Vivek's Vision

Fealty: Last night, the Republican National Convention (RNC) was all about kissing Donald Trump's ring. Those he failed to vanquish delivered their (obsequious) speeches, one by one: first, Vivek Ramaswamy; then Texas Sen. Ted Cruz; former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley; and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. "The imagery was more like the Roman Colosseum, with an emperor looking down from his box in judgment as those audacious enough to cross him tried to find their way back into his favor," writes The New York Times' Jonathan Weisman.

"Haley, Vance, DeSantis, Marco Rubio [whom Trump beat in 2016], and even Vivek Ramaswamy—who remained steadfastly in support of Trump even when he was technically running against him—all represent somewhat different ideological tendencies on the right, from neoconservatism to populism to the new right," writes Reason's Robby Soave. Flashing back and forth between conservatism of yore and conservatism of the future—which seems to barely resemble anything proffered by William F. Buckley or Ronald Reagan—was vertigo-inducing, especially upon realizing that even the old-school conservatives have integrated Trump's animus toward immigrants into their messaging.

Do you feel the Ramaswamentum? Perhaps the lone bright spot was Vivek Ramaswamy, who properly diagnosed the problems that keep many right-wingers up at night, but managed to articulate a more positive vision for where he thinks the party and the country should go. "We're in the middle of a national identity crisis right now," said Ramaswamy from the main stage. "Faith, patriotism, hard work, and family have disappeared, only to be replaced by race, gender, sexuality, and climate. But we're not going to win this election just by criticizing the other side; we're going to win this by standing for our own vision of who we really are."

"We believe in the ideals of 1776," he continued. "We believe in merit, that you get ahead in this country not on the color of your skin but on the content of your character and your contributions."

Being an American, he said, "means we believe in the rule of law.…That means your first act of entering this country cannot break the law. That is why we will seal the southern border on Day One. It means the people who we elect to run the government ought to be the ones who actually run the government, not unelected bureaucrats in the deep state," he added, in a pointed jab. 

To millennials, he added: "Our government sold us a false bill of goods with the Iraq War and the 2008 financial crisis, loading up our national debt that falls on our generation's shoulders, telling us that if we took out college loans, we'd somehow get a head start on the American dream when it hasn't worked out that way. But we can't just be cynical about our country, because the United States of America is still the last best hope that we have." 

Over and over again, he rejected what he calls the focus on "group identity," "victimhood," and "grievance" from the left and forcefully made the case that "we don't have to be this nation in decline; we can still be a nation in our ascent."

Keeping it measured: Later, the speeches veered into the actual theme of the evening: "Make America Safe Again." Viewers heard from an array of normal Americans who'd had their lives disrupted primarily by the crimes of illegal immigrants. But over and over again, "speakers painted an exaggerated picture of the link between immigration and crime," writes Reason's Fiona Harrigan, with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz at one point suggesting that "Americans are dying, murdered, assaulted, raped by illegal immigrants that the Democrats have released," as if the country is in the grips of some sort of wild migrant rape-crime wave.

But contrast this dark, untrue, and unimaginative messaging—more cops and deportations needed, and thus evil will be once and for all tamed—with Ramaswamy's vision: perma-focusing on "grievance" is wrong, take charge of your life, judge people on merit, hold those in power accountable, and do not believe that the best days are behind you.

Ramaswamy and GOP vice presidential pick Sen. J.D. Vance (R–Ohio) invite comparisons to one another; they were classmates at Yale, and they're both promising youngish politicians who have managed to ingratiate themselves with former President Donald Trump. But Vance is perhaps the dark version, promoting a conservatism that attempts to wield the power of the state to punish enemies who he perceives as having captured the institutions that matter, while Ramaswamy manages to be the light version, promoting a conservatism that attempts to return to Founding ideals, while still indulgently sparring in a few culture-war skirmishes (alas).

Scenes from New York: Goodbye to restaurant critic Pete Wells (resigning, not dying), who was always the right amount of scathing. "There are restaurants like this in almost every major city now, imitation pearls on a string that circles the world," he wrote of a Korean fine-dining restaurant that will cost you, conservatively, $400 a head. "How did chefs who prize both originality and a sense of place decide that the most appropriate backdrop for their food would be copycat rooms done in a blank-faced global style?"

Read his harsh review of Peter Luger—itself a New York institution, though not to the same degree as Wells—and hope that whoever succeeds Wells can measure up.

QUICK HITS

• California just became the first state in the nation to pass legislation that "prevents educators from having to notify parents if their child asks to switch names or pronouns," reports The New York Times. This is an infringement on parental rights that makes me never want to move to that sorely lost state, despite my undying love for both West Coast beaches and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
• Every single President Joe Biden interview makes me more confused as to how Democrats could possibly think he can serve another four years:

Want everyone who is mad at me for talking about the Biden nomination still to sit with this clip. This is the gamble you want to take? With the stakes as great as they are? The risk is astronomical. pic.twitter.com/TetfU5O7HW

— Tim Miller (@Timodc) July 16, 2024

• "Like most Republican politicians these days, [Sen. J.D.] Vance has signed on to Trump-directed changes to the GOP platform—they remove from the Republican platform a longstanding call for a federal prohibition against abortion, seemingly in favor of state regulation of abortion," writes The Pillar's J.D. Flynn. "For some pro-lifers, this has played as a betrayal of their long-standing loyalty to the GOP. But from a Catholic moral perspective, this question is a matter of prudential judgment—while the Church is clear that legal protection for abortion is immoral, it does not suggest the level of government at which abortion should be regulated. But Vance has gone beyond that."
• Biden appears set to try to pass legislation that would institute term limits for Supreme Court justices.
• The Secret Service had allegedly increased security at the Butler, Pennsylvania, rally on Saturday following intelligence that Iran was looking to target Trump. Of course, turns out the Iranian plot was actually unrelated to the assassination attempt (as far as they know).
• "The broad strokes of Trumponomics might not be different from what they were during his first term," reports Bloomberg Businessweek, following a Mar-a-Lago sit-down with Trump. "What's new is the speed and efficiency with which he intends to enact them."
• God bless America:

We are so back pic.twitter.com/od2bgZYKD6

— Alex Cohen ???? (@anothercohen) July 16, 2024

• Nate Silver is responding to none other than the Democratic National Convention chair himself:

There's no 8/7 deadline. You're making that up. Ohio passed legislation so that whomever is nominated at the Democratic Convention will be on the November ballot. Have some guts and defend your party's ability to follow its own process. And stop lying to the American public. https://t.co/OXl0SAPpld

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) July 17, 2024