Republican National Convention: A Libertarian Take

The Republican National Convention is wrapping up as I write this.  While most of it has been politics as usual, it hasn’t been completely boring.

It started out with Melania Trump giving a speech, part of which was a copy of Michelle Obama’s speech from 8 years ago.  It would be hard to believe that this wasn’t done deliberately.

My first thought was wondering whether it was done to sabotage the Trump campaign.  But then it was reported that the speech writer admitted to it, but that Trump wouldn’t fire the person.  I have also heard theories that the Trump campaign purposely did it in order to draw comparisons between Melania Trump and Michelle Obama to get people to subconsciously think of Melania as the first lady.

One thing we can be sure of is that Melania Trump didn’t write this part of the speech.  It seems she doesn’t want the spotlight as her husband does.  She gave her obligatory speech, but she would probably rather be home taking care of her child.

The other interesting part of the convention was Ted Cruz’s speech.  He essentially got booed off the stage.  He would not endorse Donald Trump.  He said people should vote their conscience.

It is funny how the whole Republican nomination shaped up.  If you remember back at the first debate, the candidates were asked if they pledged to support the eventual nominee.  Trump was the only one who didn’t raise his hand.  That was the beginning of the end for Rand Paul and his campaign when he focused on the fact that Trump wouldn’t make that pledge.

Trump received a lot of criticism for this, and he eventually pledged to support the eventual nominee.  But then he became the nominee and not all of the candidates endorsed him, including Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush.  It is total hypocrisy.  Rand Paul did endorse Trump, but without much enthusiasm.  He was absent at the convention.

There isn’t much to say about Mike Pence.  I have already analyzed his conservative views, which includes being pro war.

On the final night, Ivanka Trump spoke before introducing her father.  It was probably a wise political choice.  She is obviously attractive and well spoken.  From a libertarian standpoint, some of the things she said were horrendous.  It was particularly bad when she was talking about the gender pay gap and how her father would have stricter labor laws.  She could have been speaking at the Democratic convention.

As for Trump himself, it was a rather typical Trump speech.  He is all over the place.  There are some good things.  There are a lot of slogans.  His economics is mostly bad.  If he becomes president, it is not likely that anything significant will change.  There is still a glimmer of hope that he will implement a less interventionist foreign policy.

This is what I will be watching for the next several months.  Will Trump continue to talk about a more non-interventionist foreign policy?

It will also be entertaining when he attacks Hillary Clinton.  I think she is scared of him because of what he might say.  None of the other candidates would have attacked her on such a personal level.  Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party nominee, is even saying nice things about Hillary Clinton, but he is a subject for another day.

Trump has made this whole election cycle far more interesting than it would have been otherwise.  He is still somewhat of a wildcard, but I am not delusional in thinking that he will change things significantly.  He could change things in the wrong direction too.

Again, the one hope is that he implements a better foreign policy.  His pick of Mike Pence makes that less likely.

Now we will move on to the Democratic National Convention.  I don’t know if I will be able to stomach watching more than 5 minutes of it.

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