Democrats — Frank Campos
On the offense
After a week of trying out the idea of attacking Donald Trump, Hillary has finally had her coming out party and, boy, was it worth the wait.
In one of her more politically strategic speeches in recent memory, Clinton demolished the idea of Trump as president.
“We cannot put the safety of our children and grandchildren in Donald Trump’s hands. We cannot let him roll the dice with America,” Clinton said, among other scathing comments.
From a thin skin to lack of knowledge in politics, Clinton laid out Trump’s flaws line after line, deciding to focus on her presumptive opponent instead of foreign policy. She showed real emotion and grit when attacking Trump, countering her criticisms of being robotic and shrill during speeches.
Although Trump has also thrown his shots at “Crooked Hillary,” he has yet to show all his cards, and will prove to be Clinton’s most unpredictable adversary.
Forward momentum
For all the talk of a Bernie revolution and a literal GOP mutiny, we seem to have landed right where we knew we would months ago: Our presidential candidates will be Clinton and Trump.
The general outlook on Trump among liberals still seems to be disbelief and denial. The thought of the country electing such an obvious bigot can seem like a crazy notion, but the power of Trump and his supporters cannot be denied anymore.
Clinton has now smartly moved her focus onto the race that matters. She has left socialist Bernie and his bros to calculate the math in California and their dream of hiring a person to do said job.
Hurdles to cross
With Sanders in the rear view mirror, Clinton has an opportunity to capitalize all the positive press regarding her speech and continue to attack Trump on some of his biggest failures.
Clinton’s biggest obstacles are Bernie supporters and Democrats who see a politician flip-flopping on multiple issues plus involving in a political scandal. To defeat Trump, Clinton will need the support of a united Democratic Party if she is going to become the next president of the United States.
The best part for Clinton about a limelight-hoarding man like Trump is that he has a long grueling history of mistakes. Many of them make me wonder how anyone other than the rich could support him. But, hey, conservatives.
GOP — Jorden Smith
The Speaker finally speaks
After the long wait, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has publicly confirmed that he will vote for Donald Trump in the upcoming presidential election.
Ryan published an op-ed in his hometown newspaper explaining his somewhat surprising support for the presumptive nominee. Ryan had met privately with Trump earlier this month at the Republican National Committee headquarters, but had been reluctant to endorse Trump at that time.
However, Ryan’s comments to the Associated Press after his endorsement of Trump won’t inspire much hope.
There are others?
Gary Johnson, who on Sunday became the Libertarian Party’s presidential nominee, had a few choice words about Trump.
Johnson’s running partner, Bill Weld, won the vice president nomination, adding experience to the ticket. There also has been a multitude of reports this week claiming National Review columnist David French is considering a run for President.
Though neither of these men are likely to be president — or even get one state’s electoral delegates — they are both likely to be a safe haven for disenfranchised conservatives and will likely steal a few votes from Trump.
Eyes on November
It’s all been decided now.
Even if some were to raise trouble at the convention in Cleveland, it is very unlikely anyone would even listen due to the Paul Ryan endorsement.
This is another huge week for Trump as he continues to build momentum in his upcoming fight with the Democratic nominee. It will be interesting to see how Gary Johnson and, potentially, David French will deal with Trump in their respective Independent campaigns.
Opinion editor Frank Campos and columnist Jorden Smith can be reached at [email protected]
If Trump is rough on Republicans … and I predict … SocDems haven’t seen anything yet.