First Lady Melania Trump became the first speaker at the RNC to acknowledge the suffering wrought by COVID-19 and actually referred to it as COVID instead of the "China virus". The problem is that few in the large crowd assembled in the Rose Garden weren't wearing masks.
The First Lady's modest measure of compassion was also undermined by her claim that her husband conducted himself with "total honesty". This would be the President who claims that COVID-19 is 99% totally harmless and will disappear like a miracle while scarcely an hour earlier White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow spoke of COVID-19 in the past tense. All that was missing was a "Mission Accomplished" banner.
The First Lady's Rose Garden remarks were the culmination of a night long defiling of the Hatch Act which began with President Trump issuing a pardon in the White House and later presiding over a naturalization ceremony (with Acting DHS chief Chad Wolf fresh from Portland in tow) at a time when the Trump Administration refuses to naturalize immigrants online. Trump would have given out a Presidential Medal of Freedom, but he already did that with Rush Limbaugh during the SOTU address in what seems like a lifetime ago.
Then there was Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's address atop the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, a breach of State Department policy. This certainly puts Israel in an awkward position as Pompeo touted the Trump Administration's decision to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. Mind you, earlier in the evening, the RNC abruptly pulled Mary Ann Mendoza from the speaking roster due to her retweeting of an anti-Semitic QAnon theory claiming Jews plan to enslave Christians. But as long as QAnon says nice things about Trump don't expect any kind of disavowal.
But the most egregious things Pompeo said concerned the Far East rather than the Middle East. First was his claim that Trump stood up to China over COVID-19 when he spent months touting Beijing's talking points. Equally egregious was Pompeo's claim with regard to North Korea:
No nuclear tests, no long range missile tests, and Americans held captive in North Korea came home to their families, as did the precious remains of scores of heroes who fought in Korea.
Last I checked, North Korea launched missiles in April. As for Americans held in captivity, Pompeo's words are of old comfort to the family of Otto Warmbier.
But when it comes to chutzpah no one topped Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi who spent her five minutes accusing Joe Biden of nepotism. Bondi praised Trump for giving his salary to charity, but the Trump Foundation gave Bondi a $25,000 campaign contribution to make her investigation against Trump University go away. Give me Hunter Biden and I'll raise you Ivanka Trump's Chinese trademarks and Eric Trump's subpoena from the New York Attorney General regarding allegations concerning the inflation of the Trump Organization's assets.
Speaking of Eric Trump, he flagrantly lied when he claimed, "Biden has pledged to defund the police and take away your cherished second amendment." I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. It's hard to take the younger Trump son seriously when he claims Biden will stop funding the wall when the Trump Administration hasn't even started while Steve Bannon gets rich off suckers who are prepared to pay for the wall instead of Mexico.
Melania Trump may have shown a small measure of compassion to a country that has brought to its knees by COVID-19, but by this time tomorrow her husband will yet again call it the "China virus" and minimize its devastation while promoting unproven treatments. How long will it be before Trump praises the maskless protesters who stormed the Idaho legislature?
Chances are The First Lady will probably be the last member of the Trump family to acknowledge the human toll of COVID-19 not only during the RNC, but up to and including election day.
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