Monday's GOP theme hammers on threats at home
CLEVELAND — President Hillary Clinton would reduce America a passive observer on the world stage, coddle terrorists, and ensure that the U.S. flag would continue to fly at half-staff as terror attacks continue.
That's the vision of America's future put forth Monday at the Republican National Convention, if Clinton defeats to soon-to-be Republican nominee Donald Trump in November.
To underscore that message, the Republican convention trotted out a lineup of Navy SEALs, victims of the 2012 Benghazi consulate attack, a sheriff and a retired three-star general — but also reality television stars, a soap opera heartthrob and Scott Baio, who played Chachi on Happy Days.
"Tonight's theme is 'Making America Safe,'" Baio said, batting in the number two slot of Monday night's prime-time GOP lineup, following Duck Dynasty star Willie Robertson. "We can go for Hillary Clinton, who wants to continue the same policies that are wrecking this country. Policies that make us unsafe. A woman who somehow feels entitled to the presidency, that she is somehow owed it."
"Or we can go for Donald Trump," Baio said. "A man who says what he means and means what he says."
The issue of national security has been a mainstay of Republican conventions for decades, from Ronald Reagan's Cold War "peace through strength" to the post-9/11 changed world of George W. Bush.
But Trump's convention is also marked by an emphasis on immigration as a national security issue — and conflating the war against terror abroad with concerns about immigrant-fueled crime at home.
Among Monday night's speakers were family members of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, who was killed in 2010 as a result of a failed cross-border gun-running sting known as Operation Fast and Furious. They spoke via satellite from the U.S.-Mexico border — in front of a border wall. "Only one candidate is serious about border security, and that is Donald Trump," said Kent Terry.
Mary Mendoza, Sabine Durden and Jamiel Shaw — identified on convention television screens as "victims of illegal immigrants," spoke of loved ones killed by people who were in the United States without authorization. "A vote for Hillary is putting all of our children's lives at risk," Mendoza said.
The night was characterized more by the dangers of a Clinton administration than the vision for a Trump presidency. And a Clinton administration, GOP speakers repeatedly warned, would be a third term of President Obama's.
"Hillary CIinton's experience is the basis for her campaign," former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani told delegates in one of the most crowd-pleasing speeches of the night. "Hillary Clinton's experience is exactly the reason she should not be president of the United States."
“Our warriors and their families don’t ask for much. But there are a few things we’d like," said Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., one of Obama's chief foreign policy antagonists. “A commander-in-chief who speaks of winning wars and not merely ending wars, We'd like a commander-in-chief who calls the enemy by its name. A commander-in-chief who draws red lines cautiously, but enforces them ruthlessly."
Those were references to Obama's reluctance to use the words "Islamic extremism" and his 2013 decision not to invade Syria after declaring its use of chemical weapons would be a "red line." But then he took a direct jab at Clinton: "And it would be nice to have a commander-in-chief who could be trusted to handle classified information."
Retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, reportedly considered as a Trump running mate, blasted Clinton as an "Obama clone" who betrayed the very idea of American exceptionalism.
"America’s once traditional, undisputed role as world leader is now in jeopardy. It’s in jeopardy, folks," Flynn said. "Coddling and displays of empathy toward terrorists is not a strategy for defeating these murderers, as Obama and Hillary Clinton would like us to believe."
Echoing Ronald Reagan's famous question of President Jimmy Carter in 1980, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, asked the convention: "Are you safer than you were eight years ago? Is our military stronger? Is America still respected?" At each question, the GOP delegates shouted, "No!"
The convention hit particularly hard on the issue of Benghazi, the U.S. consulate attacked in 2012 while Clinton was Obama's secretary of state.
"I blame Hillary Clinton personally for the death of my son. Personally," said Pat Smith, the mother of Sean Smith, one of four Americans killed in the attack. Amid boos, jeers and chants of "she lied" from the GOP faithful, Smith said, "She lied to me and then called me a liar."
Her emotional speech was followed by an extraordinarily detailed 24-minute recitation of the events of September 11, 2012 by two security contractors sent to rescue the Benghazi consulate: Mark Geist and John Tiegen.
"Benghazi is a four-letter word for the left. Benghazi is not about politics. It’s about opportunities," Geist said. "Opportunities taken when we defied stand down orders and opportunities squandered when Hillary Clinton failed to protect her people on the ground. Had she done her job, we would not have had to compromise the annex."