Marc Ambinder

Donald Trump’s nominating convention is not the train wreck his opponents seemed to be cheering for, at least so far. But the opening parade of notables each bore a grievance against the current regime in power and did little to promote Trump as an acceptable commander in chief.

The evening ran late so the organizers decided to upend the schedule. That allowed Trump to bask in the afterglow of former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani’s shouted indictment of Hillary Clinton and introduce his wife, Melania. Her speech was sweet and light, like a dessert with no aftertaste -- except for the parts that appear to have been plagiarized from Michelle Obama’s speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. And the shifts at the podium meant Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst and Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke, two military veterans with strong credentials to make the national security case against Clinton, were pushed out of prime time.

The glue that holds the Trump coalition together is that he sounds strong. Actor Scott Baio, asked after his underwhelming speech why he decided to supported Trump after first backing another candidate, went back to the first time Trump mixed it up with the GOP establishment. “After the first debate, I mean, come on. This guy was going to fight back,” he said. “Republicans fight back, never. And what’s why.”

Tom Cotton, the up-and-coming Republican senator from Arkansas, said Trump would be a commander in chief who “calls the enemy by its name” and “ruthlessly” enforces red lines. But he also suggested Trump alone was not enough. “In a Trump-Pence administration and with a Republican Congress, help is on the way,” Cotton said.

The opening convention theme – Make America Safe Again – was vague enough to seed in several of Trump’s main hunches about what America’s problems are, including weakness abroad, illegal immigration, terrorism, and the breakdown law and order. But the speakers all had trouble translating those subjects into themes that transcended talking points and sound bites. They had even more trouble pivoting off those subjects to talk about Trump himself. They just didn’t have much to say about their party’s nominee.

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Former Gov. Rick Perry of Texas was only interested in introducing Marcus Luttrell, the Navy SEAL of Lone Survivor fame. He did not mention Trump once. Luttrell barely mentioned the candidate. Patricia Smith, the mother of an American contractor who died during the Benghazi raid, brought tears to the audience when she recounted her struggle to get justice from the Obama administration and Clinton, its secretary of state. But Trump himself stepped on that moment, calling in to Bill O’Reilly’s program on Fox News to preview his own Thursday night acceptance speech.

In another unusual first-night move for a nominee, Trump appeared in person on the convention stage to briefly introduce his wife. The manner of his entrance was also unusual -- in silhouette, bathed in light and smoke, like a model from Project Runway about to display her wares.

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Could Melania Trump humanize a man who has a disapproval rating of nearly 60%? Was it reasonable of us to expect her to do that?

She tried. Trump was a good man, she insisted. He loves his family. He loves his children – “they have been cared for to the extent that his advisers admit they are an amazing testament to who he is as a man and a father.” She was an immigrant. He loves immigrants, she said. And “The only limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.”

Her speech was notably short on anecdotes and long on rote, bland lines like that. She was at her edgiest when she said her husband “never had a hidden agenda when it comes to patriotism.” But it was a subtle dig, delivered without a punch.

“I can tell you with certainty that my husband has been concerned about the country for as long as I’ve known him,” Melania Trump said.

Left unsaid: For most of that time, he was not a Republican.

Marc Ambinder, a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors, is a Los Angeles-based editor, essayist and author whose next book is about nuclear brinksmanship in the Cold War. Follow him on Twitter: @marcambinder

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