A Tale of Two Speeches

As Hillary Clinton limped across the finish line on Tuesday night to clinch the nomination for her party, Donald Trump focused his sights on the prize — the restoration of American exceptionalism.

Trump, in perhaps his most humble speech to date, signaled a new disciplined direction for his campaign, while Clinton stuck to her scripted and tired talking points, filled with corny cliches and hyper-feminist rhetoric. There was a stark difference in not only the tone but the content of the two speeches, with Trump looking to the future as Hillary attacked her opponent for being “temperamentally unfit” for office.

The biggest contrast in the speeches was that Clinton remained robotic and represented herself as the “politics as usual” candidate. Trump, meanwhile, came across as polished and presidential — a welcome change for some from his uncontrolled speeches. Undoubtedly, Trump stands to benefit significantly from Clinton’s candidacy since 2016 has so far been the year of the outsider — which he most certainly is.

The presumptive GOP nominee laid out his vision for America and why another Clinton in the White House would be detrimental for the future of the country. “America is getting taken apart, piece by piece, auctioned off to the highest bidder,” Trump said. “We’re broke. Our infrastructure is a disaster. Our schools are failing. Crime is rising. People are scared. The last thing we need is Hillary Clinton in the White House or an extension of the Obama disaster.”

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Trump’s rebuke of Obama’s legacy and Clinton’s desire to continue his disastrous policies was by far his strongest line — showing that Clinton represents more of the same. “The Clintons have turned the politics of personal enrichment into an art form for themselves,” Trump said.

Responses to Trump’s speech mostly followed that offered by Fox News’ Brit Hume, who said the speech contained “a lot in there for a lot of people.”

“It’s a message that will appeal not just to the segment of the Republican electorate that nominated him, but to a larger slice of the electorate as he tries to build a constituency large enough to elect him in the general,” Hume said.

National Review Institute fellow Victor Davis Hanson agreed. “Populism is what the Establishment has never tried and I think if he were to try it as he did last night continually — and as he did in the primaries — he’d do pretty well,” he said on “The Laura Ingraham Show.” If he can stay on economic populism message, I think he can win back a lot of people who are sort of promenading around, saying they’ll never vote for him.”

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Clinton, meanwhile, focused her remarks not around her policy proposals and accomplishments but on the divisiveness of Trump’s candidacy, often screeching into the microphone. Clinton naively stated she hopes unity will come to the Democratic Party and made an appeal to disaffected Bernie Sanders supporters, who stand steadfast with the 74-year-old socialist.

However, Clinton has a long road ahead as she desperately tries to unite the party and Trump knows that is her Achilles heel — making an appeal to Sanders supporters as well. “To all of those Bernie Sanders voters who have been left out in the cold by a rigged system of superdelegates, we welcome you with open arms — and believe me, the terrible trade deals that Bernie was so vehemently against will be taken care of far better than in your wildest imagination,” Trump said.

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Trump promised to be America’s champion, honing his efforts on making America strong again through economic revitalization and a strong workforce. Clinton, on the other hand, promised to shatter glass ceilings and fight against the Republican agenda — but offered few policy prescriptions of her own.