Trump Camp
At the beginning of the month, on July 3rd, Donald Trump announced his running mate, Mike Pence. Pence, the current governor of Indiana, is the polar opposite of Trump in terms of personality, even alluding to himself as boring when discussing his vice presidential nomination: "[Trump] is a man known for his large personality, a colorful style, and lots of charisma. And so, I guess he was just looking for a little balance on the ticket."
Despite the lack of boisterous personality, Pence does have something to offer the Trump campaign: steadfast, socially and fiscally conservative ideology. Trump has received repeated criticism from his opponents for his more liberal views on abortion rights and health care that he shared in the late 1990s; Pence, as a vicious conservative and supporter of the far-right Tea Party, could lend Trump's campaign more conservative credibility. In addition, rumors have surfaced that prior to Trump's announcement that he had chosen Pence, Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., had called an advisor or former candidate John Kasich to offer Kasich the vice presidential nomination. According to reports, Trump Jr. attempted to court the Kasich camp by offering the opportunity to become the "most powerful Vice President in history" by having jurisdiction over both "domestic and foreign policy." The Trump campaign vigorously denies ever making such an offer; Donald Trump Jr., in an interview with CNN, stated the following: "You know the way I conduct myself. Do you really believe I would say, '(John Kasich) is in charge of foreign and domestic policy and (Donald Trump) will focus on making America great again'? What am I, a meathead?"
Republican National Convention
Last week, the Republican National Convention (RNC) took place in Cleveland, Ohio. While each and every presentation was horrifying in its own right, it was the overall message of divisiveness, fear, and blatant racism and xenophobia that they all shared that is perhaps the most terrifying of all. Each speech contributed to an image of America in a complete and utter state of chaos and lawlessness, where crime runs rampant and every single non-white American is a suspected terrorist. In addition, very few of the claims made by speakers were based on fact, but rather, as comedian John Oliver has pointed out, on feeling. Trump and his camp have repeatedly emphasized that certain Americans do not "feel" safe, and attempted to claim that crime has been on the rise. In reality, America is safer than it has ever been, with crime at an all-time low, and steadily declining over the past twenty-five years. While there have been pockets where crime rates have risen, they have been minimal and do not reflect the overall climate of the country.
The RNC has, in past years, been used as an opportunity for the Republican Party to explain and expand upon their political platform. Instead, this year, it has chosen to fan the flames of the irrational fears of individuals who see the promotion of equitable solutions on the basis of race, class, gender, etc. as a direct threat to the power and privilege they hold. One of the most obvious strategies of playing upon these people's fears has been to come together against Hillary Clinton; very few tangible policy changes were actually discussed at the RNC, but hateful rhetoric against Clinton was evident in every speech. Trump supporters often broke into chants of "Lock her up" and painted Clinton as an incompetent criminal bent on destroying the nation. The Republican Party, then, is not basing its platform on policies, but on their hatred of Clinton.
Other notable occurrences at the RNC included: Melania Trump's plagiarism of sections of Michelle Obama's speech at the Democratic National Convention; Ted Cruz's refusal to endorse Donald Trump in his RNC speech, instead urging Republicans to "vote their conscience," ; and Trump's self-aggrandizing, speaking four times during the convention, instead of the usual one, final speech given by Republican nominees of the past.
Clinton Camp
Clinton received a formal endorsement from Senator Bernie Sanders, who has repeatedly stated to his supporters that defeating Trump should be everyone's top priority. This infuriated many of Sanders' supporters, who claimed that Clinton was just as bad, if not worse than, Trump himself; some of Sanders' supporters are choosing to support Green Party candidate Jill Stein, or support Trump himself.
Clinton has also chosen her vice presidential nominee, Tim Kaine, a senator from Virginia. Kaine received mixed reactions, with many claiming that he is too moderate, that Clinton race baited supporters by throwing out numerous Hispanic potential nominees (such as Tom Perez or Julian Castro) but ultimately choosing Kaine, and that Kaine is simply too similar to Clinton herself to provide anything new to the ticket. Others claim that Kaine is an excellent choice: he is fluent in Spanish, is a devout Catholic, and has proven capable of changing his less progressive opinions over time. He spoke remarkably well while accepting Clinton's nomination, swaying some Clinton supporters who were more skeptical about the decision to nominate Kaine.
The Democrats have also faced a great deal of infighting recently, as WikiLeaks published tens of thousands of emails revealing that the Democratic National Committee, whose responsibility is to remain impartial towards all Democratic nominees, openly mocked and considered sabotaging the Sanders campaign. One email suggested using Sanders' religious views against him: "It might may no difference, but for [Kentucky] and [West Virginia] can we get someone to ask [Sanders'] belief. Does he believe in a God. He had skated on saying he has a Jewish heritage. I think I read he is an atheist. This could make several points difference with my peeps. My Southern Baptist peeps would draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist." While it is not clear whether or not Sanders' campaign was actually impacted in any way, the emails affirm what many Sanders supporters have been claiming for the entirety of his campaign: that the DNC was rigged unfairly in Clinton's favor. Sanders himself has said he does not believe the DNC caused him to lose the nomination, but did call for the resignation of DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who has publicly announced that she will resign after the Democratic National Convention ends on Friday.
