“They want to destroy this country and everything that we have fought for and hold dear. They want to steal your liberty, your freedom, they want to control what you see and think and believe so that they can control how you live. They want to enslave you to the weak, dependent, liberal victim ideology to the point that you will not recognize this country or yourself.” So yelled (and I mean YELLED) Kimberly Guilfoyle in a speech that aptly summed up the tone of night one of the GOP convention. (For all I know, this stuff works…)

+ Three takeaways from the first night of the GOP convention.

+ The theme of the evening was that Donald Trump is awesome. A few outtakes: “I am so in awe of your leadership” … “There’s only one person who has empathized with everyday Americans and actually been fighting for them over the past four years, and that is President Donald Trump” … “Just imagine what 2020 would have looked like, fighting for your life, without Donald Trump fighting for it too. In January, there would have been no China travel ban. Millions would have died. Millions more would have been infected. There would have been no record levels of testing … no fast track for a vaccine” … “We will build a future where America remains the greatest country ever to exist in the history of the world. All of that is within our grasp if we secure four more years for the defender of Western civilization.” WaPo: 7 cultish moments at Trump’s convention. The Democrats pitched Joe Biden as a good, honest guy who eats ice cream and calls his granddaughters a lot. The GOP pitched Trump as Zeus.

+ Night two will feature more Trump family members and Sec of State Pompeo chiming in from Jerusalem. (Sidenote: “Senate confirmed Presidential appointees may not even attend a political party convention or convention-related event.”)