Unconventional #39: RNC Day Two — The ‘Fear & Loathing in Cleveland’ Edition

Coming to you live every morning from Cleveland, Unconventional is the one thing you need to read to understand what’s really happening at the conventions. Each edition will provide a behind-the-scenes look at the biggest (and weirdest) moments of the day, with original dispatches from the entire Yahoo Politics team — plus a sneak peek at what’s next.

A dark and stormy night

CLEVELAND — Well, that was … bleak.

The official theme of the first night of the 2016 Republican National Convention was “Make America Safe Again.” But Yahoo News Senior National Affairs Reporter Liz Goodwin nicely captures the actual vibe in the Quicken Loans Arena when she writes that “an alternative title could have been ‘America Is a Scary Place,’” with “a series of grieving parents, politicians and law enforcement officers [making] the case that the country and the world are frightening and under siege from illegal immigration, crime and terror.”

“Sadly, for a growing number of communities, the sense of safety that many of us once took for granted has been shattered,” said David Clarke, the sheriff of Milwaukee, who strongly opposes criminal justice reform and the Black Lives Matter movement.

“The vast majority of Americans today do not feel safe,” added former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. “They fear for their children, and they fear for themselves.”

“Terrorists from ISIS are in every one of our 50 states,” explained Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst. “They will use every weapon they have — guns, trucks, knives, poisons and bombs — to kill innocent people.”

“What keeps me up at night is the sobering realization that evil exists,” concluded retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn.

The program’s one bright spot was Donald Trump’s wife, Melania, who strutted onstage in a cotton silk, off-white Roksanda “Margot” dress with bell sleeves to deliver an uplifting call for unity and inclusion.

Melania’s speech — only the second the Slovenia native has given on the trail — won rave reviews from the pundits, perhaps because it sounded like other, more traditional convention speeches they’d heard in the past.

The only problem?

It may have sounded a little too much like one other convention speech in particular…

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Did Melania plagiarize Michelle?

We report. You decide.

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Missed the speeches? We’ve got you covered.

Holly Bailey on Melania Trump: “Unlike her husband, who often spends a huge chunk of his stump speech bragging about all the Republicans he vanquished in the primary campaign, Melania Trump pointedly praised her husband’s former rivals.”

Olivier Knox on Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton: “His lone reference to the ‘Trump-Pence’ administration was to say that they would be better stewards of national security than Clinton.”

Michael Isikoff on retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn: “When convention delegates shouted ‘Lock her up’ [in reference to Hillary Clinton], Flynn enthusiastically encouraged them. ‘Yeah, that’s right, lock her up!’ he said from the podium.”

Hunter Walker on Rudy Giuliani: “He pointed to his mayoral experience cracking down on crime in New York and made the case that Trump would do the same thing nationwide.”

Daniel Klaidman on former Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell: “The speech was surprisingly short on paeans to Trump, and Luttrell said nothing about his rival for the presidency, Hillary Clinton. Instead, he seemed more preoccupied with helping America’s veterans and touting the virtue of shared national sacrifice.”

Liz Goodwin on Pat Smith, the mother of a State Department IT consultant who died in Benghazi: “‘How could [Hillary Clinton] do this to me? How could she do to this to any American family?’ Smith asked, as some Republican delegates wiped tears away from their eyes. She praised Trump for being ‘everything that Hillary Clinton is not.’”

Hunter Walker on actor Scott Baio: “Donald in charge of our days and our nights. Donald in charge of our wrongs and our rights. And I sing, Scott Baio wants Donald in charge of me.”

Amy Sullivan on pastor Mark Burns: “After telling attendees of the Republican National Convention that ‘Our enemy is not other Republicans but is Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party,’ a South Carolina pastor offered the most explicitly partisan prayer heard at a major party convention in modern times.”

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Overheard

“I want my party to be elected president.”

– A Texas delegate’s response when asked Monday how he feels about this year’s GOP nominee.

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The day #NeverTrump died

With Jon Ward

At exactly 1 p.m. on Monday, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus gaveled in the 2016 Republican National Convention here.

It took only three hours for the gathering to erupt in chaos.

What is usually a nonevent — the adoption, by voice vote, of the new rules proposed by the convention’s Rules Committee — was transformed into a noisy proxy battle over the imminent nomination of Donald Trump. A group of anti-Trump insurgents instead tried to force all 2,472 delegates to vote individually, prompting the Republican National Committee to shut them down with a flurry of strong-arm tactics.

“Shame! Shame!” yelled the #NeverTrump delegates.

“USA! USA!” the tycoon’s supporters shouted in reply.

(For a more in-depth account of the chaos on the floor of the Quicken Loans arena, click here.)

The push Monday for a roll–call vote on the rules package was #NeverTrump’s last official opportunity to derail the tycoon’s nomination by freeing delegates to vote for other candidates. To trigger a roll call, the insurgents had to convince a majority of the delegates from at least seven states or territories to sign their petition.

At first, they seemed to succeed. But then, for more than an hour, RNC and Trump whips — many of them wearing fluorescent green hats — cajoled and even threatened delegates in an effort to convince them to withdraw their signatures.

Yahoo News saw Rick Gates, a deputy to Trump adviser Paul Manafort, berating a young delegate from Virginia named Tommy Valentine. “I’m gonna remember how Virginia was an embarrassment at the national convention,” said Gates, who was “identified as an agent of a Ukrainian oligarch” in a 2011 racketeering lawsuit that also named Manafort.

Valentine recounted the confrontation moments later.

“I was asking, ‘Are you threatening me, personally, or my state?’” Valentine told Yahoo News. “[Gates] was saying how if Trump becomes president … he’s going to remember what happened in Virginia during the convention. And I just said, ‘Well, that’s corrupt politics that Trump is embracing. He’s going to punish states because they didn’t vote according to his standards?’”

When the time came for the full convention to weigh in, Arkansas Rep. Steve Womack, the RNC’s presiding officer, refused to acknowledge the petition. Instead, he launched directly into a voice vote. And rather than asking the “ayes” and “noes” to take turns — customary procedure — Womack simply let everyone shout at once.

“Clearly, the ayes have it,” Womack said, banging the gavel.

That’s when bedlam broke loose on the floor. Delegates cried, “Turn on the mics!” and “Point of order!” in a futile attempt to be recognized by Womack. Howls of outrage filled the arena. The demonstration went on for several minutes, with Trump supporters trying to drown out the insurgents by chanting their candidate’s name.

Initially, Womack left the stage. The convention seemed to shut down. The rules vote appeared to be over.

“I have no idea what’s going on right now,” said Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, who helped lead the failed uprising from the floor. “This is surreal.”

But a few minutes later, Womack reappeared onstage and took the unusual step of calling for a second voice vote, presumably to clear the air. This time, the “ayes” and “noes” took turns.

“Clearly, the ayes have it,” Womack said again. But the “noes” sounded louder.

When the crowd finally quieted down, Womack recognized Phil Wright, the chair of the Utah delegation, who stood ready at the microphone. Lee was beside him. It was, in its own small way, an accomplishment for the insurgents — getting Womack to acknowledge their existence.

Wright demanded a roll-call vote.

But Womack immediately burst Wright’s bubble, leaning into the microphone to announce that three of the rogue states had withdrawn their signatures.

Translation: The rebellion had collapsed.

After the convention moved on to other business, the entire Colorado delegation walked out of the Quicken Loans Arena. Half the Iowa delegation followed.

Priebus probably calculated that ripping off the rules Band-Aid in one fell swoop would be better for the party than inviting thousands of delegates — with lots of different feelings about Trump — to express themselves in front of the national television cameras. But at the same time, the roll call might have given the #NeverTrump forces an opportunity to let off some steam before Trump’s big primetime speech later this week.

Now they’re angrier than ever.

Lee told Yahoo News that the RNC’s refusal to allow a roll-call vote may have generated so much frustration and resentment among the delegates that anti-Trump floor demonstrations could continue throughout the week.

“They’ve certainly created the possibility for that,” Lee said. “I think [the RNC] could have avoided that possibility had they handled this in the appropriate way — had they just allowed some of this steam to be released, allowed for a roll-call vote, allowed people to air their grievances about this.”

At this point, #NeverTrump forces cannot overturn the Donald’s nomination. But they may still make some noise yet.

“I can … assure you that these delegates, in some capacity, will make it clear how they feel about Donald Trump,” Dane Waters of the anti-Trump group Delegates Unbound told Yahoo News late in the day.

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Convention Diaries

Click through for the full Yahoo News convention diary from Pennsylvania GOP delegate Jerry Rover.

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The big picture

Photographer Khue Bui is on the ground in Cleveland, capturing all of the action for Yahoo News. Here’s his most unconventional pic of the day. See the rest.

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Inside the Q? Chaos. Outside? All is calm. (Sort of.)

While political chaos was erupting inside the Quicken Loans Arena Monday, outside, all was fairly calm — despite pre-convention warnings of possible violence.

And lots of firearms.

“Among the 100-plus Donald Trump supporters at the America First rally along the Cuyahoga River in the Flats of Cleveland on Monday,” reports Yahoo News’ Jeff Stacklin, “Rhonda Welsch was truly disappointed. She expected more.”

More people, that is. Hundreds of thousands of people should have come out for the rally, said Welsch, who traveled from Kahuku, Hawaii, to witness the Republican National Convention.

“People are afraid to come out,” said Welsch. “What 60-year-old individual, who’s got bad knees, wants to come here and put themselves at risk?”

She blames the media and threats of violence against police for more supporters not attending. At Monday afternoon’s gathering, there was no violence — not even verbal outbursts from anyone but Trump fans.

Besides Trump supporters, most of whom were part of a Bikers for Trump group, the only other group present was the media — en masse. Under sunny skies and summer heat, there may well have been as many reporters, photographers and videographers at the rally as Trump fans.

If there were supporters of presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton among the crowd, you didn’t see or hear them.

Yahoo News National Correspondent Hunter Walker was also on hand at the America First rally, talking to armed activists about why they had decided to brandish guns.

“Open carrying is actually my way of showing the Constitution,” said Jim Peterson, who was wearing a tight T-shirt with an American flag on it. “Also, I look at it this way: If there’s a conflict, if something rears up, then I’m there to support the civilians and the police.”

Joel Ameigh, a burly, bearded man from Hershey, Pa., said he didn’t expect any violent incidents to mar the convention, according to Walker. He also predicted that the pro-Trump rally might be one of the most secure spots at the RNC thanks to the contingent of open-carry activists in attendance.

“This is one of the safest places you could be because there’s hundreds of people — I don’t know, at least 50 people — here that are carrying,” Ameigh said. “So, if somebody wants to come here and stir up trouble, it’s not a good place.”

The rally wasn’t without incident, however. At one point, Eric André, an absurdist comedian who hosts the eponymous “Eric André Show” on Cartoon Network, interrupted a speech by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and began moving toward the stage.

“I want you to have sex with my wife,” André told Jones.

Jones accused André of “trying to be shocking.” André was undaunted.

“Why does my pee-pee come out yellow?” he asked.

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By the numbers

10,867: The number of people registered — as of July 1 — to protest during the convention

570: The approximate number of Cleveland police officers assigned to convention duty

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The best of the rest

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What to watch Tuesday

There are four Republicans speaking Tuesday who hope to run for president in the future: Paul Ryan, Scott Walker, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz. It will be interesting to watch how they position themselves vis-à-vis Trump Tuesday night as they start jockeying for position in a party that the presumptive nominee may not control past November.

Prediction: What they don’t say will be just as important as what they do say.

Theme:

Make America Work Again

Program:

Remarks by Ultimate Fighting Championship President Dana White

A video with the intriguing title Hil-LIAR-y

Remarks by professional golfer Natalie Gulbis

Remarks by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell

Remarks by House Speaker Paul Ryan

Remarks by New Jersey Gov. — and vanquished vice presidential contestant — Chris Christie

Remarks by Tiffany Trump

Remarks by Donald Trump Jr.

Remarks by Ben Carson

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