Here’s what the signs at the RNC said
Plus: How the Biden campaign is promoting Project 2025
Hello, in this issue we’ll look at…
Trump got the pro-wrestling convention of his dreams
Here’s what the signs at the RNC said
How the Biden campaign is promoting Project 2025
Scroll to the end to see: the most presidential way to cook a pizza 🍕
Trump got the pro-wrestling convention of his dreams
When organizers planned former President Donald Trump’s inauguration in 2017, they had trouble filling out their program. Artists like Elton John and Garth Brooks were reportedly invited to perform but declined, and in the end, Trump got just Toby Keith and Three Doors Down. But a lot has changed since then.
For this year’s Republican National Convention, organizers were able to assemble much more star power. Though it wasn’t exactly A-list, there were performances by Lee Greenwood, Kid Rock, and Forgiato Blow, a rapper I’d never heard of who did a terrible pro-Trump “Ice Ice Baby” parody video that featured Amber Rose and a Cybertruck. During his remarks, Hulk Hogan ripped off his shirt to reveal he was wearing a sleeveless Trump-Vance logo shirt underneath, and Tucker Carlson, the former host of the highest-rated program in cable news history, also spoke.
Trump was introduced by Dana White, the president of Ultimate Fighting Championship, and when Trump spoke, he first appeared in front of his last name written out in lights, like Elvis. Trump’s fans have long dressed like him with long red ties, red hats, and wigs, but this week they also wore paper on their ears to reference the bandage their hero wore on his ear following this weekend’s assassination attempt.
All in all, it all felt more like a pro-wrestling match than what you usually see on C-SPAN. Trump made history as the first candidate since Richard Nixon to be nominated three times and the first convicted felon to be nominated by a major party. Hopes for a ~new tone~ in his speech, his first since the shooting, lasted all of 17 minutes. Though Trump called for an end to the “demonization of political enemies,” he at times demonized his political enemies.
At 90 minutes long, Trump’s speech also meandered, dampening the monster truck momentum of the convention’s final night. Still, it capped a convention that demonstrated Trump’s hold on the party. It was tailor made for a nominee who started building his national political base as a McBling-era reality TV show host, and it was designed to convey the message that Republicans are united and Trump is strong.
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Here’s the signs used at the Republican National Convention
If you want to know the main talking points of the Republican National Convention, read the signs.
The pageantry and messaging of major party conventions would be incomplete without the slogan signs passed out for attendees to hold up. They reinforce the party’s message and the theme of each day. This year’s Republican convention signs were designed to look like Trump’s logo, with the text inside of a box with stars.
Some signs merely played off Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan with the night’s themes, like “Make America Safe Again!” and “Make America Strong Again!,” but others got more specific. Like “Mass Deportation Now!”
For the opening night’s theme of “Make America Wealthy Once Again,” signs read “Trump, More Opportunities” and “Trump, Lower Taxes No Inflation.” For the second night, “Make America Safe Once Again,” it was sayings like “Back the Blue” and “Stop Biden’s Border Bloodbath.”
Yikes. One sign brought back the Reagan-era Republican slogan “Peace Through Strength,” while on the convention’s final night, attendees held up a sign that read “Bring Back Common Sense.”
Other slogans hit Biden, and together, these anti-Biden signs set up the campaign’s messaging for their planned line of attack during the general election should they indeed face President Joe Biden: “Trump America First, Biden America Last.” “Trump = Strong. Biden = Weak.” “Fire Joe Biden.”
How the Biden campaign is promoting Project 2025
If you searched “Project 2025” on Google during the Republican National Convention, the top paid result might have been a link to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article about how the Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank behind Project 2025, is a Republican National Convention sponsor. But it wasn’t the Journal Sentinel that was paying to boost its reporting, it was the Biden campaign.
Since the Biden campaign launched a Project 2025 website last week, it’s ramped up its paid digital advertising efforts promoting the blueprint for a second Trump term written by Trump allies at the Heritage Foundation and other conservative groups.
Some of the Biden campaign’s paid advertising on Google is meant to be informational, like linking to Wisconsin’s biggest newspaper, but others are raising money.
A review of Google’s ad library found Biden’s joint fundraising committee, Biden Victory Fund, has mostly fundraised off Project 2025, while Biden for President links to its own sites and news media articles.
In addition to the Journal Sentinel article about the Heritage Foundation, Biden for President has linked recently to articles from Mother Jones and Slate about the Republican Party’s stance on abortion and an NBC News story about Trump saying Putin can do “whatever” he wants to NATO countries. They also shared Axios articles about Trump saying he won’t accept the election results unless he wins and presidential experts naming Trump the worst president in U.S. history.
On Meta platforms, the Biden campaign is running ads focused on John McEntee, a Project 2025 senior advisor and former top Trump aide who said on a podcast he was rethinking the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.
The campaign’s ad is a graphic of a BidenHQ post that reads “Planner of Trump’s Project 2025 calls for repealing the 19th Amendment.” The Biden campaign is also hoping its supporters can spread the word with $6 stickers with a QR code that say “Look Up Project 2025.”
Trump and his campaign have sought to distance themselves from Project 2025, which was written by Trump allies. Trump senior adviser Chris LaCivita said Thursday that Project 2025 is “a pain in the ass.”
Have you seen this?
MAGA is winning the image wars, again. Who would have ever thought that an ear bandage would be the new MAGA hat? [Fast Company]
The Obama Presidential Center is naming its plaza after John Lewis. The plaza will be named after the late civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), Obama announced Wednesday, the anniversary of Lewis’ death. [WSMV]
The MONUMENTS exhibit has a working Mount Rushmore pizza oven. Eli Russell Linnetz’ new exhibit at the Jeffrey Deitch Gallery in Los Angeles re-interprets American landmarks such as Mount Rushmore and the Statue of Liberty. [Hypebeast]
J.D. Vance left his Venmo public. Here’s what it shows. More than 200 people appear on Vance’s Venmo “friends” list. [Wired]
Why the new Trump-Vance logo represents a whole new era for the Trump brand. That Trump’s campaign would opt for a light-touch brand “refresh” rather than a full-on rebrand is to be expected. Presidential campaigns tend to stick with the same design elements in their visual identities over multiple campaign cycles. [Yello]
History of political design
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Wide Awake button (ca. 1860). This rare silver button for the Wide Awakes, a pro-Lincoln abolitionist group, shows an engraved eagle. Hake’s, an auction house, said it’s the only one of its kind they’ve seen in 52 years.
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