The RNC Is a Master Class in Mediocre Speechwriting
By holding Republican speakers to a lower standard, we incentivize Democrats to engage in a race to the bottom
The GOP gets graded on a curve. That, more than any set of remarks or Hatch Act violations, is the most important dynamic at play so far during this year’s Republican National Convention.
As a speechwriter and as a Democrat, I’ve seen GOP grade inflation at play most clearly when it comes to the speeches. The problem is not that every set of remarks has been terrible. It’s that perfectly adequate sets of remarks have been lauded as revelatory. On Monday, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina delivered a 1,500-word address in which he recounted his life story, attacked his opponents on the left, told us our best days lie ahead, and used alliteration (“My family went from cotton to Congress”) to highlight a key point. On Tuesday, Melania Trump offered her condolences to the families of the Americans who lost their lives to Covid-19 and recognized the “harsh reality” of America’s racist history. And on Wednesday, White House adviser Kellyanne Conway praised the president’s empathy for those struggling with things like addiction and unemployment.
