At the end of their grim convention, the Democrats formally nominated Biden.  A fragile-looking Biden gave a short, anodyne stump speech that garnered enthusiastic praise from Democrats grateful that he didn't get confused or say, "You know, the thing."

Republicans did things differently.  They nominated Trump on the first day.  Trump then appeared in North Carolina before a small, live audience and, showing his usual boundless energy, Borscht Belt comic timing, and mastery of the material, gave a 52-minute stemwinder.  Trump could not have presented a starker contrast to Biden's geriatric minimalism.

From the start, Trump was on fire.  He opened by dropping a hint that, in the Russia Hoax investigation, we should expect more revelations and possibly more indictments.

Pivoting to campaign mode, Trump told the audience that a successful country is a unified country.  He was enthusiastic about an economic resurgence and warned his audience that "Biden said the other day that he'd shut it down."  He also reminded them that Obama said it couldn't be done without a magic wand.  "I guess we had the magic wand," he added.

Trump did not forget the "China virus."  He pointed out that we've learned a great deal about the "invisible enemy."  Additionally, Trump said his administration had saved millions of lives with his speedy border closure and a government and business partnership the likes of which hasn't been seen since World War II.

The administration was there with PPE, ventilators, and anything else those governors who were "totally ill prepared" needed.  A more traditional administration, he said, could never have done what his had done.  Trump also promised that several vaccine trials are already at Stage 3, which is "unheard of."

Ordinarily, Trump's successes should make him a shoo-in for re-election.  But he is no ordinary incumbent, and, more to the point, this isn't your father's Democrat party; it's closer to Lenin's.  It is an aggressive, dishonest steamroller that will do anything to attain power and then maintain it in perpetuity.

There's no doubt that Trump is worried about the Democrat party's machinations.  He spent a considerable amount of time talking about the corruption hiding behind the Democrat party's push for mail-in voting, which he was careful to distinguish from the orderly process of absentee ballots.

If the Democrats get away with sending out 80 million ballots, he said, "This [election] will be one of the greatest scams."  Imagine, for example, if Democrat-run cities don't mail any ballots to Republican neighborhoods.  He also pointed out that using only the mail for voting had been a disaster in New York, Virginia, and New Jersey.

Mail voting will be even worse, Trump explained, if ballots get combined with vote-harvesting.  The Republicans' most significant advantage going into the election, he said, is enthusiasm.  Bernie voters were enthusiastic, but Bernie, "the greatest loser I've ever seen," cheerfully walked away from a rigged primary.  Democrats wanted Biden, and now they're stuck with a candidate nobody likes.

Ordinarily, the Democrats' poor candidate choice would be reflected in low Democrat turnout.  However, by combining mailed ballots and vote-harvesting, Democrats can fake enthusiasm: a neighborhood will be blanketed with mailed ballots, which unenthusiastic voters would probably ignore.

However, harvesters will go door to door, offering to fill in and mail the ballots, some of which no longer even need signature validation.  In this way, he said, "They're trying to steal the election from the Republicans." 

This is nothing new for the Democrats, said Trump.  In the last election, they did it with spying, "and that included President Obama."

When Trump said Obama's name, an audience member hollered out, "Spygate!"  Trump laughed and chided him — "Let's be nice" — adding, "We can't attack a president!"  And then, after a Borscht Belt–perfect pause, he continued.  "We caught him.  We caught him cold."

Trump rounded out his speech with a laundry list of his accomplishments.  When he said, "We've accomplished more than just about any administration in the history of our country," he meant it.  Trump recited border enforcement, the wall, job creation (which is returning), destroying ISIS, killing Soleimani and al-Baghdadi, appointing 300 new federal judges, bringing back manufacturing, strengthening a depleted military, replacing unfair trade deals, unleashing America's energy sector, killing the individual mandate, protecting the Second Amendment, lowering drug prices...and that was only part of what he named.

As for the Supreme Court justice issue, after applauding his two picks, Trump said Biden should publish a short list of his proposed Supreme Court candidates.  "The radical left will demand that he appoints super-radical, left, wild, crazy justices," Trump warned.  "Your American dream will be dead if that happens."  Moreover, in the next four years, the Supreme Court could field up to five opportunities for seating new judges.

The speech was a tour de force.  It reminded voters that they have a choice between a human dynamo who works for America and Americans and a frail puppet who is a front-person for people who openly desire American socialism.

Image: President Trump by White House Flickr. Public domain.