Republican National Convention in Cleveland - Day Two

by Ben Harris

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Posted onTuesday, July 19th 2016

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Our second day at the RNC began once again at the Michigan Delegation Breakfast Session.

Michigan Speaker of the House Kevin Cotter addressed the delegation with a report on the state of the state. His moderate, compromising stance was all but booed out by the delegation. To me, this highlighted the increasing radicalization of partisan politics. A reasonable politician who understands that things get done through compromise is criticized for not doing enough for the "party."

Despite not attending the RNC itself, Ohio Governor John Kasich addressed the MI delegation immediately following Speaker Cotter at the breakfast. As I expected, he didn't mention the white elephant in the room: Trump. Trump and other party Republicans have called Kasich out for his absence from the Convention proceedings at the Quicken Loans Arena. Many delegates expected him to endorse Trump, but were left unsatisfied.

Delegates who were originally sent to represent Kasich were left confused, expecting him to give some sort of indication (that would have been made clear by some sort of endorsement). Once Kasich left, it seemed that these delegates would end up falling into party lines by voting Trump.

After returning to edit some stories and get lunch, we drove to an event that had been recommended to us by a local contact. The American Dream included a 4000 pound ice sculpture of "The American Dream" that was left outside to melt, a metaphor for the idea of the American Dream.

A panel of local artists and coordinators discussed the potential of art to be a powerful force for change. It was refreshing to hear some reasonable voices and empowering to hear about the experiences that these people have had in working together to produce a series of documentaries called The Fixers

Bonus video:

UPDATE: Looks like Donald is now officially the Republican nominee... the votes are in.

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