Vance accepts GOP nod for VP
Trump speech tonight will wrap up 2024 convention
Also in today’s edition of ‘Regular Order’ for July 18, 2024:
Senators confront Secret Service chief here in Milwaukee.
Trump aide goes from prison to RNC dais.
GOP convention vibe check from Media Row.
From Milwaukee, Wisconsin -
VANCE. Stepping into the national spotlight, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) last night accepted his party's nomination for Vice President, using his GOP convention address to press the case for the election of Donald Trump in November. "He's the man who is feared by America's adversaries," argued Vance, who said he was 'overwhelmed with gratitude' at his choice.
ATTACK. Vance followed the lead of other Republicans, using his speech to reflect on Trump's brush with death last Saturday, when a gunman barely missed the former President. "When Donald Trump rose to his feet in that Pennsylvania field, all of America stood with him," Vance said, as the crowd chanted, "Fight! Fight! Fight!"
UNITY. One of Vance's themes last night was somewhat unusual, as he very directly reached out to GOP voters - urging them to unite behind Trump. "My message to you, my fellow Republicans, is we love this country and we are united to win," Vance said, fully acknowledging there are some deep differences inside the GOP about Trump.
BIDEN. Vance turned his fire directly on Biden at times, stressing his age and their political differences. "Joe Biden has been a politician in Washington for longer than I've been alive," the 39-year-old Vance said. "For half a century, he's been the champion of every major policy initiative to make America weaker and poorer."
POPULISM. Vance dotted his speech with populist themes, trying to cast the GOP as the party which fights rich corporations - something Democrats would certainly contest. "We're done, ladies and gentlemen, catering to Wall Street. We'll commit to the working man," Vance said.
THEME SONG. After Vance was finished, delegates cheered as a cover of the song, 'Don't Stop' by Fleetwood Mac was played in the convention hall. I'm old enough to remember that was also Bill Clinton's theme song in 1992. I covered that convention in Madison Square Garden - and sure enough, the original 'Don't Stop' was played after his acceptance speech.
TRUMP SPEECH. Tonight, Trump will make his case to voters himself, as he wraps up the 2024 Republican National Convention by accepting the GOP nomination for a third straight time. Trump is expected to emphasize what we've heard all week from the GOP in Milwaukee, a relentless focus on the economy, illegal immigration, foreign policy, and a refrain that Joe Biden is a weak leader.
FAMILY. Trump was on hand for much of last night's convention program, as members of his own family helped make the case for November. His son, Donald Jr., invoked last Saturday's assassination attempt. "When he stood up with blood on his face and the flag at his back, the world saw a spirit that could never be broken," he said to cheers.
TRIFECTA. Only a handful of major party nominees for President have been nominated more than twice. Richard Nixon was the last - he lost in 1960, and won in 1968 and 1972. FDR was nominated four times - and won them all. Before that, you go back to William Jennings Bryan, who lost his three bids for the White House.
TRUMP ATTACK. As GOP delegates waited for Vance to speak last night, an unexpected political confrontation was developing behind the scenes in the convention hall. It happened when a group of Republican Senators ran into the Director of the Secret Service - in person here in Milwaukee - as the GOP lawmakers angrily demanded answers about last Saturday's assassination attempt against Trump.
SECRET SERVICE. In a video posted by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), four GOP Senators are seen confronting Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle about the Trump rally shooting - while the convention plays out behind them. "I don't think this is the place to have this discussion," Cheatle says as she tries to walk away - but then the GOP Senators chase after her.
CALL. The exchange came hours after a Secret Service briefing for Senators which left Republicans angry, as they claimed Cheatle offered little information about Saturday's security lapse - and cut off their questions. "This is exactly what you were doing today on the call," said a clearly aggravated Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) to Cheatle.
GOP. "Every one of us have questions," said a visibly frustrated Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), demanding to know what the Secret Service knew at the time of the Trump rally. "You owe President Trump answers," said Blackburn, who chased after Cheatle in her heels. "You can run but you can't hide from us."
HOUSE. That scene developed hours after House Speaker Mike Johnson announced from Milwaukee that he will set up a bipartisan task force to review what happened, as the Speaker called for Cheatle’s head, saying it’s obvious there were ‘serious security lapses at the Trump rally. "I think she needs to resign.”
HEARING. Worried that the Secret Service chief might not show up for a hearing next Monday, House Republicans sent a subpoena to Cheatle for her testimony. "Americans deserve answers," said Rep. James Comer (R-KY), the Chairman of the House Oversight Committee.
SENATORS. Other GOP Senators here in Milwaukee were also furious with the lack of answers from Cheatle. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) said her call with Senators had been ‘unbelievably uninformative.’ “I can’t think of a worse possible way to respond to a crisis than how DHS and Secret Service have responded since last Saturday,” added Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL).
RESIGN. Meanwhile, Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell joined the House Speaker in urging the Secret Service Director to quit. "New leadership at the Secret Service would be an important step," McConnell said.
TIMELY NOTE. I just want to take one minute to remind everyone of what happened the last time the Secret Service found itself in hot water - about the events of Jan. 6. After an internal watchdog asked for all text messages sent by agents and agency officials on Jan. 5 and Jan. 6, 2021 - to see what those might show - all of those messages were deleted by the Secret Service. It was supposedly an accident. All those messages - poof. Gone forever.
NAVARRO. Speaking of Jan. 6, it took until the third night of this GOP convention for that investigation to be mentioned. It came as ex-Trump aide Peter Navarro was released from federal prison in the morning - after serving a four month sentence for refusing to cooperate with the special Jan. 6 committee. He flew immediately to Milwaukee to speak to delegates.
STANDING O. When Navarro walked out, there was a huge and extended ovation from Republicans out on the convention floor. "Oh, my God!" one delegate next to me yelled. "He's out! That is awesome!"
NAVARRO. "They convicted me, they jailed me. Guess what? They did not break me!" Navarro said defiantly. "I went to prison so you won't have to," Navarro added.
PATRIOTS. At his rallies, Donald Trump routinely extols the 'patriots' who attacked the Capitol to keep him in power on Jan. 6, 2021, at times promising to pardon those who were jailed. But so far, we haven't seen the GOP convention pick up on that at all. Will Trump mention that tonight in his speech? Stay tuned.
IMMIGRATION. The second bullet point in the GOP platform for 2024 is pretty straightforward: "CARRY OUT THE LARGEST DEPORTATION OPERATION IN AMERICAN HISTORY." But going into last night, while there was a lot of GOP criticism about illegal immigration, nothing had been said about mass deportations.
SIGNS. But then these signs were handed out to GOP delegates - with many enthusiastically waving them throughout Wednesday night’s program. I tweeted out this picture - and it had 1 million views in just a few hours. Let’s see if Trump makes it part of his speech tonight.
REGULAR ORDER. We have certainly had an outburst of big news in the past few weeks - making it a great time to give the gift of straight news to someone you know. Or if you want to buy me a brat here in Milwaukee - you can do that too.
CONVENTION SCENE. Oh, the things that I see. Yes, outside the convention hall on Wednesday, that was ex-Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) scooting along in his wheelchair - and attracting a lot of attention - with a passenger on board. Meanwhile, inside on the convention floor, one Texas delegate was getting a lot of attention for his ear bandage choices.
BIDEN. Before the news broke yesterday that President Biden had tested positive for COVID - forcing him to cancel a speech in Nevada and fly back to Delaware - there was already big news breaking about Campaign 2024 and the Democrats. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) - a prominent voice for House Democrats - became the latest member of Congress to call on Biden to drop out of the 2024 race.
SCHIFFED. "While the choice to withdraw from the campaign is President Biden’s alone, I believe it is time for him to pass the torch," said Schiff. The California Democrat said if Biden stays on the ticket, then he'll get his full support. "There is only one singular goal," Schiff said, "defeating Donald Trump."
LEADERS. After a few days out of the spotlight for Biden, the Schiff news triggered new leaks about the President’s political future - and whether the top two Democrats in Congress - Sen. Charles Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries - had pressed Biden to withdraw.
WHITE HOUSE. "The President told both leaders he is the nominee of the party," said White House spokesman Andrew Bates, confirming that Biden had discussed the presidential race with them.
FREAK OUT. What does all this tell me? Evidently, there is going to be one more push by Democrats in Congress to get Biden to reconsider. Basically, many Democratic lawmakers are still freaked out by Biden’s poll numbers - and whether he might take them down the drain.
MENENDEZ. More Democrats continued on Wednesday to call for Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) to resign, a day after he was convicted of 16 criminal charges in a federal bribery and corruption probe. Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) was one the latest to urge Menendez to go. "Senator Menendez had his day in court and was found guilty," Warner said.
CALLS. With over 40 Democratic Senators now calling on Menendez to resign after his conviction, the Senate Ethics Committee is ready to step forward if needed. "The Committee will consider the full range of disciplinary actions available," panel leaders said in a written statement.
GOP. Nothing has changed among Republican Senators. Not a single one of them has called for Menendez to resign - before or after the verdict.
MEDIA ROW. One of my favorite things to do at any convention is head to what used to be known as 'Radio Row,' but has now morphed into what is now called 'Media Row.' It's a big room featuring talk radio shows, and TV talk programs.
VIBE CHECK. I try to walk through Media Row at least 3-4 times each day - and it's always my first stop in the morning. Why? It gives you a good feel for what the conservative media universe is discussing.
WEDNESDAY. Here's some snippets of what I heard yesterday:
"All the wind is now at Trump's back."
Talk of landslides for Trump and the GOP in Congress.
"The assassination attempt changed everything."
"There's a paradigm shift for Trump."
LUCKY STRIKE. So much about life as a reporter is just being in the right place at the right time. On my second trek to Media Row on Wednesday, I stumbled onto House Speaker Mike Johnson. He made news on a variety of fronts in this interview.
RAP SHEET. A Florida man has been arrested and charged with attacking police outside the Capitol on Jan. 6. Garth Walton is seen in video pushing metal barricades into officers that day. He also threw a metal pole at police. Walton was arrested in Yulee, Florida, a town north of Jacksonville named for a 19th century U.S. Senator.
MUSE OF HISTORY. July 18, 1888. The Senate on this date began debate on a bill to make the Territory of Washington a state. But there was controversy over one part of the plan, which would strip the Panhandle from Idaho Territory - and add to Washington State. Sen. William Stewart of Nevada proposed taking southern Idaho - and absorbing that into Nevada. "I believe it would be for the interest of Nevada and of South Idaho to be joined and form a State," Stewart said.
LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM:
The Republican National Convention convenes at 6:45 pm EDT.
The House is back for votes on July 22.
The Senate is back for votes on July 23.
Follow me on Twitter @jamiedupree.
Email me at jamiedupree@substack.com
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What was the overall vibe during Abbott's speech? Saw a brief clip of everyone chanting "send them back" while waving the mass deportation signs and it was bit too on the nose. My immediate thought was it just needed the white sheets but already had the "go back to where you're from" 😬
Either that or the Bund's 1939 rally in Madison Square Garden. Unfortunately.
Great coverage of the convention Jamie!