Trump's RNC Address: New Grief, Same Grievances

This episode analyzes Donald Trump's speech at the Republican National Convention, examining its content and implications amidst significant political developments.

1. Despite a new context, Trump's speech recycled familiar grievances and combativeness.
2. The episode portrays a disconnect between Trump's scripted messages of unity and his spontaneous divisive remarks.
3. Trump's personal anecdotes and tributes to supporters showed a blend of personal reflection and political maneuvering.
4. The audience's reaction to Trump's lengthy and script-free segments highlighted a potential waning interest.
5. The broader political analysis suggested that Trump's approach might inadvertently aid Biden by confirming Democratic criticisms.

1: Opening Remarks

Brad Milke introduces the episode, setting the stage for a detailed analysis of Trump's RNC speech. The initial commentary outlines the speech's context and expectations. Brad Milke: "It's the same Donald Trump."

2: Main Speech Analysis

Stephen Portnoy provides an on-the-ground account of Trump's speech, noting its shift from solemn tributes to aggressive political rhetoric. Stephen Portnoy: "Trump straying from his prepared remarks, ad libbing extensively."

3: Political Context

Discussion of the broader political implications of Trump's speech, including its potential impact on Biden's campaign and the Republican party's strategy. Brad Milke: "Could the climax of an emotional week create yet another twist on this campaign trail?"

1. Stay Informed: Regularly update yourself on political developments to better understand the shifting dynamics.
2. Critical Analysis: Learn to distinguish between scripted and spontaneous remarks in political speeches.
3. Engage in Dialogue: Discuss political events with peers to gain diverse perspectives.
4. Reflect on Leadership: Consider the qualities of leadership displayed in political arenas and their impact on governance.
5. Participate Democratically: Engage in your civic duties by voting and participating in community discussions.

In his biggest speech of the year, former President Donald Trump veers off-script from what began as a cathartic speech. The Pentagon decommissions its “floating pier” off Gaza’s coast. And an apparent murder involving cyanide-laced tea transfixes Thailand.

People

Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Kamala Harris, Barack Obama, Corey Comperator

Content Warnings:

None

Brad Milke
It's Friday, July 19. He's got a new story to share. But it's the same Donald Trump. We start here.

Unknown
We beat him on the impeachments. We beat him on indictments.

Brad Milke
In a marathon convention speech, the former president veers off script and back into familiar territory.

Stephen Portnoy
Donald Trump may have done Biden a favor.

Brad Milke
Could the climax of an emotional week create yet another twist on this campaign trail? Us officials call it mission complete, not mission accomplished.

The floating pier that was supposed to save countless lives in Gaza is down for good. And it's the murder mystery that's transfixed a nation. Their lips and nails had turned blue, indicating a lack of oxygen. Two Americans are among the dead after a fateful tea party.

From ABC News, this is start here. I'm Brad Milke.

America's two major political parties could not be moving in more different directions. Yesterday, the chorus of calls for President Biden to step down as the presumptive democratic nominee became a cacophony. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is among those who have now delivered their concerns directly to the president. Schumer presenting him with polling data showing he could drag down Democrats in the House and Senate. While Biden shows no sign of abandoning his campaign, a senior administration source now tells ABC News that Biden is becoming more accepting of these types of opinions and that hes even asked to see polling about how Kamala Harris would do instead of him. The Washington Post reported that Bidens closest political ally, former President Barack Obama, has expressed concerns to allies, leaving the impression that the walls are really closing in. So if this all feels like a coordinated campaign by influential Democrats to reshuffle the race, Republicans, on the other hand, have never felt better.

Last night at the Republican National Convention, the script flipped from your average lawmakers and former aides to the other faces of the modern GOP. A leader is the bravest man.

Stephen Portnoy
That's who the leader is.

Brad Milke
Tucker Carlson gave a speech. So did Trump's personal lawyer. He had appearances from Kid Rock, the CEO of the ultimate fighting Championship, and Hulk Hogan himself. Hulkamania was on stage, and they tried.

Unknown
To kill the next president, president of the United States.

Brad Milke
But the real face of the modern GOP, of course, is none other than Donald Trump. And last night, less than a week removed from an attempt on his life, the former president took the stage. ABC's national correspondent Stephen Portnoy was there for it all. In fact, he's still there in the convention hall, surrounded by confetti and balloons. Stephen, first of all, what was the mood of the night.

Stephen Portnoy
Well, it was the dramatic apex of a week that began with tremendous uncertainty and anxiety after the assassination attempt.

Unknown
So many people have asked me what happened.

Tell us what happened, please, and therefore I will tell you exactly what happened.

And you'll never hear it from me a second time, because it's actually too painful to tell.

Stephen Portnoy
And for the first time since the attempt on his life, Donald Trump stood on the stage and reflected on what happened to him and what it meant to him in dramatic terms.

Unknown
Moved my right hand to my ear, brought it down.

My hand was covered with blood, just absolutely blood, all over the place, saying.

Stephen Portnoy
That he stood here in this arena only by the grace of almighty God.

Unknown
I'm not supposed to be here tonight. Not supposed to be here.

Anne Flaherty
Yes, you are.

Brad Milke
Yes, you are.

Stephen Portnoy
He paid solemn tribute to Corey comperator, the Pennsylvania firefighter who was killed at last Saturday's rally. He asked for a moment of silence. It was dead silent here in the hall. And he walked to a stand which held comparator's jacket and helmet, and he gave it a kiss.

Unknown
Despite such a heinous attack, we unite this evening more determined than ever. I am more determined than ever, and so are you. So is everybody.

Stephen Portnoy
But then, for more than an hour after that, Brad, the convention acceptance speech of Donald Trump transformed into a standard Trump rally speech.

Unknown
In that spirit, the Democrat party should immediately stop weaponizing the justice system, labeling their political opponent as an enemy of democracy.

Stephen Portnoy
Trump straying from his prepared remarks, ad libbing extensively.

Unknown
If Democrats want to unify our country, they should drop these partisan witch hunts, which I have been going through for approximately eight years.

Stephen Portnoy
And from my vantage point up here in the rafters, I could see Trump's teleprompter, which simply stopped moving every time Trump went off script. And for long stretches, in what amounted to the longest speech at a convention in the television era, there were no applause breaks because Trump just continued on with his storytelling. And about an hour in, I saw some delegates and members of the audience demonstrating that they were losing their interest. They started looking at their phones rather than up at the stage.

Brad Milke
And I was going to say, because everyone going in is talking about, there's going to be this different tone, this tone of unity, a softer Trump people would mention. And then, of course, what turns into kind of standard Trump? What does that mean? That, like, what was the message? I guess that kind of leaks through in that.

Stephen Portnoy
I mean, look, in the prepared remarks, there were lines about unifying the country and standing forward together and moving forward as a country and all the things that he would do if he were reelected.

Unknown
Now is the time to remember that we are all fellow citizens. We are one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Stephen Portnoy
But when he went off script, it was some of the divisive rhetoric that we're used to hearing at Trump rallies.

Unknown
And we won. We beat him in all. We beat him on the impeachments, we beat him on indictments, we beat him.

Stephen Portnoy
Maligning his critics, democrats, crazy, nancy Pelosi.

Unknown
The whole thing just boom, boom, boom.

Stephen Portnoy
Referring to Covid as the china virus. Random, fleeting references to Hannibal Lecter from silence of the lambs.

Unknown
Has anyone seen silence of the lambs?

The late, great Hannibal Lecter.

He'd love to have you for dinner.

Stephen Portnoy
Viktor Orban of Hungary. And then speaking of Kim Jong un, who Trump said he thinks he misses him.

Unknown
I got along very well. North Korea, Kim Jong un, I got along very well with him. The press hated when I said that. How could you get along with him? Well, you know, it's nice to get along with somebody that has a lot of nuclear weapons or otherwise, isn't it?

Stephen Portnoy
And, you know, it's interesting, because we heard from Trump aides earlier yesterday that he had no intention of mentioning Biden's name in the speech at all. He was only going to refer to it as the current administration.

Unknown
If you took the ten worst presidents in the history of the United States, think of it, the ten worst, added them up, they will not have done the damage that Biden has done. Only going to use the term once.

Biden, I'm not going to use the name anymore. Just one time.

Stephen Portnoy
But when he ran off script, he did so and seemingly reluctantly, too.

Brad Milke
Gonna help himself.

Stephen Portnoy
Right? And then later on, he simply called Biden this person because he didn't wanna have to mention the name again.

Brad Milke
But, like, is there an articulated vision as to what 2024. 2025 would look like? Or is this more like 2016, 2020 Trump? Like, what, what's the vision? I guess?

Stephen Portnoy
Well, it sounded a lot like 2020 Trump. And the Trump we've heard since. I mean, there were references to what he alleged is cheating in the last.

Unknown
Election, the election result. We're never going to let that happen again. They use Covid to cheat. They're never going to let it happen again.

Stephen Portnoy
There was substance in this, though. I mean, in the prepared remarks, especially. Trump pledged that he would drive down prices and what he called the inflation crisis.

Unknown
I will end the devastating inflation crisis immediately, bring down interest rates and lower the cost of energy. We will drill, baby, drill.

Stephen Portnoy
Redirect the Climate funds and the Inflation Reduction act, which he calls the green new scam.

Unknown
We will redirect that money for important projects like roads, bridges, dams, and we will not allow it to be spent on meaningless green new scam ideas.

Stephen Portnoy
And he would repeal the Biden administration's rules on vehicle emissions. He vowed he would lower taxes even further than they are today. Remember, the Trump tax cuts expire next year, and that's a really key issue in this election.

Unknown
It's called no tax on tips. No tax on tips.

Stephen Portnoy
Trump says that Biden would raise taxes. Biden denies that. In fact, Biden says he wouldn't raise taxes for anyone making less than $400,000 a year. On the whole, however, there wasn't a lot of news in this speech. It's a lot of the things we've heard from Trump in the past, and that's why the reaction from the Biden campaign is along these lines, that Trump was playing his greatest hits, that he has not changed or moderated, and that he's made no appeal to moderates in this speech.

Brad Milke
Yeah, that's the thing, Stephen, as we end this convention, because I think there was a sense that Trump could be looking more and more invincible. If you looked at kind of how this week has played out, did this speech confirm that, or did it kind of give, you know, everyone on both sides of the aisle a reality check?

Stephen Portnoy
This was the reddest of red meat that this convention saw all weekend. And it was very much the kind of speech that Trump would have given in Butler, Pennsylvania, if he had not been interrupted by an attempted assassination.

Unknown
It was done by the Border Patrol, one of the greatest charts I've ever seen. It showed everything just like that. You know, the chart. Oh, there it is. That's pretty good. Wow.

Stephen Portnoy
In fact, he even put up on the screen here the chart that he was looking at when his head turned at the time the shots rang out to demonstrate the flow of illegal immigration into the country during his presidency and after it.

Unknown
But without that chart, I would not be here today.

Stephen Portnoy
The idea that this was meant to be sort of a moment of solemn reflection, it certainly was that. But once he went off script, it was as if we all attended a national rally.

But my sense watching it, Brad, was that if you're Joe Biden and you feel as though the walls are closing in on you and that there's all this pressure on you to get out of the race, Donald Trump may have done Biden a favor because he demonstrated that he, Trump is exactly what Biden has been saying he is. And now going forward, I wonder if the conversation will be more about what Donald Trump said in his convention acceptance speech rather than the focus as much on Biden's age and whether he should get out of the race.

Brad Milke
Yeah, that's true. Because lest we forget, like, if this is a rematch of 2020, Biden won that matchup. The question now for Americans is like, do these candidates look the same? Four years on, President Biden clearly wasn't the same debater. But Trump even made this joke during the speech, like, I hope I'm not the one who stinks it up after all these great speeches this week. And you wonder, he's not getting younger either. His energy seemed lower throughout a lot of this. Of course, he was just shot a few days prior. Like, he's got that right. But you wonder if the Biden folks are thinking during this, actually, he might seem more beatable than we thought as well. All right, Steven Portnoy there in Milwaukee. Thank you so much.

Stephen Portnoy
You bet.

Brad Milke
Next up on start here, the pier to nowhere is officially out of commission. Why? Wishes of J. Lots of luck. Never helped after the break.

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Unknown
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Brad Milke
Last night in Israel, an explosion rocked the capital city of Tel Aviv.

Authorities say this was caused by a drone. Houthi rebels in Yemen took responsibility for it. And even though the death toll appears to be limited at this point, this was described as one of the most serious attacks on Israelis since October 7. Meanwhile, you look across the border into Gaza right now, and one bombing might look trivial to civilians there.

In the last ten days, the israeli military has destroyed nine schools. The IDF has been pressing deeper and deeper into Rafa, while also bombarding targets in Gaza city. Further north, the Hamas run health ministry says theyve now found traces of polio starting to pop up in sewage samples, a sign that even if you survived the blasts, nowhere is safe. All this means that shipments of food and medicine have never been more vital. Right as the US military is declaring that the floating pier the US promised would alleviate all this suffering is done. This pier is finished. Mission complete. ABC's Anflaherty covers the Pentagon. And I knew they were realizing the pier wasn't working. They're just packing it up forever, though.

Anne Flaherty
Well, that's right. And I think what a lot of people didn't realize is that this pier was always operating on borrowed time. They knew that they had limited time to make an impact and it just didn't work out the way that they wanted to.

Unknown
So one joint logistics over the shore is inherently challenging. With that said, what you're seeing here before you has never been done before.

Anne Flaherty
One thing I have talked to sources who say that's not really the military's fault. They told the White House this would happen. It's unpredictable with these high sea states, and that they knew that by August that those sea states were going to be much too high to accommodate this pier.

Just to take a step back, I think this is important for people to know. This is a temporary, it's nothing that's anchored into the ground. It's not cemented into the ocean floor. This is literally a floating pier. It looks like a giant parking lot that's floating off of the coast of Gaza.

Unknown
A temporary pier will enable a massive increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance getting into Gaza.

Anne Flaherty
President Biden announced this in a state of the Union speech, a political speech that says, you know, look, this is what I'm going to do for the people in Gaza. I see you, I hear you. I know that this is a horrible situation, this war. So, you know, on one hand we were supplying weapons and military, Aidan, to the israeli army, and on the other end we were saying, but we don't want it to hurt civilians. We really just want Israel to go after Hamas. And it was almost this way of Biden trying to have his cake and eat it, too. But at the end of the day, it is a floating pier that is going to be at the mercy of these sea states. And we know that those sea states get higher as the year progresses and it goes on.

Brad Milke
So what happens to the pier itself? And more importantly, what happens to all of this aid that is supposed to travel across it? We've been told there was no other way to transport it besides this.

Anne Flaherty
Well, so there's always been this talk about, you know, can they just bring the aid into Ashdod? And that's ultimately what they decided to do. This is a port in Israel that can accept the aid from Cyprus. There's still about 5 million pounds of food that's sitting in Cyprus that needs to be shipped to that shore. But, Brad, we keep bumping up against the exact same issue, which is once you get it to shore, who's going to deliver it?

Unknown
We continue to face the challenge of aid getting to and into Gaza, but then not being able to be distributed effectively because principally of real security challenges.

Anne Flaherty
One thing that I found in my reporting in the past couple of months was that there was this really heated dispute between the UN and Israel about what kind of security equipment these aid workers were allowed to bring into Gaza. So Israel was looking at these aid workers and saying, you know, that security gear that you need and the armored vehicle that you want to drive, we don't want that to end up in the hands of Hamas. You're going to have to leave it behind. So when you're asking these guys to come in without armored vehicles, without security gear, without sophisticated radios, they felt too vulnerable and they were letting this aid pile up until they could negotiate some kind of deal with Israel. Now, the World Food program eventually agreed to move some of the aid that was piling up at the pier as kind of a one time deal. But, you know, my understanding is this is still a problem. They want to be able to distribute this, Aidan. They want to be able to do it safely with some protection. And Israel has not played ball on this. If the IDF would provide security, then I think the UN could distribute this more effectively. The US has supported aid workers in wanting more security and protections to put the aid through Gaza. The question is whether or not it's enough.

Vice Admiral Brad Cooper
Given the high sea state in the eastern Mediterranean and the successful completion of the temporary military enabled maritime surge mission, it's now time to announce the transition of this new Cyprus to Ashtad to Gaza pathway.

Anne Flaherty
We heard from Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, deputy commander at US Central Command, that's been the lead on this project. He told reporters in a Pentagon briefing on Wednesday that the 5 million pounds of aid in Cyprus, the plan is then to send it to Ashdod, which is that port in Israel.

Vice Admiral Brad Cooper
While the us military pier is no longer required, the US will maintain coordination elements in place in the near term to ensure humanitarian assistance continues to flow into Gaza through this new maritime pathway.

Anne Flaherty
And they expect those deliveries to start in the coming days. But of course, the question is, you know, who's going to pick up that aid and then deliver it through Gaza? That remains the question.

Brad Milke
That's the thing is what will be the legacy of this pier? Because, like, rip. Okay, but are there lessons to be learned here? Because the minute the Biden White House announced this, there were criticisms that this was kind of humanitarian but also political in nature.

Anne Flaherty
You know, I've talked with a lot of people about this and I say at the end of the day, was it worth it? It was $230 million and it was operational for about 20 days out of the 60 days that it had been staked to the shore. So, you know, it only worked a third of the time. It required the deployment of 1000 troops, which I don't think is inconsequential. I mean, that's 1000 service members who were taken away from their family to complete this mission. You know, if you're on the other end of that pier and I, your family is starving, it's hard to say that the pier isn't worth it. We heard from the state Department yesterday that they were saying, you know, we do think it was a success. It meant that there was no stone unturned and we were doing everything that we could.

Stephen Portnoy
This pier served a purpose. We believe that purpose was successful in what it was able to accomplish.

Anne Flaherty
But I think that when you speak with these aid groups, particularly the ones on the ground and trying to work this issue, they look at the pier as a distraction and something that President Biden and this administration that has been very favorable towards, towards Israel and wanting to support Israel and wanting to respond to those Hamas attacks that were so vicious and so heartbreaking to those communities. But the aid groups say it's letting Israel off the hook of bringing the aid through the ground, which is a much, much more efficient way.

Brad Milke
Right. That was the thing, right? Was like this was almost throwing Netanyahu a bone. He was like, I don't want to bring in all these aid trucks that they're going to get attacked. And so rather than making him deal with that, the US was like, well, we'll help. We'll do the Pierde well.

Anne Flaherty
Exactly. And I think at the end of the day, I mean, when you're talking about so many million pounds, 20 million pounds that was able to get through, yeah, that is something. But when you consider the devastation in Gaza, I think it's probably something that they would have needed over the course of one week, not over the course of, you know, two months.

A lot of questions about this and whether or not it was worth taxpayer money and whether or not the Biden administration should do more to pressure Netanyahu to open up those ground routes and really letheme the aid workers do their job inside of Gaza.

Brad Milke
All right, Anne Flaherty covering the Pentagon. Thank you so much.

Anne Flaherty
Thanks, Brad.

Brad Milke
Okay, one more quick break. When we come back, two Americans are dead in what appears to be the world's deadliest tea party. One last thing is next.

Unknown
Robert Pickton, one of the worst serial killers.

Anne Flaherty
A new true crime series from freeform.

Unknown
A lot of victims are people who are in the margin. When all else fails, there's possibly many more victims. Nobody cared. Sasha Reid and her team take the case.

Anne Flaherty
We're coming for you. I just want answers.

Unknown
We're gonna do absolutely everything to get closure to these cases.

Vice Admiral Brad Cooper
The whole thing is a cover up.

Unknown
There's so much more here.

Unknown
Freeform's Sasha Reid and the midnight new episodes. Wednesday's stream on who coming for you.

Brad Milke
And one last thing.

It's the murder mystery consuming a country on the other side of the world, and it all revolves around a pot of tea. So this week, staff members at this five star resort in Bangkok realized that a group of guests hadn't left their suite. 24 hours after checkout time, they go in and find all six of the guests dead. Their lips and nails had turned blue, indicating a lack of oxygen. This group included four vietnamese nationals and two Americans of vietnamese descent. There's a huge spread of food barely touched and six cups of tea. Turns out that was laced with poison.

We found that it was cyanide in the liquid in the teapot. The steens that were stuck to all six coffee cups. Now, there were six bodies but seven people on the reservation. So police immediately think, okay, the 7th person probably poisoned them and fled. But this guest had checked out several days prior and wasn't even around when the staff delivered the tea. So police rule her out. They started looking at how these folks knew each other. Two of them had asked the others in the group for money for a big construction project they were investing in. And family members said that project wasnt going as planned. So if this was indeed about debt gone bad, police thought that perhaps the group had died in a kind of group suicide.

But that still didnt explain why one of the bodies was found near the door, perhaps frozen in the act of trying to escape the hotel room. Thats why authorities now believe this was one person secretly poisoning everyone there, including themselves. And part of what's so bizarre about this tale is the location. Like I said, the victims are all vietnamese and american, but they organized this big meeting in Thailand, which actually has recent experience with cyanide poisonings. Just last year, a thai woman was accused of being a serial killer, using cyanide to poison up to 14 people, many of whom she owed money. Autopsy results are expected today. But in the meantime, american officials say they're aware of the deaths. They're in touch with the thai authorities. But one reason the story has really taken hold in Bangkok is not just the cyanide, its debt. For years, the average thai household has been borrowing more and more money, with young borrowers especially saddled by mounting bills. So when you cant get a new loan from the bank because youre in debt, you might turn to informal debt, a friend or a family member, perhaps even a loan shark. That trend, along with the bizarre tales of cyanide, might be why so many civilians this week in Bangkok are nervously double checking their drinks.

What a crazy story. And I feel like there are so many stories that are being eclipsed by this deluge of political news coming at us. So we'll continue to follow them here. But speaking of all the political news, we are keeping our eyes peeled on Biden Watch 2024. So keep it on ABCNews.com or the ABC News app. For any developments there over the weekend, start here is produced by Kelly Torres, Jen Newman, Brenda Linas Baker, Vika Aronson Cameron, Chertavian Anthony Ali, Maru Malwaqi, and Amira Williams. Ariel Chester is our social media producer. Josh Cohan is director of podcast programming. I'm our managing editor, Laura Mayers, our executive producer. Thanks to Lakia Brown, John Newman, Tara Gimble and Liz Alessi. Special thanks this week to Chris Berry, Sasha Aslanian, Isabella Murray, Molly Nagel, and really, anyone covering the RNC or the Trump assassination attempt, because it is been a team effort. I'm Brad Milke. I'll see you next week.

Unknown
Hey, it's me, Jen Tran, the new Bachelorette. Watch me on a groundbreaking season like you've never seen, Monday nights at eight on ABC.

Brad Milke
And don't miss our weekly bachelor podcast, playing the field, hosted by me, Ryan Field. As we break down each episode.