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Donald Trump is set to accept the Republican presidential nomination this evening, though whether he does it to the sax solo from “Careless Whisper” on repeat remains to be seen. Ted Cruz said he isn’t a “servile puppy,” which is true because puppies don’t like soup. And Roger Ailes is out at Fox News, recalling the network’s slogan: We Report …To Security To Return Our Security Badge And Key Fob, You Decide . . . Whether To Make Awkward Small Talk As I Pack Up My Bobblehead Dolls And Pictures Of My Kids.
FINAL NAILES IN THE COFFIN, AMIRITE - They really bAiles out Roger, amirite? Looks like Gretchen Carlson prevAiles. Yep. Michael Calderone: “Embattled Fox News chairman and CEO Roger Ailes resigned Thursday following a sexual harassment scandal that consumed the network during this week’s Republican National Convention, parent company 21st Century Fox announced. It’s a stunning fall for Ailes, a longtime political operative and media visionary who built Fox News with Rupert Murdoch in 1996 and led the cable channel to ratings dominance. Murdoch will now assume the role of chairman and acting CEO of Fox News and Fox Business, which Ailes also ran…[in his statement,] Murdoch didn’t mention the ongoing scandal, spurred by a sexual harassment lawsuit filed two weeks ago by former “Fox & Friends” co-host Gretchen Carlson, an event that’s prompted numerous other women to come forward both publicly and as part of an internal review.” [HuffPost]
Important RNC insights
TRUMP IS QUITE A SALESMAN - Sean Sullivan and Phillip Rucker: “Donald Trump told top Republican donors Thursday that he made the right choice in letting Ted Cruz speak at the Republican National Convention Wednesday night, because the boos Cruz faced showed the party was unified behind the mogul, according to two Republicans who were in attendance. Addressing donors at a lunch meeting on the sidelines of the convention here in Cleveland, Trump said that he, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus and campaign chairman Paul Manafort knew what they were doing when they let Cruz speak. He argued that the drama that erupted on the floor highlighted Cruz’s selfishness and lack of team play. ‘I am not going to call him Lyin’ Ted anymore, but he did sign the pledge and it was pretty definitive. He isn’t a team player,’ Trump said, according to the Republicans who attended and spoke on condition of anonymity to describe a private gathering. Trump was referring to Cruz’s pledge during the campaign to support the eventual nominee during the campaign.” [WaPo]
BUT IS IT GOOD FOR THE CRUZ? GOP APOSTATE EDITION - Somewhere, Ted Cruz has return to the silty mud flats from whence he came to brood and tend to his latest clutch of hatchlings (some 3,000 this time!). Matt Flegenheimer and Jonathan Martin: “Facing jeers even from many of his own constituents, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas on Thursday defended his non-endorsement of Donald J. Trump, talking down hecklers at a fractious breakfast forum the morning after his performance onstage upended the Republican National Convention. In an extraordinary display of party division — at a typically staid Texas state delegation breakfast that is held with the intentions of exemplifying convention-week harmony — Mr. Cruz strained to manage the vitriol directed his way, stressing that he had not said a cross word about Mr. Trump. ‘I addressed the convention because Donald Trump asked me to,’ he said. ‘And when Donald Trump asked me to, he didn’t ask me to endorse.’ … Repeatedly, the taunts rained down on him. ‘Sit down!’ one man said, before a ‘Clinton-Cruz 2020’ sign was raised. ‘You need to do it now!’ shouted another. ‘Do it!’ yelled a third. ‘Do it now!’” [NYT]
LOL: “A close Donald Trump associate suggested on Thursday morning that the Republican nominee may put his extensive political capital behind boosting a primary challenger to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in 2018. In characteristically colorful and biting terms, Roger Stone harshly criticized Cruz for his much-discussed convention speech the night before, in which he declined to endorse Trump. Calling the senator ‘an odious, greasy figure who doesn’t have any of Reagan’s warmth or likeability,’ Stone said that Cruz had jeopardized his future run for the White House. ‘Conservatives have long memories,’ said Stone. ‘So in four years or eight years after the Trump presidency, conservatives will remember that he walked out on us.’” [HuffPost’s Sam Stein]
Very important John Boehner cigarette break sighting last night on West 6th Street
PETE KING PISSED - The New York Republican told the HuffPost Politics podcast on the convention floor that sticking up for his wife and father is not a good excuse for Ted to be mean to Donald. “If his honor is so strong than he should have stayed away from the convention,” King said. “If he felt that strongly about it he shouldn’t have been there.” The new episode comes out tomorrow morning in iTunes and on Acast.com
Meanwhile, another egregiously unnecessary police shooting.
DELANEY DOWNER - “Let’s have a round of applause for freedom fighter Alex Jones and our friends at InfoWars.com,” exiled Trump surrogate Roger Stone said at a book signing with 9/11 Truther Alex Jones just now. Truthers seem to like Trump, wonder why.
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CLINTON VEEP SHORTLIST: KAINE, VILSACK AND PEREZ - Alex Seitz-Wald: “Hillary Clinton is thought to be choosing between two mild-mannered, white swing-staters for vice president on the one hand, and a scrappy Latino progressive on the other, according to NBC News. The stark choice, between either Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, or Labor Secretary Tom Perez, could tip the presumptive Democratic nominee’s hand about what kind of general election campaign she wants to run… Allies see Perez as Clinton’s best option to excite Democrats, especially Latinos, and heal the divide with Bernie Sanders supporters. Meanwhile, his selection would not jeopardize a Senate seat, as Kaine’s pick might. But some Democrats have concerns about Perez’s level of experience, especially on foreign policy, and view Kaine or Vilsack as safer choices. Either way, both Hillary and Bill Clinton are said to be extremely impressed with Perez, along with several of her top aides, and many Democrats say he’d be a shoo-in for attorney general consideration if he doesn’t get the vice presidential spot.” [NBC News]
WHAT HILLARY SEES IN VILSACK - Aside from his undeniable charisma and movie star good looks, of course. Howard Fineman: “Vilsack, in his own mind, remains a son of the place of his birth and upbringing ― Pittsburgh. He maintains close ties there, and is a typically impassioned member of the Pittsburgh diaspora of emigrants created by the collapse of the local steel-based economy in the 1970s. An orphan who was left almost literally on the doorstep of the Sister of Charity’s Roselia Founding Home in 1950, Vilsack was educated in local schools and steeped in Pittsburgh culture before leaving the city for good after graduating from Hamilton College… A Roman Catholic whose father was of Eastern European stock ― the staple of working-class white Pittsburgh ― Vilsack grew up an ardent fan of the Pirates and the Steelers and remains focused on them with the kind of emotion and obsessive detail that only the locals fully understand and appreciate...As the local newspapers in and around Pittsburgh have been noting with pride, Vilsack has ‘Pittsburgh roots,’ a crucial calling card in a city and region where demographic change has been slow and most residents tend to be from families with long local ties.” [HuffPost]
Republican unity alert: “Senator Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican and majority leader, broke with Mr. Trump on Thursday over the Republican nominee’s suggestion to the Times that the United States might not automatically defend NATO allies if he became president. ‘It is the most successful military alliance in the history of the world,’ Mr. McConnell said during an interview at his convention headquarters in downtown Cleveland. ‘I want to reassure our NATO allies should any of them be attacked, we will be there to defend them.’” [HuffPost]
Can't not look fresh (via)
ABORTION ANIMATING MANY PRO-TRUMP HISPANICS - Elise Foley: “’I got a very melodramatic email telling me ‘I am so sad. I am immensely disappointed,’’ Aguilar said. ‘To which I said, ‘I’m immensely disappointed every time a Hispanic baby dies in this country, and that’s what would happen with Hillary Clinton as president.’’ This was, of course, a reference to Clinton’s stance on abortion. Aguilar’s attitude has been a common one at the Republican National Convention’s Latino-focused events ― that he’s a ‘hold-your-nose-and-vote’ alternative to the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. While Latino conservatives are coming around to Trump, it seems to have very little to do with him, and a lot to do with her.” [HuffPost]
SILICON VALLEY ANXIOUS ABOUT THIEL SPEECH - Ben Walsh: “On Thursday night, billionaire venture capitalist, Facebook board member, and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel will speak at the Republican National Convention. He will reportedly focus on vouching for Trump’s economic credentials and foreign policy vision. Silicon Valley investors are wringing their hands about the prime-time role Thiel, who is respected in the industry for the conjoined virtues of investing success and seeming technological prescience, is playing in support of the most openly racist and divisive major party presidential candidate in modern U.S. political history...In 1999, Thiel co-authored a book that railed against political correctness and attacked the social safety net. He secretly funded a lawsuit against the website Gawker to settle a personal grudge, which pushed the company into bankruptcy. He has given, in total, millions of dollars to candidates like Ron Paul, Ted Cruz and Carly Fiorina.” [HuffPost]
Some speakers are clearly anxious about their own speeches: Retired NASA astronaut Eileen Collins skipped over a planned endorsement of Donald Trump during her speech to the Republican National Convention Wednesday. As Business Insider’s Josh Barro pointed out, Collins’ prepared remarks included praise for Trump...What Collins actually said didn’t explicitly mention Trump, although it did give a nod to the GOP nominee’s campaign slogan...Collins was the first female commander of a NASA space shuttle. Her speech largely focused on the importance of space exploration, urging the next president to make NASA funding a priority.” [HuffPost]
Fun RNC fact: “Nearly one-quarter of the African-American delegates at the Republican National Convention are from Georgia. That’s out of an estimated 18 black delegates at the party’s bash in Cleveland out of a slate of 2,472 delegates overall. It’s likely the lowest number at a Republican convention in generations, but for Georgia it’s a recent high.” [AJC]
BECAUSE YOU’VE READ THIS FAR - Here’s an orangutan playing with LEGOs.
BRIGANTI-AZI - Gabriel Sherman: “As Roger Ailes battles the Murdochs over the terms of his exit from Fox News, he’s doing so without a key weapon in his arsenal: Fox spokesperson Irena Briganti. Briganti — who is feared both inside and outside Fox as Ailes’s public-relations enforcer — has been told by 21st Century Fox executives that she is not allowed to communicate with Ailes or the press about his status at the network. Her sidelining comes after New York reported that she has been criticizing Megyn Kelly to reporters.” [NY MAG]
COMFORT FOOD
- Animals licking windows.
- Industrious and belligerent baseball player runs behind home plate during active play to start a bench-clearing brawl.
- A wonderfully weird re-editing of Rudy Giuliani’s RNC address.
TWITTERAMA
@dceiver: the theme of the last night of the RNC is “Death created time to grow the things it would kill.”
@McCormackJohn: YOU VOTING TRUMP?
”Follow your conscience.”
*boo*
”Do what’s right.”
ASSHOLE!
”Don’t bow to Satan.”
*aiiieeee* IT BURNS!
#RNCinCLE
@aedwardslevy: PR firms for bouncy castle makers: you are missing such a golden opportunity for tenuously-related convention bounce pitches here
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