{"id":3883,"date":"2020-09-18T21:00:04","date_gmt":"2020-09-19T07:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/?p=3883"},"modified":"2020-09-19T16:41:02","modified_gmt":"2020-09-20T02:41:02","slug":"the-democrats-and-republicans-convene-now-what","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/2020\/09\/18\/the-democrats-and-republicans-convene-now-what\/","title":{"rendered":"The Democrats and Republicans Convene, Now What?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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BY EMIL GUILLERMO

<\/strong>I didn\u2019t wait to hear Donald Trump formally speak on the last night of the Republican National Convention. Would there be any surprise? Might he say the truth?

He had already broken the norms\u2014using the White House and the Rose Garden as a campaign prop (a forever no-no), sending Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Israel to deliver a policy address at a campaign function (a definite no-no), and then cutting back to Washington to stage an immigrants swearing-in ceremony to cleanse Trump\u2019s anti-immigrant policies

It was one shameless stunt after another, amid truth-challenged speakers who spoke of the COVID-19 pandemic in past tense if at all.

Or they were like Kimberly Guilfoyle, the former Fox host who wants to marry into the Trump fold. In a shrill, over the top address she yelled how the Democrats \u201cwant to destroy this country\u2026steal your liberty, your freedom. They want to control what you see and think and believe so that they can control how you live. They want to enslave you to the weak dependent liberal victim ideology to the point that you will not recognize this country or yourself.

Really? That should make us all scared of Republicans.

So, you see, what could Trump possibly do on the fourth night\u2014brag about how he\u2019s brought us to more than 175,000 COVID-19 deaths, 30 million unemployed or uncertainty at home and abroad?

Besides, on Tuesday, he already had unveiled his secret weapon. Walking into the Rose Garden, Melania Trump appeared not as the First Lady, but as Trump\u2019s Virgin Mary. Only with Trump behind in the polls and in a desperate race to keep his gaslight from turning to twilight, she was more like his \u201cHail Mary.\u201d

In a stylish militaristic pantsuit, epaulets ablazing, Melania was the generalissima. But unlike the other shrill speakers, she was soft. She actually acknowledged COVID-19. \u201cMy greatest sympathy goes out to everyone who has lost a loved one,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd my prayers are with those who are ill or are suffering. I know many people are anxious and some feel helpless. I want you to know you are not alone.\u201dIt was the shot of empathy that was lacking from the Trump administration for the last five months. But that was just a set-up.  Melania showed she was just Donald\u2019s pretty puppet \u201cHe is what is best for our country,\u201d she said from the Rose Garden. \u201cWe all know Donald Trump makes no secrets about how he feels about things. Total honesty is what we as citizens deserve from our president. Whether you like it or not, you always know what he\u2019s thinking. And that is because he is an authentic person who loves this country and its people and wants to continue to make it better.\u201dMaybe it was a language gap. We deserve honesty so we deserve Trump?

Melania was only a more attractive bearer of the Trump line of exaggerations and half-truths, more than 20,000 since he\u2019s been in office according to the Washington Post.

When I saw Melania, who needs to see Trump speak? But will Melania as \u201cHail Mary\u201d work? I doubt it.

THE DEMOCRAT
<\/strong>The week before, when Day 4 of the Democratic National Convention was over, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris stood with their spouses on an outdoor stage in Wilmington, Delaware and watched the fireworks burst skyward. The candidates deserved the fireworks. Despite a convention compromised by COVID-19, the Democrats made their case repeatedly and successfully throughout the week.And it focused around the stark contrast between the character of the two men running for president.As the Day 4 host, HBO \u201cVeep\u201d star Julia Louis-Dreyfus took several comic digs at Trump: \u201cJoe Biden goes to church so regularly, he doesn\u2019t need tear gas and troops to help him get there.\u201d Yes, she actually joked about the day Trump cleared out protesters in order to walk from the White House to a nearby church for a bible-holding photo op.The quip was emblematic of the convention\u2019s goal of highlighting the clear differences between Biden and the incumbent.Donald Trump was portrayed as the rich Scrooge who wants to cut taxes, even the one that funds Social Security and the guy who rewards his rich donor friends with top jobs that allow them to destroy public education (Betsy DeVos) and the Post Office (Louis DeJoy).Trump\u2019s the one with top White House aides and associates (Steve Bannon, Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen, et al.), who as if on cue (Bannon) get indicted on federal charges or spend time in jail.Trump\u2019s the one who doesn\u2019t trust our public health experts and lets close to 180,000 Americans die.Trump\u2019s the one who coddles up to authoritarians in Russia, Saudi Arabia, and North Korea, and whose questionable leadership threatens our democracy, abroad and at home.Trump\u2019s the \u201ccoward-in-chief,\u201d as Sen. Tammy Duckworth called him last night. The first Asian American of Thai descent elected to the Senate, Duckworth pointed out Trump\u2019s most dangerous failures. Specifically, she criticized him for not standing up to autocrats, not reading intelligence briefings, and even ignoring intelligence reports that Russians offered bounties to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan.\u201cAs president, Joe Biden would never let tyrants manipulate him like a puppet,\u201d Duckworth said. \u201cHe would never pervert our military to stroke his own ego. He would never turn his back on our troops\u2026Donald Trump doesn\u2019t deserve to be commander-in-chief for another four minutes, let alone another four years. Our troops deserve better. Our country deserves better.\u201dIt was a damning assessment from Duckworth, a Blackhawk helicopter pilot, a double amputee, and Purple heart honoree from the Iraq War. I still remember her at the 2008 convention, walking up to the podium with her prosthetic legs and crutches and commanding the audience\u2019s attention. Last night, she was a perfect proxy for Biden to begin the attack on Trump.But being a tough leader is one aspect of Biden. He\u2019s also a nice guy with heart.

THE STUTTERERS CLUB<\/strong>
Braydon Harrington, a 13-year old boy from New Hampshire, told his story on Day 4, and it made me think of my dad. Harrington has a debilitating stutter. My dad spoke with a thick Filipino accent. So did my mother. Harrington said when he met Biden, the vice president told him how he too suffered from a stutter and showed how he marks up scripts to make sure he could overcome that disability.\u201cWe were members of the same club,\u201d Harrington said. \u201cJoe Biden cares. Imagine what he can do for all of us.\u201dThat\u2019s Biden, the empathetic devout Catholic. A nice guy. He stutters like you. He feels your pain. He knows pain. He lost a wife and daughter to a car accident. He will do something about your pain. That was the repeated message drummed in over the four days. He cares. About everyone.Would Day 4 top the history-making moments of day 3, with Kamala Harris and Barack Obama? Biden was up to it.

AN ALLY OF THE LIGHT, NOT THE DARKNESS<\/strong>
On Thursday night, Biden was tough, firm, and strong, with a hint of anger. He didn\u2019t overdo it for the Zoom room. He hit the right personable tone of the kind of leader we\u2019ve been missing the last four years.Someone who can be tough and empathetic at the same time.He started with a quote from Ella Baker, the legendary civil rights activist, who said \u201cGive people light and they will find a way.\u201dBiden called them words of our time.\u201cThe current president has cloaked America in darkness for much too long. Too much anger. Too much fear. Too much division,\u201d Biden said. \u201cHere and now, I give you my word: If you trust me with the presidency, I will draw on the best of us, not the worst. I will be an ally of the light, not of the darkness. It\u2019s time for us. For we the people to come together. For make no mistake: united, we can and will overcome this season of darkness in America. We will choose hope over fear, facts over fiction, fairness over privilege\u2026It is with great honor and humility that I accept this nomination for President of the United States of America.\u201dThe opening words were all you needed. Biden talked about winning the soul of America, and in those first few minutes, I think he did. In his 24-minute speech, he invoked FDR\u2019s New Deal and sounded like the kind of leader who could give an empathetic fireside chat for today\u2019s pandemic-riddled world. Trump doesn\u2019t do that kind of thing.Biden then pointed to the current president\u2019s \u201caccomplishments\u201d fighting the virus.\u201cWe lead the world in confirmed cases. We led the world in deaths. Our economy is in tatters, with Black, Latino, Asian American and Native American communities bearing the brunt of it. And after all this time, the president still does not have a plan. Well, I do.\u201dBiden said from day one, he\u2019ll implement a national strategy with testing, make supplies and PPE available. Make sure schools are safe. He said he\u2019ll put politics aside, \u201cso the public gets the information they need and deserve. The honest, unvarnished truth.\u201dHis plan also includes a national mandate to wear a mask. \u201cNot as a burden, but to protect each other,\u201d Biden said. \u201cI will do what should have been done from the beginning. Our current president has failed in his most basic duty to this nation. He failed to protect us. He failed to protect America. And, my fellow Americans, that is unforgivable. As president, I will make this promise: I will protect America. I will defend us from every attack. Seen. And unseen. Always. Without exception. Every time.\u201dAll four days of the convention were reminders of what leadership used to sound like. We felt it when Barack Obama spoke on Wednesday. On the convention\u2019s last day, Joe Biden was in charge.

SO, WHAT NOW?<\/strong>
Going into the convention, Biden and Harris had a double-digit lead on Trump in most national polls. The lead was maintained into the RNC, but can the Republicans cut into it with a good show? Or is it too thin, like Melania\u2019s smile.

The Democrats had top Republicans, like Colin Powell and John Kasich, along with progressives, like Bernie Sanders backing their guy. If you were on the fence, or an independent, you\u2019d have to say Biden brought together a more united group of supporters. In the end, if you saw both conventions, ask yourself which one had people who looked like you? Or looked like the America you want to live in? That may be easier than trying to figure out either candidate\u2019s plan for climate change, world peace, the economy, or the pandemic. If this is about the future of our democracy, in whom would you trust to lead?

EMIL GUILLERMO<\/strong>is a journalist and commentator. He was a columnist for the Star Bulletin, and a member of the Advertiser editorial board. Twitter @emilamok. Listen to his podcasts at amok.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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