2020 REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION
Various Networks, Check local listings
Tonight is the climactic night for the Republican National Convention – and if you’ve been waiting all week to see President Trump at the 2020 convention, well, that means you haven’t been watching all this week, because Donald Trump has managed to show up, so far, three nights out of three. But tonight, rather than just being a featured “guest star,” tonight he’s the unquestioned star, in charge and at center stage. He did that before, of course, at the 2016 convention – and, before that, as the boss of NBC’s The Apprentice. But tonight, things are different. He’s the incumbent now, and faces a different opponent, one he risked and survived impeachment in order to slow his progress as a possible rival. And as he approaches the podium tonight, he’ll be facing – or avoiding – not only a global pandemic and a current hurricane event, but continued social unrest and protests, federal troops dispatched to yet another city, ongoing shootings by police and others in which the victims are people of color, and a quickly emerging boycott of professional sports athletes who are demanding change in the dynamic of systemic racism among police. Trump is expected to warn tonight, as his supporters and family members have warned all week, that if the Democrats and Joe Biden win the vote, our country will slide into disarray and chaos. To which I ask, as objectively as possible: As opposed to what?