Visiting Assistant Professor of Government Sam Rosenfeld was interviewed on two CTV News broadcasts about aspects of the Republican National Convention on Thursday, July 21. CTV is Canada’s most-watched television network.
During the first segment, his remarks were focused on Ted Cruz’s speech, presented on the previous evening, in which Cruz “laid down the marker that he has not reconciled with the party’s choice,” according to Rosenfeld. Even with a controversial candidate like Trump, Rosenfeld observed, the forces of polarization have resulted in upwards of 80 percent of Republicans supporting Trump.
In the second CTV interview, Rosenfeld discussed Trump’s address which he described as a “testament to the continued glitches of the convention.” He noted Trump’s focus on “darkness, a dystopian level of disorder.” Rosenfeld also observed the difficulties the party was experiencing in uniting behind their candidate. “Leader after leader has been forced to defend these really dramatic statements [that Trump has made].” He pointed to Trump’s comments about NATO as one example. Trump had said that if he is elected president that the United States will defend fellow NATO countries only if the countries in question were contributing their fair share to NATO’s budget.
