GOP Smacked: Simon Carswell’s Republican convention diary

Migrant double standards

It was not the plagiarised part of Melania Trump’s speech that bothered one Republican delegate on the floor of the convention on Monday night.

Betsy Close, an Oregon state senator, took issue with how the then Melania Knauss, a Slovenian-born model, came into the country on a H1B visa, the programme used by high-skilled immigrants but also by Trump's modelling agency.

Throughout his campaign, the businessman has berated US companies that use foreign workers instead of Americans, particularly through the H1B programme.

"I have a little problem with the way she got into the country. There is a Wall Street Journal article on that. She came in on a visa as many of his models do for gifted people like scientists," Close told The Irish Times.

“I just think that is a little bit of hypocrisy there. To be against people entering illegally but to game the visa system as they did – that bothers me.”

Setting out political stalls

The streets around the aptly named Quicken Loans Arena are awash with merchandise vendors (along with hoards of anti-racism, anti-abortion, anti-Muslim protesters) hoping to make a quick buck on the Trump circus and thousands of attendees passing through this week.

One man near the convention venue was selling "The Donald Trump Whoopee Cushion!" at $10 a pop on the promise to "Make America Toot Again!"

Besides Trump cookies, the Chocolate Bar down the road from the arena was selling convention-themed cocktails such as “The Trump Tower Martini” for an eye-watering $79.95. “Go big or go home!” the menu said.

Their signature “The Donald” dessert comprises vanilla ice cream “combed in hot-tempered fudge, sprinkled with crushed $100,000 ‘Grand and PayDay’ candy bars and topped with a mane of rich whipped cream. No Spanish nuts.”

Quote of the day: "If Melania's speech is similar to Michelle Obama's speech, that should make us all very happy because we should be saying, whether we're Democrats or Republicans, we share the same values" – former Republican presidential candidate Dr Ben Carson

Number of the day: 30

The number of words Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort said Melania Trump "probably" copied from Michelle Obama

Music to vote by

The Twitterati did not miss another source of plagiarism in Melania Trump's speech: 1980s UK popstar Rick Astley. "He will never, ever give up. And, most importantly, he will never, ever, let you down," said the billionaire's third wife, slipping in a "Rickroll" from his hit, Never Gonna Give You Up.

Donald Trump introduced his wife in an entrance more fitting to WWE's Wrestlemania, to the sounds of Queen's 1977 anthem We Are the Champions. He landed himself in trouble when he used the song at an event last month. "Permission to use the track was neither sought or given," said the band's Brian May. "An unauthorized use at the Republican convention against our wishes," the band tweeted.