[Daily Kos will be covering the Republican convention tonight from 8 PM to 11 PM ET.]
The theme for the first night of the Republican convention was frightening the bejesus out of your elderly relatives. The theme for last night was that Hillary Clinton should be put in jail because the gathered Republican delegates insist upon it. Tonight's theme will be both.
On paper, the night's nominal title is Make America First Again. It harkens back—unintentionally, Donald's few remaining sane advocates insist—to the previous America First movement, the notoriously anti-Semitic organization that rose up to demand America refrain from entering the war against Adolf Hitler. Donald Trump has insisted on making the phrase his own, and after the first two nights of the convention we are hard-pressed to come up with one that’s more apt.
Tonight's program is an exceedingly odd mishmash of businessmen that have expressed admiration for Trump, and conquered political enemies who’ve come to demonstrate their fealty. Gone are the promises of a star-filled showman's convention; in its place, the theme appears to have shifted to Anyone We Could Dig Up. A preview of tonight's strange, strange patchwork:
• In keeping with the America First theme, we start our evening with Father Coughlin. Or, rather, his modern incarnation: Laura Ingraham is here in her stead as vilest far-right radio personality remaining party leaders can stomach. She will rile the crowd into a xenophobic froth, because that is what she does. She has no other role, purpose, expertise, or ambition.
• We then settle in for a long slog. Phil Ruffin is a hotel and convenience store magnate who, we presume, is among the most important people Donald Trump could muster to speak on his behalf at this key event. We will then lurch inexplicably to Pam Bondi, the Florida attorney general and dogged opposer of Obamacare, voting rights, and whatever else you've got. After that it's ex-astronaut Eileen Collins, who will testify that you can indeed see Donald Trump's greatness—or, at least, his ego—from space.