Grading the Second Night of the Republican National Convention

After a rough day of fallout from Melania Trump’s speech last night, the Republicans had to get their message and convention back on track. It's a tough challenge when the signs of division abound. The room had too many empty seats, the crowd seemed to be disengaged at points, and people left the room empty for one of the better speeches to close the night.

Not sure who is making the decisions on the lineup. They have a diverse group of speakers on a night like tonight, but the order was off. You want the momentum to crescendo. The first night it fell off a cliff. Tonight it zig zagged. If I were planning tonight, I would have put Shelley Moore Capito and Ben Carson before the 10:00pm hour and had Tiffany Trump and Kimberlin Brown start, followed by Chris Christie, and closed with Donald Trump, Jr.

Is the Republican party still heavily divided? Have the majority of Republicans become so anti-establishment that a night of speeches, pomp and circumstance isn’t attractive? Will it all come together in the end? The establishment media seems to not be able to wrap their heads around this. It will be interesting to see how the people watching at home respond.

Chris Christie (A-)

One would assume that Chris Christie was going to come in and give a firebrand speech. He delivered and laid out a devastating case against Hillary Clinton’s judgment. It fired up the crowd, was direct, and stayed on message. The only downside was this speech should have been in the 10:00pm nationwide coverage.

Tiffany Trump (B+)

It was simple, heart-felt, and warm. Overshadowed by her older brother, she did a great job showing the softer side of Donald Trump. It won’t be talked about much tomorrow, but for the second youngest of the Trump siblings, who people rarely even knew existed…well done on your introduction to the world.

Donald Trump, Jr. (A-)

Donald Trump, Jr. did a great job and the energy in his voice kept you listening. We thought he was going to be giving the “my dad” speech, but he ended up giving a solid Republican speech as well. He hit his marks, had strong lines, and got the audience fired up. He came across as genuine and it was fun to see that the same hand gestures run in the family. For his first national speech, he nailed it and he may just have a political future of his own.

Shelley Moore Capito (C+)

She told an important story, but wasn’t the right person to deliver a primetime address at a National Convention. You could hear the undertone of chatter as people weren’t paying attention and she rarely had applause lines until the end. The media went back to pundit panels during her speech.

Dr. Ben Carson (C+)

Ben Carson got a nice reception from the audience and if he delivered with this type of energy in the debates, he may have lasted longer as a candidate. He made some good points, but it was mostly a forgettable speech.

Kimberlin Brown (B+/B)

Coming from a family of big Young and the Restless fans, I’ve known about Kimberlin Brown for a long time. I seriously questioned why she would be given such a prominent speaking position, but she was solid. She gave real accounts of being a small business owner and made the case to women across the country on Republican values. Only CNN and CSPAN played her speech live, which was unfortunate for the Trump campaign, but it was strong enough to likely make the rounds on social media.

Overall Score: B

Something seems off. Luckily they still are getting some memorable speeches each night to keep the convention above water. If the plan is to build an anti-establishment feel, it’s working as you can see the puzzled looks and comments from the pundit class. We’ll know from the polls post convention if it worked. With two average nights in a row, Pence needs to rally the troops tomorrow. The entire campaign though rests on Donald Trump’s speech on Thursday.

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