Impact2020: August 28, 2020
In this Friday edition of the Impact2020 briefing, we take a look at what mattered most from the four-day Republican National Convention, what the Trump campaign has planned for the final stretch of the race, and Lindsey Graham’s thoughts on QAnon.
On the Ground
All in on ‘law and order’
President Donald Trump’s speech capping the Republican convention not only “unleashed a harsh series of attacks” against Joe Biden but framed the upcoming election “as a bitterly divisive clash between two irreconcilable slices of America,” write McClatchy’s David Catanese and Alex Roarty.
In their report on six big takeaways from the four-day event, they write that the messaging of the GOP convention may suggest that the Trump campaign has settled on its predominant line of attack against Biden: “portraying him as someone who would permit mob rule.”
“No attack was hurled more vividly and vehemently throughout the convention than the charge that Democrats are not only weak on ‘law and order,’ but are actively trying to undermine the safety and security of Americans,” they write.
Trump said in his address from the South Lawn of the White House: “Your vote will decide whether we protect law-abiding Americans, or whether we give free reign to violent anarchists, agitators, and criminals who threaten our citizens.”
Catanese and Roarty note that “many of Trump’s claims about Biden’s were outright fabrications or gross exaggerations for political theater. But in some ways the core of the speech was a return to vintage Trump of 2016, who favored hard-line views on crime and immigration over optimistic pronouncements about the future.”
Although “the coronavirus pandemic is the most pressing issue of the 2020 campaign” Catanese and Roarty write “it didn’t feel that way at the GOP convention.” Trump pledged that a COVID-19 vaccine would be available before the end of the year “or maybe even sooner.”
‘All hands on deck’
The end of the party conventions signals that the 2020 presidential race is now entering the homestretch. And as McClatchy’s Francesca Chambers reports, Trump plans to lean heavily on his family, much like he did at the convention, to make the case for him on the campaign trail.
Sources familiar with the plans said that “with mail-in voting beginning in key states next month, the president and members of his family will pick up the pace of their events.” That includes Donald Trump, Jr. hitting the road three to four times a week and Ivanka Trump campaigning at least once a week.
“We are fully in campaign season and in campaign mode now, although it is a bit of a different year,” said Lara Trump, who is a senior advisor to the Trump campaign and married to Eric Trump. “I’ll be out there. My husband will be out there, so it’s going to be all hands on deck.”
Kimberly Guilfoyle, who chairs the Trump Victory Finance Committee, will campaign alongside her boyfriend, Donald Trump, Jr., “who will be in Montana immediately after the convention campaigning for … Republican Sen. Steve Daines,” writes Chambers.
It’s unclear, though, how much First Lady Melania Trump will be on the campaign trail.
Tune in: The Beyond the Bubble podcast team wraps up all the action at the Republican National Convention later today. Download and subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts
Not on board with Q
As a few Republican congressional candidates have revealed their support for the conspiracy theory group QAnon, GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina is making it clear he’s not one of them. The State’s Joseph Bustos reports that Graham, who is running for reelection in November, characterized QAnon as “batshit crazy” in a recent interview.
During an appearance on Snapchat’s Good Luck America, Graham said: “Well, QAnon is batshit crazy. Crazy stuff. Inspiring people to violence. I think it is a platform that plays off people’s fears, that compels them to do things they normally wouldn’t do. And it’s very much a threat. But there are a lot of websites out there. How do you live in this world?”
Graham said the answer to limiting the spread of false information online is to remove liability protection for social media networks for allowing the spread of the information. “If you’re going to have a social media site like QAnon or anything else, you spread this stuff at your own peril.”
It’s another break for the senator from Trump, who in the past has retweeted accounts that promote QAnon. QAnon supporters have shown up at his rallies and some hold the belief he is “destined to expose a group of pedophiles and Democratic politicians running child sex trafficking ring and secretly controlling the U.S. government.”
Bustos notes that Trump said during a recent White House briefing he is not too familiar with the right-wing conspiracy theory. “I’ve heard these are people that love our country … so I don’t know really anything about it, other than they do supposedly like me,” Trump said.
Trail Mix
Battleground state watch
Vice President Mike Pence will visit Raleigh, N.C, on Sept. 3 to take part in an anti-abortion event, Brian Murphy and Francesca Chambers report for the Raleigh News & Observer.
Georgia voters can now go online to order an absentee ballot for the November election, the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s Mark Niesse reports.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Craig Gilbert breaks down why Trump may need another rout in rural areas to win Wisconsin.
Post-convention watch
Two attendees and two support staff at the Republican convention in Charlotte, N.C., tested positive for COVID-19, Alison Kuznitz and Austin Weinstein report for the Charlotte Observer.
Baltimore Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young said Trump and Pence openly disregarded his executive order by appearing at Fort McHenry before more than 25 guests, the Baltimore Sun’s Jeff Barker reports.
Election disruption
The San Francisco Chronicle’s Tal Kopan reports that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that if she were running Biden’s campaign, she would tell him to boycott debates with Trump.
California is spending $35 million on a campaign to encourage mail voting during the pandemic, Lara Korte reports for the Sacramento Bee.
Number of the Day
1,000
That’s how many people expected to attend a watercraft parade celebrating Trump at Georgia lakes this weekend, Tanasia Kenney reports for the Macon Telegraph.
Trump the Tank Engine?
Credit: Alex Slitz, Lexington Herald-Leader
The Truett Pumpkin Patch in McKee, Ky., gets on the “Trump Train” with a corn maze showing support for Trump and police officers.
For Planning Purposes
Aug. 28
President Donald Trump delivers a speech in New Hampshire
Vice President Mike Pence travels to Minnesota and Michigan
Kamala Harris holds a virtual finance event
Aug. 29
Kamala Harris hosts the virtual launch of a new Hispanic small business organizing program with Florida Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell
Sept. 1
Massachusetts primary
Vice President Mike Pence visits Exeter, Pa.
Sept. 3
Pence travels to North Carolina
Sept. 8
New Hampshire and Rhode Island primaries
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This story was originally published August 28, 2020 at 12:39 PM.