage through Power and Politics was fantastic tonight.  

[Mecca]

12 minutes ago, RoseWilder said:

The looks on the faces of the Trump family when Ted Cruz didn't endorse him were fantastic: 

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/rnc-2016-donald-trump-unity-225915

This has been the most entertaining five minutes of my life. Pass the popcorn. 

Don Trump Jr. looked as if he was about to sweat all his bronzer off. I have not laughed this hard in awhile. 

[AnywhereButHere]

Well, when your lead off hitter is the guy from Duck Dynasty, there's nowhere to go but - yeah, there's just nowhere to go. 

Watching this shitshow, I can't see how any sane person can support these clowns, and of course he'll lose. Then I go on Facebook and realize there are way too many nut bars who vote, and I get scared again.

Mike Pence reminds me of Leslie Nielsen in Naked Gun. God, I wish this was a spoof.

[Mecca]

I am still trying to get the speeches of Scott Biao and Antonio Sabato Jr. out of my head. Anyone remember when Trump was saying a few weeks ago that this convention was going to be spectacular and filled with amazing entertainers? Huge? Best ever conventions in the history of conventions? Yep. Day three and I still not seeing it. 

[Cartmann99]

3 hours ago, Mecca said:

I am still trying to get the speeches of Scott Biao and Antonio Sabato Jr. out of my head. Anyone remember when Trump was saying a few weeks ago that this convention was going to be spectacular and filled with amazing entertainers? Huge? Best ever conventions in the history of conventions? Yep. Day three and I still not seeing it. 

Yup. Did you see Kimberlin Brown's speech? She was the avocado farmer who ranted about Obamacare. She used to be a soap opera actress, and I did enjoy watching her back in the day on B&B and Y&R, but like the others, she's not a big name in the entertainment world.

[formergothardite]

I'm not one tiny bit of a Cruz supporter, but damn! Way to go Ted for refusing to bow to the establishment and pretend to support a guy you actually hate. He should give up any hope of having a political career after this because the Republican party is going to try to fucking bury him. 

 

[RoseWilder]

1 hour ago, formergothardite said:

I'm not one tiny bit of a Cruz supporter, but damn! Way to go Ted for refusing to bow to the establishment and pretend to support a guy you actually hate. He should give up any hope of having a political career after this because the Republican party is going to try to fucking bury him. 

 

Between Trumps anger at Cruz and the fight he's picking with Kasich, he's diverting a lot of time and energy that should be focused on running his campaign. Good. I hope this Republican in-fighting keeps them all very distracted. Meanwhile, Hillary is keeping her eye on the goal. 

[Mecca]

And Ted keeps pissing them off! I love it. I love that no one is talking about Trump. Cruz is still ripping into the establishment with a small rally this morning. Keep going Cruz. Keep it going.

I feel dirty saying this, but at least Cruz stood by his convictions and did not fall in line with the other sheep. Trump said nothing but nasty things about Cruz's family including his father and wife. I don't blame him for not endorsing Trump and anyone paying attention would agree. Cruz's whole political life has been about not following the establishment and being a rebel so to speak. Why is the GOP shocked? They should not be. If they did not want to be embarrassed, they should have never invited him to speak. At least he had the guts to say and do what he has always stood for. 

OK. I need a shower. Never thought in this lifetime I would ever back Cruz. 

[ADoyle90815]

I never thought I'd have anything good to say about Cruz, but he had the balls to stand by his convictions and not endorse Trump. Before that moment, the best part of the convention for me has been watching Stephen Colbert's condiment and trash can cameras live on Facebook. As for tonight:

[molecule]

It's the first time (and likely the last) I've ever cheered for Cruz about anything. Several of my very conservative friends posted about how Cruz should've taken the high road and endorsed Trump, but I think that standing up for your family and not caving in just for political points is taking the high road.

My husband and I are on opposite sides of the political aisle, so election years are always fraught with opportunities for love and tolerance. We have both been flabbergasted by the goings-on this year.

[sparkles]

I'm assuming Trump will be reading a prepared speech and won't be winging it. But he's got little experience addressing an audience  that way and anytime he's had to read from a teleprompter he's been as stiff and as dull as a board—not the blowhard , inflammatory Trump that his leghumpers love. So if that's the case, he could lay a big, fat egg and I sincerely hope he does. I also think that Trump being Trump, he'll still go off script and with any kind of luck he'll make some horrendous remarks that can't be waved away.

[Cartmann99]

After getting dissed by Cruz last night with millions watching, I can easily see Trump losing it and going totally off-script. The conventional TV networks should really have tonight's feed on a delay, as he could easily start using language that would get the FCC' s attention.

[nausicaa]

3 hours ago, Mecca said:

And Ted keeps pissing them off! I love it. I love that no one is talking about Trump. Cruz is still ripping into the establishment with a small rally this morning. Keep going Cruz. Keep it going.

I feel dirty saying this, but at least Cruz stood by his convictions and did not fall in line with the other sheep. Trump said nothing but nasty things about Cruz's family including his father and wife. I don't blame him for not endorsing Trump and anyone paying attention would agree. Cruz's whole political life has been about not following the establishment and being a rebel so to speak. Why is the GOP shocked? They should not be. If they did not want to be embarrassed, they should have never invited him to speak. At least he had the guts to say and do what he has always stood for. 

OK. I need a shower. Never thought in this lifetime I would ever back Cruz. 

Same way here. I'm so glad someone had the balls to call out Trump, but I feel very weird respecting Cruz about anything. I hope he keeps going though. I'm guessing he figures he can make a name for himself being a "Never Trump" and then wrangle enough of the mainstream Rockefeller Republicans to his Tea Party side to have a sizeable following in 2020. 

 

[louisa05]

It takes Trump to make Ted Cruz look respectable in any way whatsoever. I'm not sure anything or anyone else could accomplish that. Not for me, anyway. 

Someone shared a post on Facebook that I found to be an interesting thought: what does it say about Trump's supporters that being told "vote your conscience" is so incredibly upsetting and offensive? Aren't they kind of admitting that no one can vote for Trump in good conscience? 

And, relative to nothing, husband was always a fan of The Apprentice, so I have seen it more than I cared to over the years. Donnie, Jr. always came off as creepy and slimy to me when he appeared on the show and I am not surprised to see that he has only become creepier and slimier. Not sure what it is about him, but it's something.