"We're never gonna let that happen again": Trump's RNC speech confirms plans for a Big Lie 2.0

"We're never gonna let that happen again": Trump's RNC speech confirms plans for a Big Lie 2.0
When Trump says "we're never going to let that happen again" he means we're never going to let Democrats win again

By HEATHER DIGBY PARTON
Columnist
PUBLISHED JULY 19, 2024 9:18AM (EDT)


(Salon) .....(snip).....

It's obviously helpful to Trump that the Democrats are fighting each other over the fate of their presidential candidate just three months from the election. Still, the drama around Biden potentially withdrawing from the race has stepped on Trump's martyr storyline even as he's ostentatiously sporting a bizarrely large bandage on his right ear and cynically playing the sympathy card. But he made up for it with a smarmy opening to his acceptance speech in which he gave a mournful minute-by-minute recitation of the assassination attempt. At one point he indulged in some truly embarrassing schmaltz by kissing the helmet of the fireman who was killed at that rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday. It all just seemed .... weird. One suspects he's been talking about this nonstop since it happened and is still understandably obsessed.

That part of the speech was reportedly written by Trump and I think it was evident. He's been dying to share the dramatic story of his allegedly brave reaction to the terrifying experience and this was his chance to take as long as he wanted to do it. (Brushing it off and saying "Honey I forgot to duck," as Reagan did, isn't exactly his style). Unfortunately, he also had to talk about other stuff. It was a major political event after all. And despite the billing of the speech as a call for unity, the rest of it was a flat rendition of his usual rally speech although he did curtail the profanity, eschewed the crude impressions of his political opponents and managed not to insult too many Republicans seeing as it was the RNC and all.

If social media is any indication, the speech seemed to shock many observers who have forgotten that Trump lies constantly and is incoherent and ignorant even when he's at his best. And he was certainely not at his best. Despite the long-winded delivery of all his greatest hits going back to 2016, he's definitely lost a step.

MSNBC's Chris Hayes astutely described what we all saw last night:

..................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2024/07/19/were-never-gonna-let-that-happen-again-rnc-speech-confirms-plans-for-a-big-lie-20/