CLEVELAND — After a convention filled with more infighting and drama than his reality television show, Donald Trump offered himself to the nation as an enforcer-in-chief determined to restore order on American streets and protect citizens from foreign enemies.
Like many speakers at this week’s Republican National Convention, Trump portrayed America as a nation imperiled and in need of “law and order.”
While Trump softened some of the rhetoric that has made him the least popular presidential nominee in modern American history, he often finished his lines with a scowl and didn’t shy away from attacking his favorite targets: Bill and Hillary Clinton, big business, Chinese currency manipulators and anyone who would make Americans feel unsafe.
“The crime and violence that affects our nation will soon — I mean very soon — come to an end,” Trump said to raucous cheers from convention delegates.
And Trump made little effort to hide where he thinks the threat is coming from, noting that illegal immigrants “are roaming free to threaten peaceful citizens.” Delegates responded with chants of “Build that wall, build that wall.”
The speech was a difficult balancing act for Trump, who needs to unify a party that seemed to fracture more deeply as the convention progressed. He also has to convince swing voters that a swashbuckling New York real estate tycoon — whose catchphrase as the star of the reality TV show “The Apprentice” was “You’re fired” — could be trusted with the presidency.
“No one knows the system better than me,” Trump said. “Which is why I alone can fix it.”
Delegates devoured the 75-minute address, alternating between chants of “USA!, USA!” and “Trump! Trump!” At one point, several California delegates, in a play on President Barack Obama’s 2008 catchphrase, showered the Republican nominee with chants of “Yes, you can!” and “Yes, you will.”
“It was a tough speech, but it’s a tough time,” said Jacob Lopez, a 20-year-old delegate from Bakersfield. “We need a strong leader to keep us safe.”
Delegate Steve Lucas, an attorney from Orinda, said he was pleased that Trump declared that he would protect gays and lesbians and thanked the crowd for cheering his pledge.
“Trump is making us the inclusive party,” Lucas said.
But it remains to be seen if Trump was able to salvage a convention that never approached the tightly scripted show of unity that voters had come to expect from party gatherings.
“I think he delivered the speech really well,” said Melissa Michelson, a political-science professor at Menlo College in Atherton. “It felt very authentic because he added those Trumpisms that make him very compelling to viewers.”
Still, Michelson said, Trump ended up playing to his base of white middle-class voters, while failing to effectively reach out to women and minorities. “People are telling him you can’t win without more Latino support, but he’s talking about immigrants as bringing in gangs and violence and drugs,” she said.
Michelson expects Trump to get a boost in the polls, but not as big a boost as he could have gotten if his speech hadn’t followed a convention devoid of the orderliness he’s promising to deliver to the country.
Any hint at party unity in Cleveland this week was immediately quashed hours into the convention when rogue delegates tried to bring the proceedings to a halt by demanding a drawn out vote on the rules of the convention. Efforts to cast Clinton as untrustworthy were undermined when reports surfaced that Trump’s wife, Melania, had lifted a portion of Michelle Obama’s 2008 convention speech.
“Conventions are supposed to bring cohesiveness to a message that attracts undecided voters, but this one hasn’t helped Donald Trump or any other Republican that is going to be on the ballot this November,” said Luis Alvarado, a Los Angeles-based GOP consultant.
Trump often appeared to be his own worst enemy during the week. Rather than present himself as a magnanimous victor and a steady hand, he picked a fresh fight with former rival Ohio Gov. John Kasich and refused to commit to defending a NATO ally if it were attacked — casting aside a central tenet of U.S. foreign policy for over 60 years.
The job of softening Trump on Thursday fell to his daughter Ivanka, who described her father as “the people’s nominee.” In one of the convention’s first pitches to female voters, who favor Hillary Clinton in large numbers, Ivanka Trump called her father “color-blind and gender neutral” and said he would make it easier for mothers to stay in the workforce and care for their children — although she gave no details.
Despite speaking for over an hour, Trump continued to give little in the way of firm policy positions. He called for a ban on immigration from any nation that “has been touched by terrorism,” until the U.S. can better vet applicants.
“We don’t want them in our country,” Trump roared.
In response, state Sen. Joel Anderson, a Republican from Alpine and a Trump delegate, chanted “Keep us safe! Keep us safe!”
Trump repeatedly tried to court Bernie Sanders supporters, attacking trade deals, calling the Chinese “the greatest currency manipulators ever” and insisting that Clinton was in the pocket of big business, the mainstream media and mega donors.
“She is the puppet, and they pull her strings,” he said.
Contact Matthew Artz at 510-208-6435. Follow him at Twitter.com/Matthew_Artz.
