From a media perspective, Donald Trump failed to stick the landing at the Republican convention, which nominated him as a presidential candidate for the third time.
His acceptance speech, which lasted more than 90 minutes and spanned from midnight through Friday, earned him high praise for its vivid retelling of last weekend’s assassination attempt, but still switched gears to something similar to what most of his supporters regularly during the campaign.
“The ‘new’ Donald Trump calmed down and silenced the nation for 28 minutes last night,” Axios’ Zachary Basu wrote on Friday. “Then the old Trump returned and roared, barked and bored America for another 64 minutes.”
The convention was received as a well-organized show of unity around Trump’s Republican ticket and vice presidential candidate JD Vance. Conservative media figure Tucker Carlson may be biased — he spoke from the convention stage Thursday — but he was giddy and giggly about what he saw. “I have never been to a more fun conference or a conference with a better atmosphere,” he said.
Trump started in hushed tones as he spoke about a bullet hitting his ear during a political rally in Pennsylvania. He indulged in dramatic political theater: walking up to kiss the helmet on a display uniform of retired firefighter Corey Comperatore, who was killed by the assassin’s bullet intended for the former president.
Trump’s speech was billed as a call for unity that would not mention President Joe Biden’s name, but instead the Democrat’s name came up twice after Trump shifted gears. Vanity Fair said the address “gave America whiplash.”
NBC News reporter Garrett Haake, stationed on the convention floor, reported that “I saw a lot of wet eyes in the first half. In the second half I saw a lot of closed eyes.”
The New York Times said in a headline Friday that Trump had struggled to turn the page on “American carnage,” the standout phrase from his 2017 inauguration as president. “On the final night of the Republican convention on Thursday, Donald pledged J. Trump bridged the political divide, then returned to rejoicing in deepening them.”
Similarly, Isaac Arnsdorf and Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post wrote that Trump had “wrapped a new gesture toward unity around the same dark view of American decline and antipathy toward political opponents and immigrants that have defined his nine-year political career and the Republican Party have transformed. ”
The Fox & The Friends morning show opened Friday with a long segment of Trump, wearing a bandage on his right ear, talking about the shooting.
“I thought it was a magical moment… it was a great speech,” said “Fox & Friends’ host Lawrence Jones. Still, Fox News analyst Karl Rove, while praising how the convention was run, said shortly after Trump left the stage that there was “weakness” during a speech that started and ended well.
On other networks, commentators noted its length and verbose nature. Jen Psaki, Biden’s former press secretary and now MSNBC analyst, said it was “longer than most American baseball games.”
Others sensed an opening for Democrats, who were bathed in pessimism about Biden’s hopes — if he remains a candidate at all. Trump “dodged a bullet last Saturday and the Democrats dodged a bullet tonight,” according to CNN’s Van Jones.
“They still have to figure out what to do with Joe Biden,” said ABC News’ Jonathan Karl. “There is still that movement to replace Joe Biden. But when they look at this, they believe this is the candidate they can beat.”
While the portion that resembled Trump’s speech was known to his fans, it is rarely seen in depth outside networks like Fox and Newsmax that appeal to conservative viewers. A much larger part of America was watching Thursday. Although ratings were not immediately available, the Nielsen company said 18 million people watched the convention the night before, most concentrated in the hour when Vance — and Trump — spoke the following evening.
As the balloons are released from the Milwaukee convention hall, the attention of the political press will quickly turn to who Democrats nominate to oppose Trump. The subject line in Friday morning’s influential Politico Playbook? “Biden’s world is boiling as Democrats want to dump him.”
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David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him up http://twitter.com/dbauder
