Having used up most of the party's remaining Hollywood star power on Monday—and the party again thanks you for your service, Scott Baio—Tuesday's primetime Republican Convention lineup consisted mostly of Republican functionaries, Trump's own family, and people who Donald Trump has had business relationships with. The theme of the night was allegedly Make America Work Again, but viewers looking for any evidence of such a theme would be hard pressed. Instead, tonight was the night the Republican Party collectively bit the head off a live bat onstage.
The centerpiece of the evening was, literally, a mock trial of the opposition candidate. The central theme of the evening was, to quote the repeated chants from an otherwise-dispirited audience, Lock Her Up. For what? It remains unclear. On what evidence? On none that even the top party investigators, armed with all the resources their government offices can provide, can produce.
But the fact remains, according to the pronouncements of one of the two dominant political parties of the most powerful nation on earth, that it is not enough to elect Donald J. Trump, declared earlier in the day to be the new leader of the party after a vote in which the party head patiently explained to objecting delegates that the rules did not allow them to vote for anyone else. It is also necessary to jail the opposing candidate, who was declared to be an ally of the devil. Or, barring that, have her executed.