Why the Republican Convention Is So Mean

Both parties are trying to convince undecided voters that their candidate is the lesser of two evils.

.. Both campaigns think their path to victory is to win almost by default—to make their rival the most feared alternative.

.. When asked to choose between the two, 26 percent chose Trump, 19 percent chose Clinton, and 44 percent were undecided.

.. Accusing Clinton of murder, comparing her to the devil, and dredging up the Monica Lewinsky scandal represents the type and tone of politics that has pushed these voters out of the two major parties and into the “undecided” category. Yet Trump and his surrogates can’t seem to help themselves.

.. On the Benghazi and email scandals, for instance, there is a credible case to be made against Clinton’s management and honesty. Al Baldasaro didn’t make it. Instead, the New Hampshire state representative and Trump adviser on veterans issues said Wednesday, “The whole thing disgusts me. Hillary Clinton should be put in the firing line and shot for treason.”

.. Shouts of “fascist” from the convention floor, for example, would be the Philadelphia analogue of “Lock her up!”

.. Trump’s advisers privately hope that Clinton and her fellow Democrats overreach on the issue of racial division, specifically by yielding the convention stage to black activists whose appearance could be construed as anti-police.