Kimberly Guilfoyle's RNC speech was the scary star of the show. And it was fascinating TV

“Very, very forceful speech,” CNN’s Wolf Blitzer said when Kimberly Guilfoyle finished yelling at the camera during Monday’s opening night of the Republican National Convention.

“'Forceful' is one word for it,” Jake Tapper responded.

Indeed. Other words might include “loud,” “bizarre” and “terrifying.”

Which is to say, it was just right. On brand, you might say.

"They want to destroy this country and everything that we have fought for and hold dear,” Guilfoyle said of Democrats. “They want to steal your liberty, your freedom, they want to control what you see and think and believe so that they can control how you live. They want to enslave you to the weak, dependent, liberal victim ideology to the point that you will not recognize this country or yourself.”

Cheery stuff.

Why Guilfoyle made such an impact

Despite President Donald Trump and other Republicans saying this convention would be all hope and glory compared to the Democratic National Convention last week, this wasn’t that. It may have been a secret plan of genius to have Guilfoyle go on before the headlining speakers. In comparison to her predictions of a dystopian future if Democratic nominee Joe Biden were elected, everything sounded reasonable and measured in comparison.

Maybe too much so. Nikki Haley, the former Republican governor of South Carolina and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, sounded practically somnambulant in her speech praising Trump. She made some odd claims — suggesting that Iran no longer poses a threat thanks to Trump, for instance — but she made them in a way that didn’t make you adjust the volume.

It’s not that Guilfoyle and some of the earlier speakers Monday night, who, at the risk of sounding biased, often came off sounding like members of a cult, didn’t make for effective television. They did. It was magnetic, impossible to turn away from.

It was also not a little scary.

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How the media handled the abundance of false statements

An issue about the Republican convention, which featured Trump a couple times and will include appearances from him every night, is how often he and by extension his supporters, how to put it, lie. CNN broke away occasionally to correct false statements.

On MSNBC Rachel Maddow cut in at one point, explaining the on-screen “reality check” the network used every now and then. For example, when Amy Johnson Ford, a nurse from West Virginia, talked about how Trump’s COVID-19 actions saved “thousands of lives,” MSNBC showed a graphic alongside her that said, “The U.S. leads the world in both the number of reported COVID-19 deaths and cases.”

It was interesting enough, but until Maddow explained what MSNBC was doing it just looked like the typical chyrons networks use. Was Ford saying that the U.S. has the most deaths? No, she wasn't.

The Washington Post's well-regarded fact-checker called Monday night "a fire hose of false or misleading claims." 

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Where race, racism and denial collided

Trump and others had touted a kinder, gentler convention. But they tossed that notion out the window early on. Charlie Kirk, the head of Turning Point USA and a loyal Trump supporter, said, “I am here to tell you … to warn you” of what would happen if Biden were elected. He also called Trump “the bodyguard of Western civilization,” if you were wondering about that cult-like aspect.

This was in stark contrast to how Democrats adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic and how it forced changes to the format. Neither convention had the packed auditoriums and screaming crowds and wild costumes. But where Democrats embraced the intimacy of a virtual experience, Republicans, at least on the first night, went for more of an old-school feel, with speakers standing at a podium delivering addresses that more often than not served as a dire warning if Trump is not reelected.

Not all of them, though, spoke in what amounted to an empty hall. Mark and Patricia McCloskey, who became internet famous after waving guns at Black Lives Matter protesters peacefully marching past their mansion, spoke about the danger to “quiet neighborhoods” if Biden wins. That’s what’s known as a dog whistle.

“Your family will not be safe in the radical Democrats’ America,” Mark McCloskey said.

Hope and glory, hope and glory.

Or not.

Race was a big part of the presentation — Tim Scott, the only Black Republican U.S. senator, was the night’s final speaker, saying his family went from cotton fields to Congress. Haley said, “America is not a racist country.” She also said that, as the daughter of Indian immigrants, “We faced discrimination and hardship. But my parents never gave in to grievance and hate.”

How each party used the virtual platform to its advantage

Scott and Haley made some sense in the course of the proceedings. Donald Trump Jr., on the other hand. …

Don’t mistake this as saying the Democrats, though widely praised for how they pulled off a virtual convention, did this better. They didn’t. Both parties used the forced adaptations to the format effectively, and to appeal to their core supporters. But the contrasts could not have been more stark – by design.

Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing depends entirely on your feelings about Trump. He wouldn’t have it any other way.

Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: @goodyk.

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