Can someone please sum up what happened ?
I just woke up and didn't watch anything.
NeverTrump failed hard early in the morning. Got 10-11 state delegations to sign a petition to have a roll-call vote on the rules, which would have been ugly and chaotic, chair said three states took their names off after the fact so they didn't have enough signatories, drowned out a voice vote, Colorado and one other state (Rhode Island?) walk out in protest. That dominated the early coverage. Mike Lee and Ken Cuccinelli got a lot of attention for their fit on the floor.
Peter King opened the convention by talking about how the last time they were there was 1936 and the country was in turmoil, just like today! Except that 1936 was FDR's re-election and he was digging the country out of the ditch the GOP had put it in under Harding/Coolidge/Hoover, so the analogy is perhaps more apt than King wanted it to be. FDR won in a landslide of course.
Early speeches were pretty standard. Celebrities with nothing in particular to say, minor RNC officials or congressmen. Benghazi mama was the first big speech, she was completely over-the-top, choking back tears on stage as she screamed about how Hillary was a liar and a murderer and personally responsible for the death of her son. There's a good indictment of Hillary for the video thing in there, if anyone still cares about that, but the theatrics and hyperbole completely drowned it out.
Some retired marine gave a good speech, was pretty non-partisan and just talking about how proud he was to serve his country. The two guys from the Benghazi movie gave a bizarre speech. Apparently Sheriff Clarke gave an excellent speech. Flynn was solid but went on for way too long.
Highlight of the night was undoubtedly Giuliani, he spoke with great enthusiasm about how BLM is racist and democrats are responsible for dead cops, Trump is a good man who's done wonderful charitable things for the families of New York, and Hillary Clinton is a threat to our national security. It's probably his last big moment and unfortunately he'll get lost in the Melania shuffle.
Melania's speech was about what you'd expect, kind of awkwardly reading the teleprompter but doing her best to sell it. Talked about how nice Trump was, how strong he is and good for America he'll be. Unfortunately it turns out she plagiarized a solid sixty seconds of it, and that's now the big story coming out of Monday.
Completely wasted: Joni Ernst, Tom Cotton, Willie Robertson, Rick Perry (whose speech was actually quite good), Jeff Sessions. Ernst's speech may have been the most awkward, boring thing I've ever seen.
