Scoop: Republicans really, really don’t like Hillary Clinton

In one night, Donald Trump locked up the nomination, unleashed a cavalcade of speakers to bash Hillary Clinton and filled hours of television with an odd up-and-down string of speakers who toggled between mild and wild.

David Axelrod, no fan of Republicans but a guy who knows something about convention stagecraft by doing it for Barack Obama, was befuddled. Why have New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie give a rousing indictment of Hillary Clinton early, then tone down with Tiffany Trump, ramp up with Donald Trump Jr. and then close with a soap opera star?

And Ben Carson scheduled near the climactic end of the evening, ranting about Saul Alinsky’s influence on Clinton and a reference to Lucifer in an Alinsky book?

“Bizarre,” said the Democratic operative on CNN.

For a Republican audience, it was a delicious potpourri, lots of reminders of why Clinton is a threat to the Republic and how Trump is its best chance and prosperity.

Well before the prime time hour, the Cleveland crowd and the TV targets heard from House Speaker Paul Ryan. He’s been a reluctant Trump guy, sometimes critical and late to the cause.

So he framed the race as binary: Clinton or not Clinton.

“Democracy is a series of choices. We Republicans have made our choice,” he said. “What choice has the other party made? …They are offering you a third Obama term brought to you by another Clinton. And you are supposed to be excited by that? … Four more years of it? Not a chance. Not a chance.”

Christie played the part of faux prosecutor laying out what he said was a real case against Clinton. In call-and-response fashion, he laid out the charges — from her foreign policy record to her use of a private server to handle secure emails. Each time, the crowd in the hall declared her “guilty!”, as Christie put it, of

“putting herself ahead of America.”

From that high-energy pitch, the podium was turned over to 22-year-old Tiffany Trump. The candidate’s daughter was decidedly low-key, talking about a sweet, loving father. It was a definite change in rhythm.

“My dad is a natural born encourager,” she said.

Then came her brother, Donald Trump Jr., with probably the meatiest policy speech in the first two days of the convention — talking taxes, regulations, immigration and Republican playbook critiques of “the other party.”

“We’re going to put Americans first, all Americans, not a special heap of crony elites,” he said.

Blake Hounshell, at Politco, wrote: “Is it just me, or is Donald Trump, Jr.’s speech the most effective, substantive speech of the convention thus far?”

The last featured speaker was Kimberlin Brown, a soap opera star, who spent much of her night-capper complaining about how she’d been treated on social media since joining Team Trump.

“The left wants to silence those they disagree with, in politics, on college campuses and in business,” she said. “This must stop. I will not stand by idly.”

Finally, the candidate who has called for a ban on Muslim immigration to the U.S., had the closing benediction delivered by a Muslim.

“I can smell the success in the air. Let’s pray for a strong America, a safe America,” said Sajid Tarar, the founder of American Muslims for Trump. Then he called for “a leader who can truly make America great again, Amen.”

This story was originally published July 19, 2016 at 10:47 PM with the headline "Scoop: Republicans really, really don’t like Hillary Clinton."