The Calm and the Storm
The convention lasts 4 days so it may be premature to make judgments based on one day but so far the heat and humidity have been more of an issue than the state’s open-carry gun laws or extremist protestors. I haven’t seen more than one gun on the street carried by a civilian and the police are spending much more of their time directing delegates and media to their destinations than fighting the sporadic protestors. If White Supremacists were supposed to show up they’re keeping a very low profile. One of the more radical protests featured strident youths on megaphones shouting America was Never Great. Greatness may be subjective but a 20-year old should normally have trouble making that kind of case for a country that’s been around a few hundred years and the global superpower for well over a century. Most of the anti-Trump protestors were pro-Bernie Sanders millennials — and their small demonstration fell on mostly deaf ears. So far on Day 1 the loudest pop came from a 5:30 a.m. thunderstorm that lasted the better part of an hour.

A Nation of Opportunity
If the Republican Party is to overcome its reputation as the party for the country clubbers Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton may be its new standard-bearer. Taking a shot at Bernie Sanders for supporting a minimum-wage hike to “15 bucks an hour” as Sanders would put it Cotton said: “If we were a nation of economic opportunity we wouldn’t have to worry about raising the minimum wage because if a boss won’t give someone a raise he can just walk across the street and get a better paying job.” Cotton made his statements at a breakfast address to the Ohio state delegation. The freshman senator said while there are still some Republicans in Washington who say that the party needs to win the confidence of the nation Cotton begged to differ. Citing GOP control of Congress and the fact that 31 out of the nation’s 50 governors are Republican Cotton added: “We don’t have to show we can govern. We are America’s governing party. Why? Because we address the very real and practical anxieties of everyday working Americans and not the fantasy anxieties of liberals.”

According to some press reports Cotton was vetted to be Trump’s running mate. Asked by Mishpacha to share his impressions of Trump from their personal meeting Cotton said: “He’s a serious person. He’s a good listener. He listened to my concerns and that’s the mark of someone with leadership capacity.”

Unity Still Elusive
Normally it’s an honor for a governor to have his state play host to a convention but not this year. Ohio Governor John Kasich the last Trump primary opponent to drop out of the race is not only boycotting the convention but is running his own parallel “convention ” scheduling appearances all over Cleveland throughout the week. All this did not please Paul Manafort Donald Trump’s campaign manager who lashed out at Kasich at a morning press briefing calling Kasich’s refusal to endorse Trump as “dumb.” “I believe once Donald Trump is accepted by the American people as someone who can be president the race will be over with. I don’t know when that will be but that’s our job and the convention is the beginning of that.” Manafort said.

The big loser of the public spat between Manafort and Kasich could be Ohio Republican Senator Rob Portman who is between the proverbial rock and a hard place. Locked in a tight re-election battle with former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland Portman needs Kasich a popular and skilled campaigner at his side yet Portman who has kept Trump at arms-length can’t afford to alienate the top of his party’s ticket.

Look for the same problems to surface in other senate races such as Arizona Pennsylvania and Illinois where John McCain and Pat Toomey and Mark Kirk — none Trump fans — are fighting to retain their seats.

NJ Delegates: Elites Out of Touch
The elite wings of the Republican Party may be rife with dissension but the rank and file Republicans are closing ranks behind Trump. So say 4 New Jersey delegates and alternate delegates who introduced themselves to me in the corridors which is where a good many delegates gravitate when they need to take a break from canned speeches or the ear-splitting rock music in between orations. (Wearing a kippah and full beard is always a magnet for Jews and evangelical Christians for that matter to walk over and say hello.)

New Jersey was one of the last states to hold its primary one month after Trump’s win in Indiana crowned him as presumptive party nominee. When I asked the delegates if they were Trump supporters from the beginning none said yes but all said they are now squarely planted in the ABC camp — Anyone but Clinton.

Calling All Orthodox Republicans
Nachman Caller District Leader of the New York State Republican committee’s 48th assembly district in Brooklyn was one of Donald Trump’s early supporters. “I felt early on that he was the person who could turn around the US.”

But that doesn’t mean he’s having an easy time convincing others in his heavily Jewish district that voted 75-25% for Republicans McCain and Romney in 2008 and 2012.

“Yes I do have trouble convincing people” Caller says. “The main objection is he’s not a polished politician. He says what comes to his mind and as a result says things people don’t like but at heart I know he loves Jews and loves Israel.”

What about the fact that Trump lacks political and diplomatic experience? “He’s going to listen to other people in areas he doesn’t know. You’re already starting to see that.”

Longing for a Bygone Era
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani brought conventioneers to their feet with a passionate call to return America to the days when there was just one America and not the deeply divided nation of today. Most of the evening’s speakers expressed the desire to return to an era when America won its wars and when soldiers returned from a war with honor as heroes and not in flag-draped coffins. Mothers and family members who lost loved ones in the war on terror or in Benghazi — a Hillary Clinton weak spot that Trump will exploit in the upcoming campaign — took to the podium and appealed to Americans’ hearts. Marcus Luttrell the lone Navy Seal survivor of a mission in Afghanistan challenged America to stop thinking only about themselves and think about how they can take the fight against an enemy some of whom dwell in our midst.

In one respect the appeal to patriotism a strong military and a foreign policy that treats enemies as enemies is vintage Republican politics. But the difference this time was a feeling of desperation and urgency that time is running out after 8 years of President Obama’s worldview and the threat of 4 more years of the same with Hillary.

Last but not least Donald Trump himself made a rare convention appearance for a nominee before the Thursday night nomination speech introducing his wife Melania as the next First Lady of the United States. Trump’s family is one of his strong points and each of his children will address delegates on subsequent nights.

Melania left the convention with a taste of what to expect when she reminded delegates it would not be a Trump contest without drama and that there would be many twists and turns between now and Election Day.