From a media perspective, Donald Trump failed to land a successful landing at the Republican convention that nominated him as the presidential candidate for the third time.
His acceptance speech, which lasted more than 90 minutes and stretched past midnight Eastern time into Friday, earned him widespread praise for its vivid account of last weekend’s assassination attempt but shifted gears to resemble what most of his supporters routinely see on the campaign trail.
“The ‘new’ Donald Trump appeased and silenced the nation for 28 minutes last night,” Axios’ Zachary Basu wrote Friday. “Then the old Trump came back and yelled, barked, and annoyed America for another 64 minutes.”
The convention was hailed as a well-executed display of unity between Republican nominee Trump and vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance. Conservative media figure Tucker Carlson may be biased — he spoke from the convention stage Thursday — but he was giddy and laughing about what he saw. “I’ve never been to a funnier convention or a better-tempered convention,” he said.
A speech that changed the course
Trump began his speech in a moderate tone, referring to the bullet that struck him in the ear at a political rally in Pennsylvania. He indulged in a bit of political theater: He reached out to kiss the helmet on the uniform of retired firefighter Corey Comperatore, who was killed by the assassin’s bullet that aimed at the former president.
Trump’s speech was billed as a call for unity, with President Joe Biden’s name not being mentioned, but instead the Democrat’s name was mentioned twice after Trump reversed course. Vanity Fair said the speech “gave America a boost.”
NBC News reporter Garrett Haake, who was stationed at the convention, reported that “in the first half, I saw a lot of teary eyes. In the second half, I saw a lot of closed eyes.”
The New York Times ran a headline Friday that Donald Trump was struggling to turn the page on “American carnage,” the phrase that garnered attention at his inauguration in 2017. “On the final night of the Republican convention Thursday, Donald J. Trump promised to heal political divisions, then delighted in deepening them.”
Similarly, Isaac Arnsdorf and Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post wrote that Trump had “cast a new gesture toward unity around the same dark vision of American decline and loathing of political opponents and immigrants that defined his nine-year political career and transformed the GOP.”
Friday’s “Fox & Friends” morning show opened with an extended segment of Trump, who wore a bandage over his right ear, talking about the shooting.
“I thought it was a magical moment … it was a terrific speech,” said “Fox & Friends” host Lawrence Jones. Yet Fox News analyst Karl Rove, while praising the way the convention went, said shortly after Trump left the stage that there was a “weakness” in the middle of a speech that started and ended well.
Comments on the duration of the incident
On other networks, commentators noted its length and disjointed nature. Jen Psaki, Biden’s former press secretary and now an analyst on MSNBC, said it was “longer than most American baseball games.”
Others sensed an opening for Democrats, who are mired in pessimism about Biden’s prospects — if he remains a candidate. Trump “dodged a bullet last Saturday and Democrats dodged a bullet tonight,” CNN’s Van Jones said.
“They still have to figure out the Joe Biden problem,” said ABC News’ Jonathan Karl. “There’s still a movement to replace Joe Biden. But they think, looking at this, this is the candidate they think they can beat.”
While the part that resembled Trump’s campaign speech was familiar to his fans, it’s rarely seen in full outside of networks like Fox and Newsmax that attract conservative viewers. An estimated 25.4 million people watched the convention broadcast Thursday, the largest audience of the four nights, according to the Nielsen company. The audience peaked at 28.4 million between 10:45 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET, when Trump began his speech.
As the balloons are cleared from the Milwaukee convention hall, the political press will quickly turn its attention to the Democratic candidates who will oppose Trump. The subject of Friday morning’s Politico Playbook? “Biden’s world is boiling as Democrats try to topple him.”
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