This week the Republican National Convention started Monday with Thursday night being the concluding ceremony. This follows the Democratic National Convention that was held the week before. The Republican’s week had a theme for each day, making Monday the “Land of Heroes.” The rest of the days were dubbed “Land of Promise,” “Land of Opportunity,” and “Land of Greatness”. The speakers disproportionately featured members of Trump’s family, which was family-heavy compared to other conventions. The speaker’s talked very highly of Trump and his time in office, but had rhetoric instilling fear of having Biden as our president. Unfortunately, accurate facts seemed in short supply throughout the convention and the speakers made it clear that the Republican party has become the party of Trump.

Speakers on day one included Tim Scott, Nikki Haley, Donald Trump Jr., and Kimberly Guilfoyle. The commenting started with an attack on the Biden Administration, as well as praise for what Trump has purportedly achieved in office the past four years. Day two featured speakers such as Melania Trump, Mike Pompeo, Tiffany Trump and Eric Trump. They spoke of how Biden would defund the police, despite Biden’s lack of intent to do so. Biden was compared to Castro, the Loch Ness Monster, and was attacked for being a “radical liberal.” Night three brought speakers like Mike Pence and Kellyanne Conway, where Pence claimed that America would no longer be America if Biden were elected.

News sources avidly fact checked the three days. Many statements were exaggerated, had key pieces of context left out, or were blatantly untrue. Pompeo went as far as to say Trump has “lowered the temperature” and “brought North Korea to the table” when Kim Jong-Un broke off ties and reinstated their nuclear program. Pence spoke of unrest in the country and how a world with Biden as president would be an unsafe one, despite it being unsafe for minorities and protested under the current administration. Eric Trump claimed, “Promises made, and promises, for the first time, were kept.” Donald Trump made over 280 campaign promises, of those he’s kept 21, broken 26, and compromised on 7, according to the New York Times. Senator Tim Scott claimed “We actually saw revenues to the Treasury increase after we lowered taxes in 2017” which is proven to be false when inflation is considered according to a Brookings Institute analysis, and the resulting deficits were inconsistent with fiscal conservatism.

The Republican Party platform and future policies were mostly unmentioned. While the Republican convention was chock-full of rhetoric, and false logic was overused in the speeches during the convention, misleading viewers. It’s up to voters whether this administration will continue to lead our country for the next four years.

Marguerite McHale is a junior economics and political science major. She can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].