Wednesday in Dallas, the unprecedented GOP midterm convention kicked off with President Trump giving a speech that was a stemwinder even by his standards. The written version would have lasted about 40 minutes, but with his asides, tangents and ad-libbed jokes, he spoke for about an hour and 45 minutes without a bathroom break. Let’s see Joe Biden do that. On second thought, let’s not.
Here’s a video of the full speech. If you don’t have time to watch it all, you can click “more” in the description box, then click on “Transcript” to see a full written transcript that you can skim.
Redstate.com ** has a write-up** of key points and quotes.
And Stephen Kruiser at PJ Media ** has some good comments** about night one of the convention, plus a link to their team’s live blog of the event.
Trump used the speech to tout his Administration’s achievements, including sealing the border and deporting illegal aliens, greatly reduced crime, tax relief for working Americans, ending Iran’s nuclear threat, record employment, and more. As for the Iran war that’s caused rising gas prices and inflation, Trump said Iran was about one month away from building a nuclear weapon and had to be stopped. He also joked that the Strait of Hormuz might be renamed “the Strait of Trump.” At least, we think that was a joke.
He urged Republicans to turn out and vote as if he were on the ballot. Trump warned that if radical left Democrats (he described them as “extreme,” “dangerous” and “communists”) took control of Congress, they would derail all the progress and do tremendous damage, and it would take at least a decade for America to get back on its feet. Here’s a key excerpt:
“The choice in this election is very, very simple: Democrats are asking you to vote for their failed, far-Left agenda, it’s never worked. That destroyed your finances and delivered you four years of disaster, bedlam, and death under Sleepy Joe Biden. And I’m asking you to let us finish the job we began with the greatest two years in the history of the presidency. This has been the most successful two years, financially and in every way, in the history of the presidency. And together, we will turn a two-year comeback into a 250-year lead.”
As we have noted before, historical trends are against the GOP, but never in history has the opposition party been such a collection of terrifying radical lunatics with policies that everyone with a brain knows would make the very problems they’re promising to solve (“Affordability!”) exponentially worse. So Trump’s job is both to fire up enthusiasm for Republicans and, if he can’t do that, fire up voters’ desire for self-preservation by voting against the Democrats.
One of Trump’s best lines came when he noted, as an example of the insanity of Democrat policies, their push to allow men in women’s sports. He said, “They say it’s an 80/20 issue. I say it’s a 99 to 1, and I have no idea who the one is.”
One moment in Trump’s speech is** sparking more talk than any other**, and that was his suggestion of sending a $5,000 check to every adult US citizen as a “distribution” payment from the proceeds created by economic growth from foreign investment and tariff income. It could cost about $1.3 trillion, and Trump said it would only be instituted if Republicans held on to the House and Senate.
Of course, some critics argued that promising free stuff to voters is one of the hallmarks of socialism, but the difference is that, unlike Mamdani’s free buses, Trump apparently really means it. And in this case, the freebie would be paid for by money coming from other nations, not fellow Americans. But it’s not clear whether enough Congressional Republicans would be on board to pass it.
And the ** most hilarious reaction** of all is from Democrats who are accusing Trump of trying to bribe voters by offering them free money to vote for Republicans. Isn’t that the entire Democratic election model?
Another highlight of the GOP Midterm Convention came when Rep. Brandon Gill opened his speech with a parody of the left’s tedious “land acknowledgments,” in which they start every speech or event by listing all the Native tribes who once lived on that land that the evil white man stole from them (not that they plan to give any of their own real estate back, they’re just virtual signaling via empty lip service.)
Gill’s “land acknowledgment” ** was quite different**:
“I’d like to acknowledge that we stand here today in the great state of Texas and the United States of America is the ancestral homeland of great American patriots, pioneers and explorers who put down roots, fight for freedom all over the globe and bled and died to build the greatest civilization ever known to man,”
Gill later explained to Fox News, “I think most Americans believe, rightfully so, that we live in the greatest country that’s ever existed, and I’m not going to apologize for it…Certainly, most Americans don’t want their elected officials apologizing for it either.”
We applaud this idea and hope it’s taken up far and wide. We’d also like to make a point about the left’s “land acknowledgments”: they always list a number of tribes, including those they can’t pronounce, in order not to offend by leaving anyone out. But simply by admitting that so many tribes once lived on the same land, they are actually acknowledging that none of them owned it. They just occupied it until a stronger tribe came along and pushed them off of it.
In short, they’re acknowledging the reality of how land rights in the Americas worked for thousands of years until the United States of America brought civilization, property rights and the rule of law to every citizen, all things that they are trying to dismantle, especially property rights.
In fact, it takes a lot of gall, or a shocking lack of self-awareness, for socialists to denounce the acquisition of US land as evil while simultaneously arguing that the government has the right to confiscate citizens’ private property.
One thing that nobody had in their office pool was seeing a Democrat appear at the GOP Midterm Convention. But attendees were surprised when Sen. John Fetterman (known as “the last sane Democrat in Washington”)** appeared on screen **to introduce fellow Pennsylvania Senator and Republican, Dave McCormick.
Fetterman said he had too many policy differences to switch parties, but “I’m a commonsense Democrat. I’m always going to stand with America. I’m always going to reject the extremes and socialism and that anti-American way of life.” He also described McCormick as a friend whom he works with across party lines for the good of their state.
We would hope that this might inspire more bipartisanship and less mindless rage at people who think differently, so that we might even see some Republicans being invited to Democrat events. But considering that this week, many leftists are holding celebrations of the anniversary of Charlie Kirk being murdered just for trying to engage in open dialogue with the left, we won’t hold our breath that we receive any invitations. We’d think long and hard before accepting them if we did.
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