Unless you were living under a rock last week, you may have seen many posts about the Republican National Convention (RNC). So many things happened in the span of those four days that it was hard to keep track of all the things that were going on. So whether you didn't care to watch, or if you need a cliff notes version of what happened, here are the top five things that need to be taken away from the RNC.
1. The Democratic Party No Longer Owns the LGBTQ Community
This headache started for the Democrats when the Orlando shooting happened. What was seen as a poor response to the shooting and using it as a way to bring up gun control, the LGBTQ community felt as if they had been kicked to the curb. Fast forward to the RNC and we see Ted Cruz say, "It doesn't matter if you are gay or straight...." Then Thursday night Peter Thiel was a prime time speaker. This is relevant because Peter Thiel is a gay billionaire businessman speaking at the RNC who's platform was criticized for being a more anti-LGBTQ platform in recent memory. Peter Thiel even proudly proclaimed at the end of his speech that he is "Proud to be Gay" at which point the crowd gave him a standing ovation. On top of all this, in his acceptance speech, Trump talked about the LGBTQ community and how we need to protect them and the entire stadium cheered and Trump said, "It is so nice to hear you cheer for what I just said." Earlier this year, Trump also showed his support for the Trans community when Caitlyn Jenner used the bathroom at Trump Tower and thanked Mr. Trump for allowing her to use the bathroom that she pleased via social media.
2. Trump is Fighting for the Union Workers
Being the opportunist that Trump is, he is swinging in to pick up who the Democrats leave behind. One of these select groups of people are the union workers. The Republicans have always disagreed with the big union bosses, but they realize the need for unions and want to find the best path to produce profiting businesses but also have money making workers. The reason the union workers are up for grabs this year is because of two things. The first was the Keystone Pipeline. In the long run, the pipeline was going to only create about 50 long term jobs. However, the building of the pipeline was going to be a big job producer while it was being built. As everyone knows, the Obama administration shut it down citing environmental concerns. Then Hillary Clinton said early in her campaign that the coal industry better start looking for new jobs because she was going to shut them down. Well, the coal industry is the largest industry in America. It also has a very large union. A lot of coal miners came out and said they could not support her after releasing an agenda like that. Enter Trump. Trump, in his acceptance speech, talked about how he wanted to save jobs, deregulate, cancel trade deals. He was directly appealing to the Rust Belt which, if won, pretty much would guarantee his victory.
3. Ivanka Trump Will Lead the Logical Feminism Movement
Ivanka Trump was starting to become the next American Sweetheart, but Thursday night, she became the feminist female voice the Trump campaign needed. When people talk about feminism today, there is a negative connotation associated with it largely due to these so-called feminazis on the left. Thursday night, Ivanka came out and actually laid out common sense SMART goals for the feminist movement. The reason this does not fall on deaf ears is because Ivanka is arguably a more trusted advisor to Mr. Trump than his own VP nominee. It's no secret that Ivanka has advised her father since she entered the Trump organization. Ivanka came out and talked about how women are treated with respect at her father's business and how they make equal pay. She talked about how Trump was one of the first to put women in leadership positions in his business. She then went on to list actual stats about the wage gap and said she personally would work with her father to close the gap.
4. Ted Cruz Confirmed He's Still a Jerk
Ted Cruz came out Wednesday night and spoke at the RNC. However, what started with a standing ovation turned into him getting booed off the stage. Basically, in a nutshell, Cruz was expected to come out and endorse Trump, but instead, came out and gave a speech that was no different than any of his other speeches and then continued to talk about how you should vote your conscience. A lot of people pointed to Reagan doing the same thing in the 1976 convention except the difference was that 1976 convention was a contested convention and Reagan was in town to win it. Unfortunately, he did not win the convention but he went on to give a speech that laid the groundwork for his 1980 campaign. Ted Cruz had already lost, but was still invited to speak, and even if he was trying to be Reagan-esque, he did not say anything new that he hadn't said before. Therefore, many analysts are saying it was a wasted speech and Ted is just being a sore loser. Another thing to note was that Trump and Manafort had seen the speech before hand. It is widely speculated that Trump took the gamble that Cruz would not endorse him and by doing so, the party would be so outraged at Ted Cruz that they would unite through the mutual hate of Cruz.
5. The Republican Party is Not in Charge of Trump
The first 3 points in this list are issues that are not usually Republican issues but Trump is making his campaign about them. As stated earlier, the platform is seen as very anti-LGBTQ, yet Trump talks about their issues and rights. One could argue that Trump will continue to draw more independents and center leaning democrats. In the primaries, the country saw a lot of yelling and name calling, but what the country saw at the RNC was a nominee who actually had policies that he wants to put forward and that he truly believes will help all Americans. The country also saw a nominee who has enough foresight to see what battles he needs to fight. He knows that he needs to befriend the LGBTQ community, he knows he needs to get union workers on his side, he has toned down the rhetoric about Mexicans but has stayed true to his immigration policy. The side ofTrump the country saw at the RNC is an electable person.
