Drawing The RNC, Day Three

JD Vance's grandmother and her 19 guns

The evening yesterday began with the news that President Biden tested positive today for Covid and will remain in Delaware for a while. Also news emerged that Democratic leaders Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer met with Biden to discuss their concern for losing the Senate if Biden continues as the nominee. Representative Adam Schiff also yesterday publicly called for Biden to step down. Nancy Pelosi is advising Biden on the reality of the poll numbers. The Democrats are meeting this week to discuss whether or not they will do a virutal roll call to nominate Biden soon, or not. Aids say Biden is more open to hearing about the difficulties of his candidacy in beating Trump and in keeping the Senate.

At the RNC last night, it was a long string of speakers; the theme was “Make America Strong Again.” At the end of the evening, CNN asked their fact checker to weigh in, and he said, “It was a fact check doozy.”

The first person I drew was the girlfriend of Don Trump Jr, Kimberly Guilfoyle:

My drawing of her doesn’t show it, but she got really loud and boisterous at the end of her speech. Because of what I perceive as a fair amount of plastic surgery, she was hard to draw.

The evening took on an international tone, of course because of the theme. First it was the Middle East, and the GOP chose to highlight Israel. This man announced he is a proud Orthodox Jew who supports Trump.

Then they brought out the parents of a man who is a hostage taken by Hamas on Oct 7, 2023. It was moving. But I feel uncomfortable with the thought that these people are being used.

The MAGA GOP then brought out a large number of Afganistan Gold Star Families who spoke of the pain of losing loved ones. I feel for the families. But I also found the parade of suffering families to be hypocritical considering Trump’s comment years ago about John McCain’s war hero status: “I like people who weren’t captured.” And then at Normandy on Memorial Day when he was President, Trump referred to fallen soldiers as “suckers.”

World War II Veteran

Don Trump, Jr. then came to the stage, and before he delievered his speech, he said he was going to bring out his daughter, Kai Trump, who said she wanted to speak. A lovely young woman, who was being used to try to humanize Trump.

I did two drawings of Don Jr. I actually find him hard to draw because his face is, I don’t know, sharp, severe and shows emotions I don’t fully understand. He said a lot things that I could have captured.

When the main event, J.D. Vance, came onto the stage, my sense is that it was not a good response from the audience, not as loud as I expected. He walked out in front of a fake White House. I didn’t draw it because I just don’t think I could do the outrageousness of it justice.

Again, a lot of notable (in that they show what the GOP is trying to do) quotes from his very long speech. Since he is a writer of a best selling book (Hillbilly Elegy), I expected a better speech. It was boring and delivered rather haltingly as he waited for applause at almost every juncture.

Here is one quote, the sentiment of which I heard throughout the few days of this convention. Many speakers talked of Trump’s bravery, sacrifice and stamina when he was shot, describing Trump’s amazing courage in raising his fist and yelling “Fight!” In referene to this, Vance said: “Even in his most perioulous moment, he thought of us.”

Vance’s mother was in the audience, and when introduced, the crowd roared in applause and chanted “JD’s Mom, JD’s Mom!” repeatedly. Vance told a story about his grandmother, nicknamed Mamaw, who raised him because his mother struggled with addiction (she is now 10 years sober). He said Mamaw “had 19 guns scattered around the house. We wondered why, and realized she was not seeing well and had stashed them in drawers and closets—she wanted to be able to protect her family at any moment. That’s the American way!”

The crowd errupted in applause and loud cheers of agreement and approval. Another time, he described how his grandmother warned her grandson not to hang around a certain kid in school (she thought the kid a bad influence), and said she would run the kid over if she caught him with him. And she’d get away with it. Big smile on Vance’s face and the crowd loved it.

I can’t even.

Vance was chosen as VP so that he could do Trump’s dirty work after the election, do what Pence would not. His sexism and isolationism aside (which is not easy to do), Vance is far too inexperienced to have been chosen to be a "heartbeat from the presidency.” Trump is an old man.

On the surface, the MAGA GOP appears united; those in the room, certainly. CNN commentator Van Jones made a great comment the other night, he said, “If that’s the unity they have in mind, it’s a unity that scares me.”

Thanks for being here, see you tomorrow.

By the way, if you noticed, I am using a different drawing program because my usual one is acting up and freezing. I don’t really like this app as much, but I am doing the best I can! Desperate to get my old app back working!