Reince throws out his autopsy
CLEVELAND — Before Reince Priebus spoke at the Republican convention he had presided over, his young staffers played a video on the big screen that demonstrated what they’d hoped their party would represent this year.
The video was skillfully produced, with slick graphics. It showed young, earnest men and women walking up to homes to knock on doors. There was a young Latino shaking hands with a couple, and an African-American man in a stylish hat telling a voter about the greatness of the Republican Party.
If only.
This year’s convention was as white and as old as ever, and was punctuated by outbursts of resentment against the Black Lives Matter movement and of undocumented immigrants.
The theme of Donald Trump’s candidacy has been that things are terrible, and people are afraid, and he will protect them. He doubled down on this in his acceptance speech inside Quicken Loans Arena.
One year ago, young Republicans looked at Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., or former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, or Ohio Gov. John Kasich, or Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., or New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and thought, “We’re headed for a young, positive, hopeful campaign.”
A Rubio or Bush nomination, in particular, held the prospect of winning over millions of Latino and younger voters. It was one of the goals set forth in the 2013 autopsy report that Priebus sanctioned and released from the RNC.
That report laid out the demographic facts — the diminishing percentage of white voters in each consecutive presidential election — and said, “If Hispanic-Americans perceive that a GOP nominee or candidate does not want them in the United States… they will not pay attention to our next sentence.”
“It does not matter what we say about education, jobs or the economy; if Hispanics think we do not want them here, they will close their ears to our policies,” the report said.
One of Priebus’ favorite lines is that Republicans are “the party of the open door.” And he presided over a move to make the party more open and friendly to minorities.
Then along came Trump, attracting many voters who had not participated in the system before, and eventually winning over enough traditional Republican voters and grassroots activists, who are generally older and whiter.
There is much in the nation to be afraid of. But instead of speakers inspiring Americans to meet the challenges of the day with courage and love and charity, the Cleveland convention saw such sights as Christie standing at the podium nodding and smiling as thousands of delegates chanted, “Lock her up! Lock her up!” in reference to presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
Priebus focused much of his speech on the “need to stop Hillary Clinton.”
“She lied and she lied, over and over and over and over,” Priebus said, referring to the erroneous story Clinton told families of those who died in the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, saying that an anti-Islamic video instigated the violence.
“She lied. She lied,” Priebus repeated, as the crowd began its nightly chant of “Lock her up!”
Priebus sought to tamp down the chants by talking them over. And in contrast to his speech to RNC members last week, in which he barely mentioned Trump, he called Trump “the right man” for the presidency.
Priebus started his speech with that favorite phrase: “We are the party of the open door.”
And then he ceded the stage to a nominee whose central idea is to build a giant wall.
_____
Related slideshows:
On the ground at the GOP convention — a photo report >>>
‘BOOS CRUZ’: Newspapers react to Ted Cruz’s RNC stunner >>>
Front pages cover Donald Trump’s final primary victory >>>
Melania Trump in the convention spotlight >>>
Convention floor erupts when no roll call taken to change rules to unbind delegates >>>
How newspapers covered the RNC’s fiery first day >>>
Demonstrators protest outside the RNC >>>
