REPUBLICAN CONVENTION DAY ONE: TRUMP VS. ANTI-TRUMP, CELEBRITIES HAVE THEIR SAY

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By Liz Alper

July 18, 2016 (Cleveland) - Day one of the Republican National Convention was already filled with drama, as Trump supporters and anti-Trump delegates took the floor for a tug of war.

In a move in which delegates tried to stage a last-minute effort to dissuade Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, half the floor demanded recall votes, while the other half chanted "USA!  USA!"  The patriotic Trump supporters won.

After the convention got underway, the Trump campaign lashed out at Ohio governor and former presidential candidate John Kasich for not supporting Trump. “He’s embarrassing his party in Ohio,” Paul Manafort, Mr. Trump’s campaign chairman, said at a breakfast on Monday morning, calling the decision “dumb.”

Perhaps the biggest shock of the convention was the appearance of celebrities such as actors Scott Baio and Antonio Sabato Jr.

Trump's wife Melania also took the stand.  Users on social media were quick to point out that her speech was eerily similar to the Democratic Convention speech of First Lady Michelle Obama in 2008, which emphasized working hard for your dreams and included such phrases as "work hard for what you want in life," "your word is your bond" and "the only limit" to achieving dreams is "your willingness to work for them."  Mrs. Trump also spoke about her journey to the U.S. as an immigrant and her husband's values.  "Donald is, and always has been, an amazing leader," she said. "He will never, ever give up. And, most importantly, he will never, ever let you down."

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani delivered a passionate speech about the terrorist threat facing America.  "The vast majority of Americans today do not feel safe," he said. "They fear for their children. They fear for themselves. They fear for police officers who are being targeted with a target on their back."

Giuliani attacked Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton, saying, "Hillary Clinton’s experience is exactly the reason she should not be president of the United States."  He ended his diatribe with "you know who you are, and we are coming to get you."

Retired Army general Michael Flynn rallied hard for Trump in his speech, vowing he would "lead from the front" and criticized political correctness.  Most pointedly, however, he also went on a rant against Clinton, which prompted the thinning crowd to begin chanting "lock her up!  Lock her up!" and spawned a Twitter hashtag #LockHerUp.  Flynn began his speech by saying "war is not about bathrooms" in response to the issue regarding use of bathrooms by transgender individuals.

 


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