There were a number of utterly bizarre moments that came out of Donald Trump’s Republican National Convention. And it’s only Day 1.
Here were some of the stranger happenings Monday night:
The speaker roster
Lest we forget who even spoke during the first day of the festivities, here are some of the more intriguing choices.
We heard from Willie Robertson, a star of “Duck Dynasty,” actor Scott Baio and model and soap opera star Antonio Sabato, Jr., who CNN helpfully noted once appeared in an underwear ad that hung from Trump Tower:
Rick Perry blows up his own spot
While the former Texas governor talked about veterans on stage, here’s what reportedly appeared on his website at the time (although the page was later removed):
So, @GovernorPerry (speaking now) may want to take this off his website #RNCinCLE pic.twitter.com/BPyDtiwWHJ
— Dave Levinthal (@davelevinthal) July 19, 2016
Trump calls into Fox News instead of listening to the speakers
At least one Republican wasn’t watching while the first speeches of the primetime hours went on: the nominee himself! Trump called Fox News host Bill O’Reilly for a speedy interview in which they discussed Black Lives Matter, Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R), and his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence.
Comic relief from the Duffys
Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) and his wife, Rachel, who met on the MTV reality game show “Road Rules,” brought some sizzling one liners to the convention.
“Who said nothing good comes out of reality TV?” Sean Duffy asked after sharing that the couple just had their eighth child. They went on to say that they have some rules for their gaggle of kids.
“No private servers in the basement,” he said in the first of a series of digs at Democrat Hillary Clinton.
“And no lying,” Rachel Campos-Duffy said.
“Especially to the FBI,” Sean Duffy added.
“Lock her up!”
Several speakers called for Clinton to be jailed, including Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Colorado Senate candidate Darryl Glenn and Patricia Smith, the mother of a man who died in the Benghazi attacks.
Flynn encouraged the crowd to break out in a chant of “lock her up!”
Trump’s big-league entrance
Trump walked onto the stage at the convention to introduce his wife as Queen’s “We Are the Champions” played, with the house lights seemingly on full blast. Trump gave his wife, Melania, a quick introduction before leaving the stage.
Trump family escapes convention site after Melania’s speech
As Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn took the stage after Melania Trump, networks showed live video of the Trumps peeling away from the convention:
Nah, none of that’s genuinely weird. That’s just mundane, regular old GOP bullshit. Honest-to-God, 24 K gold weirdness would be something like Melania Trump plagiarizing another first lady’s speech. Or maybe a Republican congressman claiming on national TV that white people are largely responsible for civilization. But that would never happen, that’s just too bizarre.
The trumps CUT’N RUN… bkw disgusting.
TPM:
I do - you never should have been allowed to reproduce.
TPM:
It would be karmic justice - as well as plain ol’ regular justice - if Donald Trump were to be jailed for tax evasion and business fraud.
Someone sounds a little bitter. I’m beginning to think Flynn must have hit on Hillary and got rejected.
Haha…that’s crazy talk!