A flag burning on East Fourth Street and Ted Cruz’s inability to endorse Republican nominee Donald Trump made for the most eventful day of the Republican National Convention thus far. Here are three things you need to know, and what we’re looking forward to tonight.
Trump, Trumped
Former presidential candidate Ted Cruz refused to endorse Donald Trump during a speech to the convention last night, drawing of boos from the crowd. “Vote your conscience,” he said. Trump watched, seething, as Cruz ate up 21 minutes of primetime. Cruz’s wife, Heidi, had to be escorted from the hall as invectives flew in her direction. Even at Trump’s convention, the Cruz underground is alive and well, reports Politico. The Texas senator seems to already be looking to 2020. Cruz’s display stole the show from Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, who accepted the nomination for vice president Wednesday night. Growing up in an Irish Catholic family that idolized John F. Kennedy, Pence has left those roots behind and is now a staunch social conservative. He delivered a staid address capped off with an appearance from Trump. This is, after all, Trump’s show, which the nominee reiterated in a foreign policy interview with the New York Times Wednesday. When asked what he hoped people would take away from the convention Trump said, “The fact that I’m very well liked.”
Protests Heat Up
After two days of relative calm, tensions bubbled over Wednesday when protesters burned a flag at East Fourth Street and Prospect Avenue — just outside Quicken Loans Arena. After a tussle, police managed to clear the area, but not before Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Todd Heisler nabbed this incredible shot. The perpetrator, Gregory Lee “Joey” Johnson, has a history of flag burning. He was the plaintiff in a 1989 U.S. Supreme Court case that established the act as protected speech, reported Cleveland.com’s federal courts newshound Eric Heisig. Four law enforcement officers were assaulted at the protest, police said in a new release, and 18 people were arrested in connection with the incident — bringing the grand total of RNC arrests to 23 as of Wednesday night. The Ohio chapter of the National Lawyer’s Guild and the Cleveland NAACP expressed concern about the arrests. "The Ohio NLG is highly concerned about these arrests and the escalation of police tactics against peaceful demonstrators,” Jocelyn Rosnick, Ohio NLG Co-Coordinator wrote in a release. The NLG also raised concerns about a raid by the FBI and Elyria police on a home Wednesday morning. The NLG asserts the raid was conducted without a warrant and occupants were questioned about their protest activities during the RNC.
Publicity Square
We paid a visit to Greenhouse Tavern Wednesday for a chat with the head of political advertising sales for Twitter. From protesters to reporters to delegates, the social network is opening up the conversation, she said. “What I think it’s done is allow movements to be seen when otherwise they previously would not have been seen.” We also dove back into the ever-shifting menagerie of oddities on Public Square, from a magician who just wants to “Make America Magical Again” to a papier-mache Donald Trump head waving moneybags to a dude who wants to “Make America Vape Again.”
Link Soup
We’re just catching up with a segment comedian Samantha Bee did about Cleveland Monday night. Aside from the expected burning river jokes (c’mon), Bee interviewed Emily Lauer from the 2016 Cleveland Host Committee and Steve Loomis, the head of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association. In a gift from the comedy gods, Loomis somehow ended up saying she would make a great undercover cop posing as a hooker. Just watch it.
Man in a maelstrom: A new Politico Magazine piece analyzes Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus’s position in a post-Trump world. Also of note, from Mark Leibovich’s New York Times Magazine piece on Priebus in June: he has a 29-gallon fish tank in his office, in which a particular swimmer features prominently. “The big orange clown fish flailed at front and center,” wrote Leibovich. “I asked Priebus if it reminded him of anyone. ‘That’s not funny,’ he said with something between a slight grunt and chuckle.”
Ted Cruz got a rollicking reception at an event hosted by the delegation from Texas, his home state, this morning. “I am not in the habit of supporting people that attack my wife and attack my father,” he said.
Caitlyn Jenner, a transgender celebrity and Republican, shared the stage with Montel Williams at a Wednesday event hosted by Equality Ohio and the conservative LGBT advocacy group American Unity Fund. “It was easy to come out as trans, but it was hard to come out as a Republican,” Jenner said. Read more here.
Trump’s ghostwriter got a cease and desist after an interview with the New Yorker.
Rocco Whalen, of Tremont’s Fahrenheit, did Cleveland right on “Today.”
That “Late Show” segment we caught Stephen Colbert filming Sunday finally aired.
Some pro-level trolling behind Hugh Hewitt.
What we’re looking forward to today
The protesters arrested Wednesday are expected to be arraigned this morning, and the Revolutionary Communist Party has already staged a small demonstration outside the Justice Center. At a news conference this morning, city officials said they would release a list of those that were arrested.
The fountain on Public Square will be turned on early today to try and beat the heat, Cleveland police chief Calvin Williams announced this morning. Police officers will be handing out water. A water distribution buggy from the city will be stationed on the square as well.
Inside The Q tonight, Donald Trump will become the Republican nominee for president. Follow along with us on social media, because it’s going to be huge.
Twitter: @clevelandmag
Instagram: @clevelandmagazine
Reporting via Twitter
Sheehan Hannan: @sheehanhannan
James Bigley II: @jc_bigz
Steve Gleydura: @cle_steve
Kim Schneider: @kimberschneider
Jason Brill: @TheBrilla
