The fourth day of the Republican National Convention kicks off Thursday, July 21, at 7:20 pm.
The fourth night's theme is "Make America One Again," a much vaguer unifying principle than Monday's "Make American Safe Again" (which presaged a night full of attacks on Hillary Clinton's national security record and stern warnings about the threat of "radical Islamist terrorism," which was always referred to by that name) and Tuesday's "Make America Work Again" (which had a business/economy theme, albeit a looser one than the national security theme of night one).
The basic implication, however, seems to be that America has been divided (implicitly along racial lines) in the Obama years, and Republicans will return us to a simpler time when white Americans were not asked to confront racism and its legacy.
But beyond themes, the fourth night of the convention is the night when the nominee speaks. America will hear — presumably at some length — from Donald Trump. That's what matters.
How to watch:
C-SPAN is airing the convention, gavel to gavel. It also provides a live stream for web viewers.
CNN is doing 24-hour coverage of the convention, with its normal programs such as Wolf, The Lead, and The Situation Room airing from Cleveland.
CBS News and Twitter are teaming up to stream the convention live.
Finally, the RNC is streaming the proceedings live on YouTube, which you can see above.
The schedule:
Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus is scheduled to call the convention to order at 7:20 pm; you can read the full list of speakers, who are not given set times, here.
The major speakers are, in order:
- Liberty University president Jerry Falwell, Jr.
- Venture capitalist and Facebook board member Peter Thiel
- Colony capital CEO Tom Barrack
- Most-normal-seeming member of the Trump family Ivanka Trump
- The man himself Donald Trump
What to expect?
Mostly a speech by Donald Trump.
But a lot of us will also be curious to see what Peter Thiel has to say. Thiel is a smart and interesting guy who stands out from the world of Silicon Valley as really enjoying debate and discussion about the big ideas. He's also become a villain in many media circles (and a hero in some others) by leading a crusade to bankrupt Gawker. At a normal convention you would expect that despite his unconventional background, Thiel would just deliver a boilerplate speech.
But this is a really, really poorly organized convention and Thiel might say anything.
