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The second day of the Republican National Convention was (kinda) about jobs.
The theme was "Make America Work Again," but right out of the gate, speakers largely focused on how a Hillary Clinton presidency would put America in danger.
In contrast to Monday’s roster, the schedule last night featured quite a few big-name Republican politicians — including House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
In case you missed it live, here are the biggest things that happened on the second night of the Republican convention.
1) Donald Trump officially became the Republican nominee for president
One of the first major events in last night’s lineup was the nomination vote, a very long convention rite that somehow manages to be both pretty boring and thoroughly awkward. The process consists of representatives from each state coming forward, delivering a little quip about why his or her state rocks, and declaring how the state's delegates vote. Despite all the chatter about a possible convention holdup, the nomination process largely went off without a hitch: The Trump-Pence ticket is official.
2) Republican National Committee Co-Chair Sharon Day brought up the rape allegations against Bill Clinton
In the middle of a speech criticizing Hillary Clinton, Day referenced past sexual assault accusations against Bill:
And as first lady, you viciously attack the character of women who are sexually abused at the hands of your husband. Now, don't get me wrong, I want to see a woman be president one day. I want my granddaughters to see a woman as president one day. But I stand before you [and say] not that woman, not Hillary Clinton.
Juanita Broaddrick first accused Bill Clinton of rape in a 1999 Dateline interview. As Vox’s Dylan Matthews has explained, Hillary Clinton has previously downplayed allegations against her husband — which is problematic because as a candidate she's insisted that we should err on the side of believing women who make such accusations.
3) Republicans hit Clinton hard on the same stuff they did on Monday night. At one point, the crowd began chanting for her imprisonment.
Terrorism and foreign affairs were the topics of Monday night’s proceedings; the theme was "Make America Safe Again." However, that didn’t stop Tuesday night’s convention speakers from criticizing Hillary Clinton along their usual talking points: Benghazi, her support for the Libyan intervention in general, and how those two things make her unfit to defend America against ISIS and "radical Islam."
Frankly, at times it seemed like the speakers didn't even know that the focus of the night was jobs and industry.
"Make America Work Again" night showing our biggest growth industry is fear #RNCinCLE
— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) July 20, 2016
The most notable example of this was New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who spent nearly his entire speech listing off Clinton's alleged failures during her tenure as secretary of state. In Christie’s own words, the speech was an "indictment." As he listed off details about Clinton’s involvement in situations in Libya, Syria, Nigeria, Iran, and Russia, the crowd began chanting, "Guilty!"
4) Ben Carson mentioned Lucifer for no reason
In one of the weirdest moments of the night, Ben Carson criticized Clinton for being just one degree of separation away from The Wicked One himself. It honestly doesn't make a lot of sense, but here it is:
Now, one of the things that I have learned about Hillary Clinton is that one of her heroes, her mentors, was Saul Alinsky. Her senior thesis was about Saul Alinsky. This was someone she greatly admired and [who] affected all of her philosophy subsequently.
Interestingly enough, let me tell you something about him. He wrote a book called Rules for Radicals. On the dedication page, it acknowledges Lucifer, the original radical who gained his own kingdom.
Think about that. This is a nation where our founding document, the Declaration of Independence, talks about certain inalienable rights that come from our creator. This is a nation where our pledge of allegiance says we are one nation under God. This is a nation where every coin in our pocket and every bill in our wallets says, "In God we trust."
So are we willing to elect someone as president who has, as their role model, somebody who acknowledges Lucifer?
5) A bunch of people who have done business with Donald Trump talked
The few speakers who stuck to the script about jobs were mostly past and present business associates of Trump. They included Dana White, president of the UFC, the until-now-unknown Andy Wist, and Kerry Woolard, general manager of Trump Winery.
6) Paul Ryan delivered his party unity speech
Paul Ryan has a long history of disagreement with Donald Trump. In fact, the speaker of the House famously threatened to withhold his endorsement for Trump until the billionaire shored up his conservative cred and reined in his divisive rhetoric.
However, the Paul Ryan who took the stage last night was a unifier, careful to minimize the well-documented disputes within the party:
We Republicans have made our choice. Have we had our arguments this year? Sure we have. You know what I call those? Signs of life. Signs of a party that is not just going through the motions, not just mouthing the words from the same old stuff.
Meanwhile, what choice has the other party made in this incredible year filled with so many surprises? [...] They are offering a third Obama term brought to you by another Clinton.
7) Trump’s kids gave nice speeches about him. One was accused of plagiarism.
Two of Trump's children, Donald Trump Jr. and Tiffany Trump, spoke last night. Donald Trump Jr. spoke to his father’s work ethic and repeated a lot of the criticisms of Hillary Clinton heard earlier in the night. After the convention wrapped up, he was accused of parroting a line from an American Conservative article, adding to accusations that his stepmother, Melania Trump, had plagiarized her speech from the night before.
However, the man who originally wrote the line was quick to deny that Donald Jr. stole it.
Meanwhile, Tiffany Trump, who made her debut on the national stage, mostly focused on showcasing the softer, more human side of her father.
8) The founder of Muslims for Trump gave a prayer
His name is Sajid Tarar. The prayer was short and pretty generic:
Join me in prayer for God; our nation is in need. A new leader, a commander who will guide America along a path of righteousness.
We as Americans are ready for real hope, a change, and ask for a tenacious leader who will be able to motivate us.
The qualities of this leader must reflect the qualities required to uplift Americans and truly make America great again. Amen.
For more on why some American Muslims support Donald Trump, read Vox’s Jennifer Williams. And for winners and losers, see Dylan Matthews.
