Philadelphia – Heavy rain throughout most of the afternoon kept protesters at bay during the final day of the Democratic National Convention. Though isolated incidences kept the police and media busy, the protests lacked critical mass to create the energy scene in days past.

The highlight of the day came at 7:00 PM near FDR park when activists scheduled a flag burning to protest Clinton’s nomination. Chants went up of “America was never great,” but the demonstration ultimately came to nothing as activists quickly dispersed.

The response from law enforcement was effective and proportional, managing to diffuse the situation without making any arrests or resorting to violence.

The Philadelphia police force has been exceptional all week. Their presence has been minimal and violence has been totally contained. Protesters have safely and freely expressed their political frustration, and arrests have only been made when absolutely necessary.

Melvin Singleton is an Inspector in the city of Philadelphia. He has spent most of the week monitoring activity in and around FDR park, and has been pleased with how well everything has gone.

“Our philosophy this week was to protect everyone’s rights to expression,” said Singleton. “All of our officers are aware that we are here to protect that, not to hinder it, and also to support it.”

This philosophy has been put to the test at some points, most notably on Tuesday during the Black Lives Matter protest which had a distinct focus on police brutality. Many chants during the march accused Philadelphia police of overt racism, and some included direct threats to police officers.

Inspector Singleton acknowledged that tension, but said it was just a part of the job.

“Tolerance and discipline, those are the keys from our point. If we can maintain that presence, we can work through any tense moment. Even though it did get tense, it didn’t get violent, and that’s all that is important.”

Prior to the convention, it seemed that the enormous tensions between police and the public around the country might be a defining  element of the Democratic convention. Fortunately, it wasn’t.  

What has been so interesting about the style of policing during the DNC has been its minimalist approach. Officers have tended to stay outside of the center of the chaos, acting more as overseers than anything else. This is in stark contrast to the strategy employed in Cleveland, where the police presence was far more intrusive.

The RNC employed officers from all over the country. I saw divisions from Florida, California, Indiana, and Georgia, as well as many other states. Officers were often equipped with military grade equipment and typically positioned themselves in more aggressive positions in monitoring protests.

It seems a stretch to equate this different style in policing to differences between the two parties. Having spoken with protesters at both conventions, I think it’s unfair to say that the divisions in the Republican party are more fundamental than the divisions among the Democrats.

However, the different approaches might have stemmed from the political rhetoric within the convention halls. Trump’s law and order message was directly reflected in the powerful and well equipped military style police force outside the arena doors. By that same token, the hopeful message of unity that has been projected in the Democratic convention seems to have played out in the woodstock-esque scenes in FDR park.  

Whatever the tactic, whatever the significance, I am grateful to the police for orchestrating two safe conventions.

Philadelphia – “Fuck the police! Fuck the police!” Chants echoed down Broad Street, kept on rhythm by a steady and ominous drum beat. Black Lives Matter (BLM) protesters filled every inch of the four lane thoroughfare as they stampeded down Broad St. to the City Hall and ground zero for protesters at the second day of the Democratic National Convention.  

The second day outside the DNC had a distinctly racial focus as Black Lives Matter and related groups staged the largest gatherings of the day. Protesters didn’t seem concerned with the roll-call taking place a few short miles away, roasting Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton only as an afterthought.

“No justice, no peace, no racist police! Fuck Hillary!” 

The anger in the air was tangible; at multiple points during the march, the organizers stopped the procession and quieted the crowd in order to find “FBI infiltrators” who had permeated the group. This led to several fistfights along the way, which the police were strangely apathetic about.

The Philadelphia police were the direct and sole target of the protesters’ anger. One black protester dressed in military style clothing walked down a long line of officers on bikes, made the shape of a gun with his fingers, and pretended to shoot each officer one after the other.

Michael Wilson is a resident of Philadelphia who organizes for the Philadelphia chapter of BLM, “Real Justice.” Real Justice has held a number of protests in response to the deaths of black Americans at the hands of the police, both locally and nationally. The protest today included a speech from the mother of a young man who was killed by the Philadelphia Police Department.

Michael Wilson, a BLM Organizer

Wilson talked about repairing relations between black communities and the local police force.

“We want the people in the neighborhoods to be able to view the police as not being their enemy, and the police to not view the people as being criminals,” Wilson said. “That will mean better training, especially for young white male cops who have no connection to the black community.”

“You bring in more police, you lock up more black men, and the worst part of it is that most of these kids are between 16-21, which means they are tagged as felons and kept outside of the American employment system for the rest of their lives,” he added. “They have been pimping the black community for years.”

Wilson connected the problem of police brutality in black neighborhoods to the problem of racially based economic inequality.

“The issue is that a lot of black men are committing crimes. But it’s not because they are bad people,” Wilson said. “You can’t lock up everybody for long prison terms when that’s really the only occupation in the neighborhood.”

Racially based economic inequality is an epidemic in Philadelphia. “March for Our Lives” is another Philadelphia based activist group that protests local economic inequality. Statistics on their homepage proclaim that Philadelphia’s poverty rate is 26%, with the highest deep poverty rate (people with incomes that are below half of the poverty line) in any of the ten largest cities in the U.S. at 12.3%.

Philadelphia is also a deeply segregated city. North and West Philadelphia are predominantly black, and are plagued by crime and poverty. Kingsessing is a neighborhood in Southwest Philadelphia that fits this description. The median income is far below the national level, luckily the rates for “Airbnb” houses are low, which is what attracted me.  

The people in Kingsessing have all been nice to me. I get nods and greetings as I walk down Belmar Avenue to catch the bus downtown. I stick out like a sore thumb, but so far that attention has only warranted kind older women asking me if I’m lost. Blond hair, blue eyes, and blindingly white skin are definitely out of the norm in Kingsessing.

Last night I was dragged away from Bill Clinton’s emotional endorsement of his wife by the sound of music and laughter coming from outside my door. I was greeted by Dave, Shawn, and Shaun, my next door neighbors. We ended up talking for hours about everything from the upcoming election, to our love lives, to life in general.

All three of them grew up in Philadelphia, without fathers in the home, incarcerated for various reasons. Shaun and Dave never finished high school, and Shawn is attending community college. Shawn was quick to tell me that the only reason he made it this far is because his mom is white.

They took me on a late night tour of the neighborhood, something that I would have never done alone. We had a great time swapping stories and trading laughs. They made me feel at home, which was a welcome relief after a week of no human interaction outside of the context of an interview.  

Dave, Shaun, and Shawn were all undecided voters. They didn’t like Clinton, and they thought Trump was funny, but they didn’t really think either candidate would have a huge affect on their lives. They also didn’t really care about the protests going on all week, many of which are going on in their names. These are the victims of racially based economic inequality, the victims of a system that perpetuates itself by sidelining millions of Americans.

They didn’t seem to mind too much. They all had plans of how to make a better life, and none of those plans involved the implementation of a different tax code.

Philadelphia – It seems fair to say that the only group of people that hate Hillary Clinton more than Donald Trump supporters are Bernie Sanders supporters. Protesters packed into Philadelphia’s historic City Hall to brandish signs damning Hillary Clinton and the so called “political establishment” on Monday, the first day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC).

The DNC has a distinctly different feel than the Republican National Convention (RNC) which concluded last week in Cleveland. The constant and overwhelming presence of police officers is nonexistent in Philadelphia, where police cars are few and far between. There is a different texture to the air; the DNC feels more like a music festival than a political protest.

Blistering hot weather greeted the protesters who marched down South Broad St. for three miles before reaching the Wells Fargo Arena and FDR park. In the park, Dr. Jill Stein was joined by Cornel West, Immortal Technique, and many others to showcase the Green Party. There were repeated calls made on Bernie Sanders supporters to switch their allegiance to Dr. Stein, the progressive Green candidate.

This appeal seemed to fly in the face of the message of the day at the DNC: stronger together.  Rather than uniting the two factions of the Democratic party, many Sanders supporters are finding themselves drifting out further left and finding common ground with third party candidates like Stein. Much of this political identity crisis has been spurred by an intense hatred of the presumptive Democratic nominee, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Alec Smith and Debbie Caravella, mother and son, traveled to Philadelphia from Florida to protest Clinton’s nomination. Debbie was especially outspoken about Clinton’s shortcomings.

“What do I hate about Hillary Clinton? What don’t I hate about Hillary Clinton. She is a career criminal, okay, she has been getting away with enough criminal activity forever, and now she’s exposed. She will say anything to get a vote. Never Hillary. Hillary isn’t going to do a damn thing for any one of us,” Caravella said.

Smith picked up where his mother left off.

“The whole idea that now Democrats have to vote for Hillary is antithetical to Democracy. She has to come and earn our votes, don’t let anyone tell you that you need to vote for her,” Smith said.

I heard this kind of criticism all day. Voters were fundamentally opposed to Clinton’s campaign, but often couldn’t voice any reasons past their visceral dislike of her. They called her a liar, a crook, and a phony, but failed to raise any real issues.

This seems strange given how many condemnable decisions Clinton has made. Whether it be the American involvement in Libya that she spearheaded or her deplorable list of financial donors, Clinton stands for so many things that are so opposite to the progressive ideas championed by Bernie. This abundance of progressive shortcomings is what makes it so frustrating to hear voters say that they simply don’t like her.

Smith and Caravella criticized her for changing her stance on the TPP once it became clear that liberal voters opposed it. In the same breath they criticized her choice of Vice President as not being far enough left.  

It seems that in the eyes of many Bernie supporters, Clinton can’t do anything right. When she responds to voters on the left who call for a more progressive candidate, she is viewed as ingenuine and she is labeled a flip flopper. When she follows her moderate political leanings, she is labeled an intractable product of the political establishment.

Clinton’s downfall may be that she has no group of voters who love her. Though both Bernie and Trump have a more narrow scope of political appeal, their supporters are passionate about their campaigns and feel that no other system will work. The RNC saw thousands of Americans pour into Cleveland to protest the nomination of Trump, but it also saw thousands of Americans rise in his defense. It remains to be seen whether the same can be said of Hillary.

Cleveland–Every four years the Republican primaries give conservative voters across the country the opportunity to choose a nominee who represents their values and advocates for their policies on a national level. According to many members of the 2016 Washington State RNC delegation, this process was usurped this year by Donald J. Trump. Trump took the party by storm, collecting more primary votes than any other candidate in the party’s history and sending the Republican establishment into a frenzy trying salvage their splintered party.

In the mayhem, a group of dedicated Ted Cruz supporters emerged as the final obstacle between Trump and the Republican Nomination. Working under the slogan “Never Trump” these delegates, politicians and activists attempted to stage a political insurgency on the Convention’s opening night to unbind delegates and prevent Trump from assuming the nomination.  

Every nominating convention begins with the adoption of the rules package agreed upon by the rules committee. This committee is composed of 112 members with representatives from each state as well as 12 delegates-at-large. The committee meets three times a year every year to craft the laws that will govern the upcoming convention. They last met on July 14, 2016, for what has been described as a “marathon session” to finalize the 2016 convention rules.

The Anti-Trump movement within the rules committee attempted to unbind the delegates before the convention began.  They submitted new proposed rules as well as a long list of amendments to existing rules, all aimed at unbinding the delegates and allowing them to vote their conscience.

A bound delegate must cast their vote based on the primary results from the state that they represent. These bound delegates don’t have a say in which candidate they vote for, they are directly constrained by the voters in their state. Not only was the “Never Trump” group unsuccessful in freeing the delegates, the rules committee added language that more explicitly bound delegates during the 2016 convention.

This failure meant that the only hope for the “Never Trump” movement was to reject the rules package on the convention floor so that the convention would function based on a previous version that omitted the explicit binding clause.  

In order to accomplish this, the anti-Trump group needed to collect signatures from more than half the delegates from at least seven states to force a roll call vote and decide whether or not to accept the rules package. Once that threshold was met, convention speaker Paul Ryan would begin the roll call vote, and if a majority of the total delegates opposed the rules package it would be struck down and the convention would proceed under a previous version of the rules. Unfortunately for the “Never Trump” group, this threshold was not met.

The official narrative is that nine states initially met the majority delegate threshold to trigger a roll call vote, but after a series of negotiations three of those states fell below the threshold. Paul Ryan then called for a voice vote, the “ayes” won, and the rules were accepted.

It is unclear what “negotiation” means. Some on the “Never Trump” side prefer “political strong arming” to describe how the RNC convinced delegates from three states to remove their signatures. Either way, the result was a voice vote that passed the rules package and made the nomination of Donald J. Trump inevitable.

Washington State and the Never Trump Movement

Washington was one of the nine states that met the threshold of signatures to trigger a roll call vote. The Washington delegation was strongly pro-Cruz and 28 of the 44 delegates signed the petition the force a roll call vote.

The Petition for a roll call vote with signatures gathered from 28 members of the Washington Delegation

In Washington, the caucus to choose the delegates is separate from the primary election where the voters decide who those delegates will vote for. The Washington Caucus was held in February while the primary did not happen until May. The Ted Cruz campaign was organized and dynamic during the caucus, managing to get nearly all of their delegate selections through to the national level. Of the 44 Washington delegates, 37 were ardent Cruz supporters.  

By the beginning of May however, Trump was the only remaining candidate. Cruz suspended his campaign after Trump won all 57 delegates with 53 percent of the votes in the Indiana primary. In Washington, Trump won 75 percent of the Primary vote and Cruz, with his 10 percent, did not reach the 20 percent threshold which would have qualified him for delegates from Washington. Trump received all of Washington’s bound delegates.

This posed a dilemma for the Trump-bound, Cruz-supporting delegates who were then forced to cast their votes not only for a different candidate than the one that they support, but for a candidate that many of them absolutely hate.

Andy Hutchison is a delegate at large for Washington state. His wife, Susan Hutchison, is the Chairman of the delegation, and they are both deeply involved with the Washington State Republican Party. Hutchison contends that because Trump won Washington’s primary election and Cruz failed to secure the minimum 20 percent, Trump should receive all of Washington’s bound delegates.

Andy Hutchison, At-large delegate from Washington State

Eric Minor is a delegate from Gig Harbor. He has been an integral part of the “Never Trump” movement both nationally and within Washington.  Three or four months ago, Minor had no formal involvement with the Republican Party, but, he said, “I always voted Republican.” His relative lack of involvement changed in 2016 as the competition between Trump and Cruz heated up. Minor felt that it would come down to a floor fight, and Cruz would need delegates to stop Trump’s nomination. “I supported Senator Cruz from the very first day he announced, and in my judgement, he is the best candidate Republicans have had since Ronald Reagan, bar none,” Minor said.  

Eric Minor (right), WA Delegate from Gig Harbor, discusses the RNC.

Minor also told a different version of the Washington state primary. He argued that because Ted Cruz had already dropped out of the race before the Washington primary, there is no Democratic process to be protected. Conservative voters had no other option, and even with that, Donald Trump only received 75 percent of the votes.  

“That is not indicative of a mandate that the people in Washington want Donald Trump,” Minor said. He also claims that roughly 14 million Democrats participated to sabotage the Republican primary. “If everyone else is going to play by that charade that’s fine, but I’m not going to.”  

Minor and other Trump opponents look to a book called “Delegates Unbound” to support their arguments. The book claims that the issue was settled in 1880 when James Garfield was nominated for President and claimed that there can never be a convention in which delegates votes are bound. “Delegates Unbound” argues that from every Republican convention since 1880, excluding 1976, Delegates have been unbound and haven’t been required to vote based on their district’s election results. “The simple fact is that the delegates for the Republican Party choose the nominee,” Minor said.

“What if the presumptive nominee shoots someone in the head between the Washington primary and the convention? Am I still bound to vote for that candidate? That is ridiculous,” Minor said.

He acknowledges that the Democratic process is important and said that delegates should take into consideration the votes of the state that they represent, but for Minor it is ultimately up to the delegates to cast their vote based on what they think is the best candidate for the party and for America.  

“I am the one responsible for putting forth the nominee for the Republican Party that will possibly be the 45th President of the United States. That’s an awesome responsibility, I have to take it seriously, I will not be told how to vote,” Minor said.   

Hutchison and Minor also tell vastly different versions of how the “negotiations” that ruined any chance of success for the “Never Trump” group took place.

Hutchison claims that it came down to a convenience issue. “The thought was that we would spend all this time, about four hours, doing this vote and disrupting the convention and we’d have the same result,” Hutchison said.

Minor of course saw it very differently, claiming that the RNC knew they had met the threshold and then deliberately cheated. He says that they sent out state chairs to “muscle up” delegates and get them to remove their signatures.  

“It was a sham,” Minor said. “Like something that happens in a Banana Republic in South America. Not worthy of something that should happen in the United States of America.”

Minor described getting phone calls from neighbors and friends, appalled when the Washington delegation announced that all 44 of their votes were going to Trump.

An Unbound System May Have Prevented Trump, but at What Cost?

A system of unbound delegates might have been able to prevent Trump from winning the nomination. To many, that alone is reason enough to unbind delegates. Candidates like Trump that rise to power through emotional appeal, playing on voters’ fear and unease would be less likely to sway the opinions of elected delegates. But what would be the cost of a system of unbound delegates?

Being a delegate is expensive. Between airfare, hotel costs and eating out for 5 nights, the Washington delegates had to pay upwards of $900 to attend the convention in Cleveland.  They were also expected to spend a full work week in Cleveland.  Including the days spent at the various local and regional caucuses, delegates missed up to ten days of work, not even including the time spent networking to win votes and researching to prepare for the campaigns.

Of the nearly 2,500 Republican delegates in Cleveland this past week, 18 were black. In sum, the national delegates are an exclusive club, largely dominated by the wealthy and devoid of any meaningful diversity.

While many see Trump as a terrifying prospect, his potential presidency is not nearly as terrifying as an America in which 2,500 wealthy Americans have near total power to select a Presidential nominee.

Kelly Lotze is an alternate delegate from Spokane Washington who works as a political consultant. Lotze has been involved with the Washington State Republican Party for a long time. He tried unsuccessfully to be a delegate in 2012.

“Just as Minor would accuse them of strong arming people, in my opinion, I could accuse him of trying to strong arm people into trying to sign that roll call vote. It goes two ways.”

Lotze also argues that Andy Hutchison was probably exaggerating, and that the roll call would not have been as much of a disruption as Hutchison estimated. “They can either do it by polling the delegation, which is faster than the verbal style we did for the nomination, which would probably only have taken about two hours, not four.”

Both Hutchinson and Minor claim that their argument is supported by the rules that govern the RNC and the Washington State Republican primary. Three sets of rules apply to the debate: Washington State’s, the Washington State Republican Party’s and the national Republican Party’s. These rules overlap, are open to interpretation and often contradict one another. Both sides make legitimate points that are supported by the legal code, but in the end, while the debate was spirited and thoroughly researched, the outcome was expected. Donald Trump is the Republican nominee, the fight is over.  

For Lotze, this is a situation in which the cure might be worse than the disease. Considering how many opportunities there are throughout the four years between elections to amend the rules, it just seems unfair to try to drastically alter the system at the eleventh hour.

“I get what they’re trying to do, I get the vote your conscience thing, but at the same time if we were to change our rules, we completely disenfranchise over 600,000 people, everyone that claimed to be a Republican, everyone that voted in the Republican primary, and Donald Trump got the majority of those votes,” Lotze said. “You have to think about the future.”

Cleveland, Ohio – Throughout the entirety of the 2016 Republican National Convention, one group of people have maintained a constant presence: the vendors. Visitors to Cleveland can purchase political apparel in every size, color, and design imaginable. One vendor sold shirts that read “Hillary sucks, but not as much as Monica” on the front, and “Trump that Bitch” on the back.

The majority of the vendors are Cleveland locals or commuters from nearby Ohio cities. They have made a killing peddling their merchandise to the politically charged, primarily out of state clientele. Timothy Moore commuted from Ashville, OH to sell Trump apparel. He said that he has been making upwards of $3,000 a day selling shirts and hats. Moore is also a Trump supporter, which came as a surprise to me, because Moore is black.  

In fact, most of the vendors that line the streets of Cleveland are black. Some of them sell local sportswear, some sell Hillary Clinton apparel, but most sell Trump gear. Keith B is another vendor who set up shop along Euclid Avenue. “I’ve grown to be a Trump supporter,” Keith told me. “He is bringing American jobs back, brother, and Hillary Clinton will not do that.”

The Republican Primaries were marred by controversial, racist comments made by Mr. Trump. In a rally announcing his campaign he alleged that Mexican immigrants were “bringing drugs, bringing crime,” and were “rapists.” Trump has repeatedly promised that if he were elected he would place a temporary ban on all Muslim immigration to the United States. These comments have led many to simply label Trump, “a racist.” In fact, an NBC/WSJ/Marist Poll in July found that Trump had 0% support from black voters in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Keith, however, may be part of that zero percent.

“I would tell people who say that Trump is a racist, that they don’t know what a racist is… Now Hillary and Bill, they have never done anything for the black community but made it harder, and harsher,” said Keith.

This was an opinion that I heard repeated from many minority vendors.  Another vendor, Richard, is a Cleveland native and a BLM activist. He sold shirts that read “hands up don’t shoot.” Richard won’t vote for Trump, but felt similarly to Keith. “Trump never offended me,” Richard said. “I mean I personally have never heard him say anything racist.”  

Most of the vendors that I interviewed gave me quizzical looks when I asked them if they felt like their racial identity clashed with the merchandise that they were selling.  And really, why should it? Why should someone vote a certain way just because of their race? With the myriad aspects that make up personal and political identity, race isn’t the most important factor for a lot of voters.  

“Most of the black people that vote, they vote blindly because their minister told them to,” said Richard. “They call it the ‘black slate.’ They say, ‘this is the black slate, and this is who you vote for,’ and the name is always a Democrat.”

Political pundits often talk about the “black vote” as a prize that candidates win by saying the phrase “equality” more than ten times, but the reality is that black voters are a diverse group of people who support a diverse group of candidates and hold a diverse group of political ideologies.  

Richard went even farther, turning the focus back on me. “Look, as far as I can tell, labeling people as “racists” is something that white folks like you love to do. But who does it help? I don’t think Trump is any more racist than Hillary, and really, how do I know that you aren’t a racist?”

Cleveland, Ohio — The Republican Convention is now three quarters complete. Wednesday brought another day of inconsequential protests and a heavy police presence outside the convention, while inside a Republican Party starved of unity continued to prove that modern conservatism has many different meanings. 

Among the protests, A rousing speech from pro-choice advocates was highlighted the day, but even that failed to draw the kinds of crowds expected for this convention. Officers spent the majority of the day protecting Westboro Baptist Church members who continued to propagate their message. Regulars in the Public Square seem to have grown used to the Westboro lectures, which were often greeted with laughter today.

Protesters launched a march towards the end of the day, but turnout was low and it fizzled out quickly.  The anger that was palpable in the past two days seems to have subsided.  Large groups of people handed out “free hugs” shirts, and volunteers offered free food and ice cold water to anyone in need.  

I spent much of the day pounding the pavement around the Quicken Loans arena, but was able to meet with a few of the delegates from Washington state at a local restaurant. They gave me insights into what goes on behind the scenes at the conventions. Delegates receive a week of exclusive after-parties and open bars as a reward for their work organizing and rallying voters.

The restaurant we ate at broadcasted coverage of the convention, and when Ted Cruz appeared on screen everyone went silent. The television volume was instantly turned up.  Cruz praised his wife, which brought cheers from the assembled crowd, many of whom were wearing red shirts that read “Cruz Conservative” in the outline of Washington State.  I was informed that many of the Washington delegates had just finished meeting with Senator Cruz.  Cruz spoke later that night at the RNC and was greeted with boos when he was unwilling to endorse Donald Trump’s candidacy.

Washington State is home to a number of the #NeverTrump delegates who helped to organize Monday’s attempted political insurgency. Eric Minor is a delegate from Gig Harbor and is an ardent Cruz supporter who been involved in national efforts to usurp Trump’s nomination.

This election has been something of an identity crisis for a lot of Republicans, as the values and ideas that used to define the party are shifting. Minor summed up conservatism with three phrases. “Limited constitutional government, free markets, fiscal responsibility. That’s what conservatism is to me,” he said.   

This definition is in stark contrast to the definition provided by Bruce Spratling, a Trump supporter from South Dakota who traveled to Cleveland to support the republican nominee. Spratling told me that Trump supported “traditional American values,” which he then expanded upon. “Heterosexuality, a white majority, and a unified culture.”  

Some will damn Trump as the divisive figure that generated xenophobic and racist attitudes while others will hail him as the great exposer, bringing racial tensions to the forefront of the political discussion. Either way, the Trump campaign has awoken the sleeping giant that is American intolerance.  
As we move into the final day of the Republican convention, it is still unclear if  Trump can unite the Republican Party under his banner. For Minor and many others like him, that will never happen. This split down the middle of the Republican Party raises questions over the Party’s future viability, and the same can be said of the “Bernie or Bust” crowd on the left. It seems that the destruction of the two-party system may be the only logical cure to this national political identity crisis.

Cleveland, Ohio – The second day of the Republican National convention followed much the same script as the first. Protests, though spirited, were contained by an enormous and well marshaled police force, and businessman Donald Trump officially seized the Republican nomination.

Protests were kept to a minimum for most of the day. Small groups assembled in Public Square throughout the day to broadcast their messages. Black Lives Matter protesters and members of the Westboro Baptist Church occupied separate corners. The main attractions for most of the day, however, were the guns. Police officers arrived in force when two African-American men entered the square brandishing assault rifles. Jaimes Campbell, a protester in Public Square, carried a loaded assault rifle and said, “it is not a crime to be a minority in this country and carry a gun.” SWAT officers with riot shields stood in front of men in army fatigues, helmets, and assault rifles.

The mood was calm until around 4 o’clock, when Alex Jones, notorious radio show host and conspiracy theorist, arrived. Wearing a crisp suit and surrounded by bodyguards, Jones headed immediately for the center of the square brandishing a megaphone. “We’re here as the American people, saying that our free country is not gonna have a bunch of dirty communists, and terrorist scumbags.”  

A group of protesters responded to Jones, chanting “Nazi scum, off our streets!” and eventually drowned out Jones’ speech. Jones and his bodyguards headed towards the stairs where the protesters stood and a scuffle ensued. Police broke the fight up in seconds and began to aggressively partition the park to prevent further violence. Within an hour they had totally separated the Westboro Baptist Church group from the Black Lives Matter protesters.  

The Black Lives Matter group eventually left the square and began marching down South Roadway, continuing until it intersected with 13th Avenue where they held a rally before dispersing.  

Though protesters brandished signs with passion and Westboro Baptist church members demonstrated nearly inhuman stamina, both days of the convention have felt safe. A lot of money and resources have been invested in keeping this convention that way, as the eyes of the nation turn to Cleveland.  

One of the people speaking in the early afternoon was Alfred Porter Jr., the President of “Black on Black Crime Incorporated.” Porter addressed the assembled crowd and repeated the phrase, “tale of two cities” many times. Porter lamented the inequality in Cleveland, the city has spent so much preparing for the convention while so little goes to poor black communities in the city.

“I think right now, the tale of two cities is the fact that they spent almost $30 million down here for the square…The renaissance here is beautiful, I’m impressed with all of it, but we’re being strangled,” Porter said.“Uptown and in the inner-city we’re being caught from shootings, police brutality, abandoned property, nothing is being fixed up.”

“Reporters definitely aren’t seeing what’s going on outside the convention. Not in any shape or form. Outside we’ve had about 17 shootings starting from Friday evening (July 15) till this morning (July 19),” Porter continued.“If you let people know that the entire police department will be downtown… They said what was going to happen, and a lot of criminals took advantage of it. We have now 12 active shooters, runnin loose, but everybody is safe downtown.”

The RNC has brought the eyes of the nation to Cleveland Ohio, and it is clear that projecting images of security is at the top of the Party’s agenda. On the streets of the protests it has often seemed that reporters and police officers outnumber protesters. The unfortunate cost of this well ordered convention is a lack of protection throughout the rest of Cleveland. 17 black lives are clearly expendable, whereas the feeling of stability is priceless. Right now, downtown Cleveland, Ohio might be the safest place in the country.