Let's get it out of the way right at the top, the Democrats won the conventions, hands down. What compounds the victory for Republicans is that the Democrats stole the Republican message, well documented on conservative blogs and twitter feeds. Generals and Reagan Republicans coming out against Donald Trump has given masses of moderate Republicans pause, leaving them lamenting that the Democratic convention should have been their convention.
Hillary Clinton, with a less than inspiring but base-covering appeal of a speech, went right after a key constituency not even ten miles away from the Wells Fargo Center in South Philadelphia, and that is the Main Line Matriarch. The Main Line are those old-money (and when we say old talking old corporate and colonial: Moran [Johnson & Johnson], Du Pont, Arco, Biddle), conservative women who run in those wealthy, not rich, circles. There's the influence, and given the two final choices, after Sec. Clinton's speech, you can easily surmise which way they're leaning heavily right now.
And to solidify that constituency, in the wake of Mr. Khizr Khan's convention statements, Donald Trump called out the fact that Mrs. Khan didn't speak while on stage. This callous observation of a grief-stricken gold star mother in the context of Mr. Khan's emotional statement does not go unnoticed by the aforementioned group and moderate conservative women in general.
Paul Manafort explained that Mr. Trump's criticism is not the issue, but the fact that we need to protect the homeland from would-be radicalized immigrants from countries that have been compromised by terrorism. In Mr. Manafort's rebuttal, as Mr. Trump's, he gave lip-service to the Khan's family sacrifice for this country and his larger argument of banning Muslims from coming into the United States subverts the values of America. However, on a larger point, whether you agree with Mr. Manafort's argument or not, the fact that Mr. Trump does not, or more accurately is unable to, articulate that argument in a manner that doesn't insult someone clearly shows that his does not have the qualities necessary to lead this country.
David Brookes was 'nauseated' by Mr. Trump's and then hence forth Mr. Manafort's answers; that's the decent reaction. People like Mr. Manafort, and for that matter panelist today Mr. Alex Castellanos who runs a Trump Super PAC, will continue to deflect Mr. Trump's nauseating statements, but at which point will these statements no longer continue or stand from the candidate?
A program note here: Though the three other panelists provided views of Mr. Trump that Mr. Castellanos had to defend, he shouldn't be appearing on the program as a panelist given that he runs a pro-Trump Super PAC without having an equivalent foil from the Democratic side. As an interview subject, fine, but not as a panelist.
And speaking of foils, Chairman of Hillary Clinton's campaign Robby Mook didn't provide any assurances about DNC emails, and was unmemorable in his answers. To this point and in reference to the interview with Julian Assange, there is little doubt that there outside [foreign] forces trying influence the U.S. election. Mr. Assange for his part did not answer the question as to whether foreign governments had provided him with the hacked emails. In his defense he said that if a U.S. intelligence officer gave him information, he would protect that source. Yes, we understand that, but that's still an individual, NOT a government.
And Mr. Manafort's answer that Mr. Trump was just being sarcastic about encouraging Russia to conduct a cyber-espionage attack to find the rest of Sec. Clinton's emails is unacceptable. Whether being sarcastic or not, the appeal was at the least inappropriate, treasonous in intent at most. In other words, the whole thing is nauseating.
Panel: Doris Kearns-Godwin, presidential historian; Hally Jackson, NBC News; David Brooks, The New York Times; Alex Castellanos, Republican strategist
One More Thing...
Paul Manafort completely lied about the fact that the Trump campaign, specifically him, influenced the party platform on its stance on Ukraine. Republicans, because of Mr. Manafort and his lobbying ties to fmr. Ukraine president and Putin stooge, Viktor Yanukovych. The motives are clear and coupled with the suspected Russia hacking, it stinks.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/trump-campaign-guts-gops-anti-russia-stance-on-ukraine/2016/07/18/98adb3b0-4cf3-11e6-a7d8-13d06b37f256_story.html
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