RNC 2020: Key takeaways from Trump speech and Republican convention

 https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-53942272

 While law enforcement was building a physical protective bubble around the White House, the Republican Party has spent the past four days constructing a psychological bubble around the president - a more comforting reality sheltered from the tumult of the past six months.

The goal for the party this week has been to welcome a winning coalition of voters into this bubble - not just Trump's loyal base, but also disaffected suburbanites who may be uncomfortable with the president's policies, women put off by his confrontational tone and ethnic minorities concerned about the nation's growing racial tensions

Recent polls have indicated a sizable majority of Americans believe the nation is heading in the wrong direction. That's poison for an incumbent president seeking re-election. 

 Grievance has always been part of the fuel that has powered Trump's rise - a sense, among his supporters, that something valuable is slipping from their grasp and the unlikeliest of politicians, Donald Trump, is the one who will help them preserve it.

"Always remember," Trump said in a reprise of a line he has said before, "they are coming after me, because I am fighting for you."

It's the recipe for a bare-knuckle autumn campaign, as Trump and his supporters dig in for what will be a long, brutal battle to retain the presidency.