Day 1: Medium at the RNC in Cleveland

Greetings from Cleveland!

The Medium DC crew (including myself, Jack, Bridget, and Caroline) are on the ground all week for the GOP Convention. We look like this:

The delegate revolt:

Things unravelled pretty fast; raucous scenes on the convention floor; delegates attempting one final, last-ditch effort to prevent Donald Trump from securing the nomination. (If you want to know how it started, Jon Ward has the details.) But by the end of the day, the last hopes of the #NeverTrump movement looked buried. Is this the “Mistake by the Lake”? Maybe. Conservative commentator Ben Domenech says it’s the week that “the party of Lincoln died.” Ouch.

And then there was the Melania thing…

“Your word is your bond and you do what you say and keep your promise, that you treat people with respect”

— Melania Trump, 2016. Oh, and Michelle Obama, 2008.

Before the accusations of line-by-line rip-offs from an old Michelle Obama speech, the press thought Melania was doing kind of OK. End result? Not clear. Plagiarism’s a durable campaign smear that even Obama endured at the hands of Hillary Clinton — but all in all, it was a tough day for women who vote Trump.

Wasn’t day one supposed to be about national security?

Yes, that’s why they brought out Chachi and a guy from Duck Dynasty — to beef up Trump’s national security cred. Their presence on the stage may be because so many bigwigs are steering clear, but still… Bryan Curtis was forced to scour the convention grounds for a delegate who even knows who Scott Baio actually is. Let it be known: It wasn’t always this way; in the past Republicans actually delivered cool celebs to the masses. If you want to read the speeches for yourself, the GOP has everything here. Meanwhile, as the count of who won and who lost mounts up, it’s on to day two. Here’s what to expect next.

See you tomorrow!