It is important to headline the location of the convention for several reasons.  The White House, known as the people’s house, is where the president and his family live on the second floor.  The  Oval Office on the first floor is the center of the Executive Branch of our government.  It is where the president does his work.  Adjacent offices house important staff members.

When planning took place, Donald Trump decided the four night Republican National Convention should take place on the White House lawn.  This has never happened since The Hatch Act was passed in 1939 and amended in l993.  The Hatch Act makes clear that The White House should not be used for political purposes.

Thus, four nights of a thousand people crammed together on the lawn should not have occurred. We do not know whether the Hatch Act was discussed in the planning process.  We do know that what Donald Trump wanted to happen did happen.  There were several comments in the media when it was announced about The Hatch Act, but they apparently had no effect.

During the convention,  Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo appeared virtually  from Jerusalem, Israel, definitely with a political purpose of support for the president’s  re-election.

A second serious concern about choosing  the White House lawn was that it was a dangerous place to seat the audience for the four nights. Only the people coming for the first two rows were tested for the Corona virus.  Very few people were wearing masks.  The results of this experience on their health are not known at this time.  We do  remember the effect of the Tulsa rally for Trump  when people were seated this way. Herman Caine is the most well known person who died afterward from the virus among others who became ill.

Content and Design of the four nights

The focus was completely on Donald Trump and the Trump family throughout the convention.   The president and first lady walked slowly down a curved staircase to applause to open the events.  Each of his adult children took part during the days that followed.   They  spoke on different topics about his  achievements during the first four years. Those in the audience as well as TV viewers  would have to weigh the accuracy of their speeches.   Certain newspapers did fact checking on their speeches as well as the final hour and a half speech Trump gave accepting the nomination.

The president’s speech pulled out all the stops , attacking his opponent Joe Biden as a far left Socialist who would harm America with similar themes to the ads that are running on TV.  He warned of chaos in the streets of the cities in Biden’s America.  It was ironic that his descriptions were of the scenes that are happening  right now in his  America.

At one point, he said he favored a woman some day for vice president but  “ Kamala Harris was incompetent.”  He suggested Ivanka Trump would be a good choice.

The final night of the convention brought fireworks that spelled out  TRUMP  in the dark sky.  The spectacle was over.  In the final days of August , polls showed that Donald Trump did not get a bounce from the Republican convention.  In fact,  Joe Biden’s lead had increased in National Polls and Swing States as well.

……………………………………………..Joyce S. Anderson