Despite having dominated the world of showbiz for more than a century, pantomimes never really caught on in the United States. Perhaps they’re too knowing, too risqué, but in Cleveland on Thursday night Donald J. Trump did his best to revive it as a populist art form, producing an idiosyncratically personal production – and a very long one at that.
READ MORE: Donald Trump vows to save America from crisis as he accepts presidential nomination
His was a speech that promised thrills and spills but never quite delivered. Trump declared that there would “be no lies”, but the oration was at points a fact-checker’s gold mine, while the Republican nominee said he’d share his “plan of action for America”, the detail of which seemed to have ended up on the cutting room floor. A trade deficit? “We’re gonna fix that!” Bad trade deals? He’d turn them “into great ones”. A sluggish economy? “I’m going to make our country rich again!”
There was, however, full audience participation. The 20,000 or so delegates at the Quicken Loans Arena were clearly in the mood to be entertained and Trump was careful to throw them all the old favourites, bashing the “liberal media”, name-checking Israel (“our greatest ally in the region”) and, of course, attacking the Wicked Witch of the East, Hillary Clinton. Chants of “lock her up”, “USA! USA!” and, more disturbingly, “build that wall!” punctuated the speech.
READ MORE: Donald Trump vows to save America from crisis as he accepts presidential nomination
Trump’s Democratic rival emerged, predictably, as the main pantomime villain, frequently booed and held responsible for all the ills of the world, both domestic and international, even the rise of ISIS. Her legacy as Secretary of State, he argued, was “death, destruction and weakness”.
And if Mrs Clinton was the villain of the piece, then Mr Trump presented himself as the saviour, someone who’d not only “Make America Great Again” but rid the United States of the “crime and violence that today afflicts our nation”. “Beginning on January 20th of 2017,” he added with typical self-assurance, “safety will be restored.”
READ MORE: Donald Trump vows to save America from crisis as he accepts presidential nomination
Such statements begged an obvious question, but at no point did delegates feel the need to inquire as to how a newly-elected President could bring crime to so swift an end. Nevertheless, Trump invoked “law and order” several times, on each occasion drawing out the syllables, his strong Queens accent sounding not unlike the elongated East Coast vowels of John F. Kennedy.
This was traditional Republican fare, though at times Trump sounded more moderate, eschewing any mention of abortion (another old favourite), thanking evangelical supporters for their support but adding “I’m not sure I totally deserve it”, and a remarkable line (for a Republican convention) promising “to protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology”. Although that sentiment was undermined by his vice-presidential pick and official party platform, it sounded sincere.
READ MORE: Donald Trump vows to save America from crisis as he accepts presidential nomination
At an hour and fifteen minutes Trump’s soliloquy could have done with the benefit of an intermission. Near the end he sounded hoarse, and occasionally he would step away from the podium, tugging on his jacket lapels and puffing out his cheeks as if in need of respite himself. It was far from a bad performance: there were few histrionics or deviations from the distributed text, and even his trademark mop of blond hair seemed under control.
His rapport with the audience, however, was patchy. Whole sections of Trump’s speech elicited no response at all, and at one point he asked – somewhat randomly – “how great are our police?”, drawing inevitable applause and therefore recovering a degree of momentum. Throughout it all the candidate maintained his military composure, chin extended and lips pursed like Winston Churchill.
Depicting himself both as an insider (“nobody knows the system better than me”) and champion of the underdog, Trump told any American unhappy with the status quo “I am your voice”, pointing at the camera and briefly morphing into Uncle Sam as he did so. Indeed, it was all very serious, with little of the sunny optimism associated with Republicans of old. “America is a nation of believers, dreamers, and strivers”, said Trump, “that is being led by a group of censors, critics, and cynics.”
And then, Trump having promised the best of all possible worlds, his speech ended with the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” and a cascade of balloons. The candidate mingled awkwardly with his family on stage, but the obligatory standing ovation was muted. Had the curtain fallen on the prospects of a Republican Presidency? We’ll find out in November.
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