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The Key Moment From Night Four of the Republ—ZZZZZZZZZZ

Ok, I confess, I did not fall asleep during Donald Trump’s nomination acceptance speech … but that was only because I managed to pick up a 12-pack of Coke Zero this morning. Without that sweet caffeinated nectar, my head would almost certainly be on the keyboard.

That said, the complete absence of energy and of memorable moments from the president’s address made it the key moment (or, to be more precise, key hour) of the final night of the Republican convention. Whatever momentum Trump was attempting to build via this convention was petered away. The Republican convention ended not with a bang, but a whimper.

So … we now have 67 days until Biden’s inevitable victory, right?

No.

To be clear, 67 days is a lot less than than 100 or 200 days, but it’s still plenty of time. Remember, both Al Gore and John McCain were leading at Labor Day in their presidential campaigns. Neither lead lasted a month. Both presidents who ran for re-election in this century (Bush ’04 and Obama ’12) were behind in national polling at some point during the autumn. Assuming Biden maintains his lead into Labor Day (if he doesn’t, it just proves my point all the more), it could still be lost by Columbus Day.

Still, I sincerely doubt this convention will have anything to do with it. One could argue that Donald Trump got more help from the flames in Kenosha than from the four nights of speeches … at least until Kellyanne Conway said the quiet part out loud (HuffPost [1]).

“The more chaos and anarchy and vandalism and violence reigns, the better it is for the very clear choice on who’s best on public safety and law and order,” she said.

Biden pounced.

“He views this as a political benefit to him, you know. He’s rooting for more violence, not less, and it’s clear about that. And what’s he doing, he’s kept pouring gasoline on the fire” (NBC News [2]).

When one adds the fact that Biden continually “condemns violence in any form, including looting,” while Trump remained silent on Kyle Rittenhouse’s shootings, the Democrats can remind the American people that it is their nominee who is looking to end the violence, rather than merely profit from it politically.

Now that the conventions are done, we will see the two campaigns begin the air war in earnest …

or not [3].