The Republican National Convention was held this week from Monday to Thursday. For the first time in the party’s history the GOP adopted no policy platform whatsoever.
Bouie: If there’s no platform for the Republican National Convention, if the party has agreed to simply support the president’s second-term agenda, it is because the basic arrangement between Trump and the Republican Party is still intact. Should he win a second term, we’ll see more of the same: an administration that pursues as much of the party’s agenda — redistribution to the wealthy, deep reductions in the state’s ability to solve problems for the general welfare — as possible, and a Republican Party that looks the other way as Trump turns the federal government into a patronage machine for himself, his family and his allies.
Frum: The question is not why Republicans lack a coherent platform; it’s why they’re so reluctant to publish the one on which they’re running.
Edsel, writing about the GOP’s apocalyptic vision on display this week, write’s about a tactic Trump has always employed called Costly Signals: How does it work? Joshua Greene writes: Making oneself irredeemably unacceptable to the other tribe is equivalent to permanently binding oneself to one’s own. These comments are like gang tattoos. And in Trump’s case, it’s tattoos all over his neck and face.
At the same time, Trump’s “costly signals” make his reliability as a protector of white privilege clear.
There was a police shooting of an unarmed black man in Wisconsin that sparked another round of protests. A white, vigilante shooter murdered two protestors Tuesday night. He was arrested Wednesday.
The New York Times used online videos to track his killing spree.
Saturday evening a Trump supporting caravan drove into downtown Portland, shooting paintballs into crowds. One of the right wing protestors was shot and killed.
A new book reveals that Trump offered John Kelly the FBI Director position after he fired Comey, but only if Kelly swore loyalty to Trump. He declined.
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Trump’s Approval Rating: 42%
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