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4 days after the end of the #RNC, it suddenly looks like a very different event. I watched it intermittently, on TV, along w/perhaps 25M other Americans (a relatively small number, tho enough to matter). I focused on the highlights, like most viewers did. I read the analysis & thought I understood what had happened. But in the light of #POTUS Joe #Biden’s brave & unprecedented decision to drop out of the race, my memory of what #Trump & his party were doing & saying has permanently shifted.

Strength was implied by the equally choreographed demonstrations of #debasement. #NikkiHaley, who had repeatedly questioned whether #Trump is “mentally fit” …& had declared that “the first party to retire its 80-year-old candidate” will win the #election—offered her “strong endorsement.” The VP nom, #JDVance, who previously compared Trump to #Hitler & described him as “cultural heroin,” performed a kind of kowtow, appearing at the convention in the form of supplicant, acolyte, prodigal son.

…then #Trump …appeared, & it was as if the emperor w/no clothes had taken the stage. There was nothing strong about an overweight, heavily made up…shiny-faced elderly man who rambled & babbled for an hour & a half, completely undermining the slick image created in the previous 4 days. He began by sticking to his script, solemnly referencing the failed assassination attempt against him….But even…telling that story, he could not master the appropriate tone & almost immediately changed the subject.