The Unconventional Diaries: Fans and foes feel the excitement on Trump’s opening day
Yahoo News has enlisted participants at the Republican National Convention representing different viewpoints and roles to file daily diary entries on their experiences in Cleveland. They will be your eyes and ears at one of the most unconventional political gatherings in generations, offering a front-row seat on the convention floor, behind-the-scenes access to key political meetings and a vivid picture of what conventions are really like, both inside and outside the arena. Here is yesterday’s entry.
Tonight was great! It was just fantastic with one high-energy speaker after another.
In particular, I hope the networks showed the parts on the Benghazi attack, because they showed that it was just a disgrace for Hillary Clinton. It was pretty sad, the mother was saying how she was lied to. How anybody in their right mind can condone that, I just don’t know. It was very sad.
But then you have Rudy Giuliani and, man, he was so energized, he was off the wall. If he showed that kind of energy when he was running for president eight years ago, he would have won.
Everybody was great. We saw lots of excitement. Darryl Glenn, the gentleman running for Senate in Colorado, is a great, great person and gave a fantastic speech. And I know Pastor Mark Burns, who did the benediction earlier in the program. I once took him to my house in between Trump rallies in South Carolina to let him get cleaned up. It’s funny because there was a Lutheran minister there and he told me about Burns: “Man, he’s a hard act to follow.” I hope to meet up with him at some point during the RNC.
To have Donald Trump there only boosted the excitement further. His wife was a great speaker. And Indiana Gov. Mike Pence was here on the floor with Bob Dole and a few other people, which was interesting, and they sat watching the high-excitement night.
It’s very noisy on the floor, and the seats are really close together. Once you’re seated, it’s like a military maneuver to get people out of the middle. I wish we had more room down there, because it’s a long day, and it would be nice to be able to move around a little bit more.
Despite what some people were saying, there was no chaos on the floor. It was much ado about nothing. I think the media was looking to make something out of nothing. I know I got some emails from TV stations, wondering: “What is going on?” — and there was nothing going on. It wasn’t serious and had no support. It was a few disgruntled people, which was sad. In a way, it was good, because it sparked dialogue. But really it is sour grapes to be disruptive because your guy didn’t win.
Looking forward, we have our breakfast in the morning with speakers, including Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. We also have some events in the afternoon. The best part is, my wife is getting in tomorrow, as she’ll keep me out of trouble. She’s a really die-hard person and she’s no one to mess with. The day of the election in South Carolina, she was up all day and was really dedicated. It’ll be good having her here.
As told to Andrew Bahl/Yahoo News
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We didn’t know what to expect here in Cleveland. Stand Together Against Trump is made up of a lot of first-time protesters, and I’ve never done anything like this before.
I was reading and watching news reports and I thought the marches would be scary. I think I had this image in my mind of a violent, chaotic environment, where protesters conflict with the police.
But it hasn’t been that. It’s been positive, it’s been hopeful and it’s been diverse racially and socioeconomically. And we’re two days into protests now. Members of Stand Together Against Trump took part in a “Circle the City in Love” event yesterday afternoon. We’ve been involved in three other marches and rallies against Donald Trump.
Again, the best thing that’s happened is that things have been peaceful and positive. We haven’t seen any of the violence or chaos in Cleveland that much of the media has been predicting. We’ve been thrilled. Everything we’ve seen has been family-friendly. Kids have been there. There have been no dangers at all. The police are doing great, and the protesters are doing great. People have been shaking hands with police officers after the rally is over. Officers have been helping direct traffic.
There was a pro-Trump group protesting, too. They had their space and they left us to have our space — and a lot of credit goes to them as well. It’s been a great two days for Cleveland.
We want the people in Cleveland to see that these protests are peaceful and positive, that you can bring your kids out and support something you believe in. There’s still time to reach out to people, to say, “We have to have a response to Trump taking the Republican nomination. Not on behalf of Democrats or liberals, but on behalf of American values.” We’re working a lot to invite the people here in to our movement, saying, “It’s not chaos, but instead people expressing their beliefs in a positive way.” Cleveland is an incredible place right now.
We have a local convergence center that we’re basing everything out of. It ranges from small events to planning the big Thursday march and rally. It is a hub of activity. You have doctors and young professionals who have never protested before. They’re all coming together with people who have demonstrated every year the past four years, at both the RNC and DNC.
We got a team in town now. This used to be a small group of people in Cleveland and in the Midwest doing this on their free time. On Sunday night, we had everyone together for the first time. We have social media experts and field organizers. The team is working 96 hours straight starting last night, and just chugging through it. We know what we have to do. We know the message we have to get out there. We know we need a large turnout in downtown Cleveland.
A positive protest doesn’t naturally sell. The only way a positive, peaceful protest makes a difference is if atypical people and neighbors join hands in order to come together against Trump. If those atypical people believe Trump represents something dangerous and different, we know we did all we could. We have a fantastic team together and tomorrow, we’re doing even more with this team to pull it off.
As told to Andrew Bahl/Yahoo News
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The Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign have a team in Cleveland this week to hold Donald Trump accountable. We’re hosting counter-convention events all week, and our theme is “Better Than This.” Because America is better than the divisive rhetoric and dangerous policies that Republicans are putting on display on their stage.
American Airlines canceled our flight late Saturday night, so we just rented a Subaru Forester and drove in. We’re not going to let a little thing like the weather and airlines keep us away.
This is my first RNC, but I’ve worked at several of ours on the Democratic side. We had an agreement with our Republican counterparts. We’ve been giving each other credentials to the primary debates, and we basically extended that agreement to the conventions.
I was expecting a lot of chaos and demonstrations. But I think once you actually see what’s been happening on the floor, when you see how many Republicans don’t want to show up because they don’t want to be tainted by the divisive and extreme candidacy of Donald Trump, it’s pretty stunning to watch.
As a voter, you have to worry, looking at last weekend’s rollout of his vice presidential nominee, Mike Pence, in which Trump was second-guessing himself. And then looking at the trouble they’re having now on the convention floor, this is not someone you want running the country.
In Trump and Pence, Republicans have the most divisive ticket in history, so we’re going to hold them accountable — for what they do on the campaign trail and here in Cleveland, but also for what they would do if elected.
To that end, we published a special-edition tabloid newspaper called the Trump Times. Headlines include “Visit Trump’s Atlantic City” and “Bomb the S*** Out of Them.” And as we’ve handed it out, we’ve noticed stares of disbelief. Not because of the incendiary, dangerous and ill-informed texts in it, but because Trump actually said those things.
As far as what’s happening next, our Democratic war room will continue responding to the false claims that Trump, Scott Baio, the guy from “Duck Dynasty” and the rest of his merry band of A-listers will make. We’ll be here.
As told to Hunter Walker/Yahoo News
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