Day 4: Medium at the RNC in Cleveland

That’s a wrap!

We are coming at you live from the backwoods of PA as we drive back to DC and prep for the DNC in Philly next week. Stay tuned, but first let’s put a lid on the RNC:

1. Donald J. Trump plows towards the general election without showing any signs of a pivot from his core message during the primary. If anything, he doubled down.

Luke Thompson proclaims that the comedy is finished:

Trump is nostalgic for a world in which a person of limited education could bolt doors on cars for two decades and be regarded as a hero while spending his off hours in front of the tube.

Caroline McCain asks the we be not deceived:

Perhaps if we are honest with ourselves, America does not always feel great. But that is where the truth in Trump’s message ends.

2. It seems that the RNC wasn’t quite the riotous affair many were anticipating. Bridget Todd has a great wrap up here, from the protestors themselves:

In the public square outside the arena, there seemed to be a handful of media cameras and police for every protestor. Lone demonstrators screaming into a megaphone or clutching a sign were overwhelmed by a sea of flashing cameras and boom mics, flush with the glow of the spotlight.

Bryan Curtis was out in the mix rubbing elbows with a few of Cleveland’s finest:

What are you doing here? I asked. “Just hangin’ out and prayin’, my man,” he said.

3. If you haven’t yet read Laurie Penny’s account of an evening spent with Milo Yiannopoulos, Twitter’s (former) biggest troll, get ye hence and have a gander. It is a gem:

This is how we got to a place where headline speakers at the Republican convention — one of the most significant political events in the national narrative of world’s greatest superpower — are now actively calling for the slaughter and deportation of foreigners, declaring that Hillary Clinton is an agent of Satan, and hearing only cheers from the floor.

We will see you in Philly!