Trump’s acceptance speech should have been a home run. It wasn’t.

There’s nothing worse in baseball than watching a towering home run ball hook foul. And that sums up Donald Trump’s biggest speech of his life. It was the former president’s chance to crush the Democrats’ chances. Instead, he has given them hope. 

Trump’s acceptance started out very strong. He was doing exactly what he needed to do: show he is not the big, bad wolf the Democrats make him out to be. The retelling of his near-death experience was powerful and lent him some vulnerability and humility. The message of unity is exactly what voters who dislike Trump and Joe Biden want to hear.  

And then the wheels started to come off. 

It was subtle at first. He pivoted right to the prosecutions against him and made the declaration that he is the one saving democracy, not threatening it. That was not too bad, as most voters are not buying the Democrats’ sanctimonious and dubious crusade for democracy. Trump also mixed in some humor — an underrated asset by him.