Republican Party Convention Highlights Irony in “Law and Order” Platform

The Republican party, which promised in its 2024 policy platform to restore “law and order” as a “pillar” of “American civilization,” concluded its convention in Milwaukee on Friday. The event featured several prominent figures with criminal backgrounds.

Keynote Speaker: Donald Trump

The most notable attendee was Donald Trump, the former president turned nominee. In May, Trump was convicted in New York on 34 criminal charges of falsifying business records related to hush-money payments to an adult film star. He awaits trial on at least 14 and potentially as many as 54 other criminal charges. Additionally, Trump has been fined hundreds of millions of dollars in civil cases for business fraud and defamation related to a rape claim a judge deemed “substantially true.”

Peter Navarro

Peter Navarro, Trump’s former trade adviser, addressed the convention on Wednesday. He recently served four months in a Florida jail for criminal contempt of Congress. Navarro, convicted for refusing to comply with subpoenas from the House January 6 committee, received a standing ovation as he declared, “I went to prison so you won’t have to.”

Paul Manafort

Another attendee was Paul Manafort, Trump’s 2016 campaign manager. Manafort was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison in 2019 for charges including bank fraud, tax fraud, money laundering, and witness tampering, stemming from the investigation into Russian election interference and Trump’s links to Moscow. Pardoned by Trump in 2020, Manafort attended the convention and praised it as the best he had experienced.

Roger Stone

Roger Stone, a longtime operative convicted on charges from the Russia investigation, was also present. Stone, sentenced to over three years in prison for witness tampering and obstructing Congress, had his sentence commuted by Trump and never served jail time.

Rod Blagojevich

Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich attended as well. Convicted in 2011 on 17 criminal charges, including bribery, fraud, and extortion, Blagojevich was jailed for 14 years before Trump commuted his sentence in 2020. Blagojevich expressed his support for Trump, calling him “the most demonized political figure in American history.”

Steve Bannon

Steve Bannon, another former Trump aide jailed for criminal contempt of Congress over January 6, did not attend but received updates from his daughter while in federal prison. Bannon remains engaged with current events despite his imprisonment.

Irony Noted

The presence of these individuals highlighted the irony of the “party of law and order” being led by a convicted criminal and welcoming other criminals. As noted by Will Saletan in the Bulwark, an anti-Trump conservative publication, “One of the defining elements of authoritarianism is selective application of the law… This distinction has become central to Donald Trump’s Republican party.”