Let’s say you own a cafe. One night, Donald Trump, Barack Obama, Taylor Swift, and Tom Brady stroll in up, sing music and do torpedo shots ‘ till final day. Be good to get a PR boost for your restaurant, correctly? Well, you would n’t need to hire a publicist to get media attention! Because the entire media industry will direct a path leading to your restaurant, you would n’t have to do anything at all. It’s a wonderful account! Additionally, it may receive a lot of independent media.
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However, you’d also like a publicist because the goal of PR is to always produce the “win” more useful than it otherwise would be. Trump, Obama, Swift, and Brady doing shots and singing ( bad ) karaoke was already a huge victory, the right publicist can optimize this publicity in new, innovative ways that generate more revenue.
But, yes– Trump’s conversation was a success. The full RNC was a victory. There was a ton of good attention. But that’s not the proper issue.
What you need to question yourself is this: Did the Republican Party optimize the meeting’s attention? And did they do it with care and intelligence to increase their chances of winning the election?  ,
Generally, in a current acceptance speech, the presidential nomination will generate his team’s name regularly because it’s difficult to compare and contrast in a vacuum. However, Donald Trump had a compelling reason to only mention Biden once because there was a good chance that he would be dropped from the race anyway, so it would be waste to concentrate your rallies on destroying him.  ,
To spend your time and effort on deep-sixing a man who will be sent to the pastures anyway is simply a poor use of resources.
And, as it turns out, it was a prescient decision. It greased the wheels for an easy GOP pivot to Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom, or someone else entirely.
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Trump’s RNC speech was long, disjointed, and meandering. It had a schizophrenic quality: some parts were touching, understated, and emotional, others were like a Boomer rock star numbly rifting through his greatest hits to placate the crowd. For long durations, Trump’s rhetoric soared to the heavens. And for shorter spurts, it felt self-satisfied and self-indulgent.  ,
But the true test of Trump’s speech wo n’t appear on media scorecards.
When a critic reviews a movie, we anticipate that they’ll write their own review right away. While the movie is still fresh in their minds, we want to know what they think. It would be weird if the late, great Roger Ebert watched a movie, waited several months, and then gave his review.
Critics tend to review political speeches the same way: The exact moment it’s over, journalists, pundits, hacks, and critics will quickly tell you the “winners” and “losers”. With absolute sincerity, they’ll tell you what lines worked, what did n’t, and why. They might even make their decision using a live audience as the ad-hoc jury in a presidential election, which sounds absurd because it is.
They critique a convention like it’s a series of individual moments, but that’s not how audiences absorb information. We do n’t tally up moments but base opinions on our collective impressions. When all is said and done, the adjectives and feelings that best describe the experience are what counts.
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The Republican National Convention wo n’t be measured by the ratings on a pundit’s scorecard or by individual moments being magnified. Instead, they’ll remember a unified Republican Party. They’ll recall the patriotic, God-fearing Americans who narrowly avoided an unspeakable tragedy – and rather than falling apart, we all rallied together.
For Trump’s speech, a few parts will be etched into our brains like a tribal tattoo: His vivid description of being shot, and his embrace of the deceased fireman’s uniform. But weeks– and even months – later, what the public will mostly remember wo n’t be Trump’s words, but Trump’s performance.
He had energy! He had stamina! He had confidence!  ,
And his ear was covered in a large, white bandage.
It’s true. Trump only mentioned Biden’s name one time– but the contrast between the Left and the Right has never been more glaring: Mere days after being shot in the flippin ‘ head, Trump is freewheeling, having fun, owning the audience, and has energy to burn in a live TV address – whereas Joe Biden is old, feeble, sent home sick with COVID… and kicked out of his own party.  ,
It was accessible to all the voters.
The Democrats will now face a fierce race for the nomination after Biden’s resignation, which will likely further divide liberals and create yet another stark contrast between the disorganized Left and the unified, galvanized MAGA Right. Kamala Harris might (temporarily ) be in the driver’s seat for the Democratic nomination, but the rest of the passengers have n’t stopped reaching for the wheel – and her Uber reviews are more one-star than five.
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So, no – this was n’t a perfect convention by any means, and Trump did n’t give a perfect speech. The GOP might eventually discover a way to improve its publicity strategy. But the good news is, in a binary election, you do n’t need to be perfect. You just need to be better than the alternative. ( Whoever it is. )
And here, Trump and the GOP were the big winners.