For a man who prides himself as a one-time broadcast star, Donald Trump hosted a surprisingly forgettable four nights of television.
As a political event, the 2020 Republican National Convention stuck with the pre-pandemic tradition of set-piece speeches, most of which — including the president’s own meandering, Bill Clinton-length finale — offered tepid recitations of Trumpian grievances aired more compellingly at other times in other forums.
Apart from a shouty appearance by former Fox News personality Kimberly Guilfoyle and a potential star turn by Kentucky’s young African-American attorney-general, it is doubtful any of the convention speeches will be long remembered. There was no Barry Goldwater urging “extremism in defence of liberty”, or George HW Bush seeing “a thousand points of light”.
As entertainment, it may have been even flatter. Say what you want about the Democrats’ messaging last week; at least they tried to produce a virtual convention that worked on TV and online, with celebrity hosts, remote locations and highly produced testimonials from “average Americans”.
Four days of the same Mellon Auditorium stage, with the same camera angles, made it hard for even committed viewers to focus on what Republicans were saying. Mr Trump’s acceptance speech may have broken tradition and the law by being staged across town at the White House, but even that dramatic setting could not breathe life into a tedious 70-minute harangue.
But perhaps that is how it should be, especially in the current election cycle, where nearly all aspects of American life have become intensely politicised: wearing a mask, sending your children back to school, watching the National Football League. When the mundane has become partisan, maybe it is time for the partisan to become mundane.
Amid hyperpartisanship, political conventions lose their last remaining raison d’être. Junkies quadrennially predict (hope for?) a “brokered” convention — remember when Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden were going to fight all the way to Milwaukee? But the chances of anything going off script at an American political convention died the day Ted Kennedy forced Jimmy Carter to chase him around the Madison Square Garden stage in 1980 in a failed, desperate attempt to show Democratic party unity.
Until 2020, conventions served another, arguably more useful purpose: providing a nationally televised venue for the wider public to pay attention to the choice they face in November. But is anyone not paying attention at this point? Mr Trump’s divisiveness, a global pandemic and nationwide anti-racism demonstrations have ensured almost everyone has been engaged in politics for months, whether they want to be or not.
This is borne out in the polls, which have hardly budged all year. The Democrats hold a relatively successful convention? Polls don’t move. Mr Biden commits one of his notorious gaffes by telling an African-American interviewer he is “not black” if he votes for Mr Trump? Polls don’t move. Steve Bannon is charged with swindling pro-Trump donors? Mr Trump brokers a historic deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates? Mr Biden chooses Kamala Harris? Nothing. No change.
Minds appear to be made up. In Thursday’s acceptance speech, Mr Trump argued Mr Biden’s lead is narrowing. But a closer look at national surveys show something a bit different: both men are seeing their support rise, with Mr Trump’s rising a bit faster. Mr Biden, who started the summer in the high 40s, is now polling mostly in the low 50s. Mr Trump, who nearly dropped into the high 30s, is now consistently in the low 40s. With the politicisation of everyday life, there may still undecideds to be won, but not many.
Fact-checkers will have a field day with Mr Trump’s attempt on Thursday night to rewrite the pandemic’s history, and congressional Democrats will fulminate about the president’s use of hallowed, government-owned ground for an overtly political purpose. American voters are likely to shrug and move on. Most didn’t even watch. They didn’t miss anything.