If You Ain't Indicted, You Ain't Invited

Unless you are a really serious baseball fan you have no idea who George Wallace “Kiddo” Davis was. Who? Kiddo Davis (1902-1983), was the only man who replaced Babe Ruth in a baseball game. It happend in the ninth inning of a losing game against the Cleveland Indians. Although Kiddo’s name made its way into the official box score for that game, which took place on June 5, 1926 Davis didn’t get up to bat, and wouldn’t play in another major league game until April 12, 1932 by which time he was a member of the Philadelphia Phillies. And although he did eventually play in parts of seven more seasons and went 7-18 in the 1932 World Series (won by the N.Y, Giants), replacing Babe Ruth was his single claim to baseball immortality.

Then there was Orson Welles who, at age 24, wrote, directed, edited, produced and starred in Citizen Kane, considered by many (myself included) to be the greatest motion picture of all time. And to make matters even better, he brought the film in on time and under budget! What in the world would the young Welles’ next film be? How in the world could he compete with cinematic perfection? Well, his second film, The Magnificent Ambersons (adapted from a Booth Tarkington novel) was nearly as good — mainly before his bosses at RKO butchered it after Welles had been sent to South America on a ruse. Nonetheless, it is still considered to be in the top 50 of greatest motion pictures of all time.

As F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote in his last, unfinished novel (The Last Tycoon), “There are no second acts in American lives,” by which he likely meant “there are no second chances.” We begin this piece with Kiddo and Orson, using the pair as a dual prelude to this week’s topic: the upcoming Republican National Convention, which begins tomorrow night. (BTW: It has just been announced that ‘45 will speak all 4 nights . . . something absolutely sui generis in the world of political conventions.)

Many of us watched virtually every minute of last week’s Democratic National Convention. If you’re like me, you were no doubt transfixed by the words we heard, the images we saw and the messages those on screen delivered. Considering that up until quite recently, all systems were go for a typical flag-waving, balloon-dropping political coronation in a vast barn of a hall in Milwaukee, what the Democrats were able to create in such a short period of time was both technically brilliant and emotionally memorable. I for one watched the convention with both the eye of a veteran political operative and the critical sensibilities of a Hollywood Brat. One of the things which most impressed me was the manner in which those behind the camera were able to spot their shortcomings, understand what changes had to be made and then put them into effect within but a few hours.

Case in point: Michele Obama’s first-night speech. While it was absolutely stellar from a rhetorical point of view, it left quite a bit to be desired when it came to smoothly editing a three-camera shoot. Going from camera one (front-on) to camera two (right profile) to camera three (left profile) was both clunky and amateurish. But by the second night, those in charge had gotten the kinks out and produced smoothly flowing set pieces. Pure Hollywood!

From the incredible presentation of the state-by-state, territory-by-territory vote – which reminded us of just how photographically beautiful and geographically diverse we are as a country – to the once gravely injured Gabby Giffords playing French Horn and speaking with great clarity, to Brayden Harrington, the teenage boy afflicted with stuttering talking about how much Joe Biden has done to instill hope, and the first-rate speeches of the Clintons, Mayor Bloomberg, Senators Sanders, Booker and Vice Presidential candidate Kamala Harris, to former Mayors Pete and Bloomberg and oh so many others, this convention was worthy of both an Emmy, an Oscar and an overwhelming victory come November. (The difference between how V.P. Biden responded to Brayden Harrington to how ‘45 mocked a Washington Post reporter who has a disability says it all.)

To return to a baseball idiom for just a second, this virtual convention showed one and all that the Democrats are capable of fielding an extraordinary, multi-cultural team, and, at the same time, stocking a “bench” deep with talent which is second-to-none.

For as long as I can remember, whenever one of my students asks me to predict the future, I respond somewhat whimsically, explaining that “my crystal ball has yet to get back from the dry cleaner.” I answer in the same vein when asked about how I believe the Republicans are going to respond during next week’s national convention. Simply stated, I have no idea. HOWEVER, I do feel that they are in danger of getting themselves dangerously mired in both political and videographic quicksand. Simply stated, they have neither the team nor the bench to compete against the Democrats. Where the Democrats spent last week preaching love, unity and the ability to get things done if only we can do them together, the Republicans are stuck with negativity and the fear of both “left-wing socialism” (whatever in the hell that is) and minorities who they will no doubt depict as being the opposite of what they would have their base believe is “the real America.”

So far as I can tell, next week’s convention is going to be angry, negative and filled with attacks against all those who do not represent 1950’s America. Their message will likely be aimed directly at those who are white, Christian, and mostly non-college educated. The number of front-line Republican pols who will not be speaking (nor likely be “attending”) will likely be obvious. As of today, the “announced” speakers are Vice President Pence, First Lady Melania Trump, Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump, Jr., Jared Kushner, Senators Tim Scott (SC), Joni Ernst (IA), and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA) as well as former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and likely Patricia and Mark McClosky, the St. Louis homeowners who pointed guns at protesters earlier this summer.

The president is no doubt going to have a lot on his mind. As much as he revels in giving political speeches, there won’t be any mass crowd giving him energy; due to the constraints of network television, he would be wise to what’s on his teleprompter. The faces that may well be flashing before his mind’s eye are those of the recently indicted Steve Bannon, the recently pardoned (commuted, actually) Roger Stone and Paul Manafort, his former “Mr. Fixit (and soon-to-be-author) Michael Cohen, his niece, best-selling author Dr. Mary Trump, and his eldest sister, former federal judge Maryanne Trump Barry. As he preaches about the evils of “left-wing socialism,” the duplicity of Hunter Biden and Hillary Clinton, the various conspiracies (minus QAnon) created to bring him down, he is likely to come off far more like the Emperor in Hans Christian Anderson’s Kejserens nye klæder (“The Emperor’s New Clothes) who got exposed before his subjects, than the second coming of Theodore Roosevelt. I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes . . .

I for one feel truly sorry for those Republican functionaries who have been assigned the awesome task of putting their convention together at the last minute. They are facing a tremendous challenge; mostly from the leaders and campaign experts on the Democratic side of the aisle who put kindness, compassion, empathy and civility center stage. By now, the Republican leaders and campaign experts know full well that they are incapable of putting any of the aforementioned traits on their campaign slate; their incumbent simply not made out of the same stuff as his opponent. Simply stated, he neither knows nor can identify the soul of America.

Democrats also understand that a preponderance of the Trump team is currently under indictment. And they will likely make it clear that those who ain’t indicted, ain’t invited.

Next week’s virtual convention should be a real lulu.

72 days until Nov. 3, 2020