If the Republican National Convention has demonstrated anything, it's that if the fractured GOP is united at all, it is held together by its endless disdain for Hillary Clinton.
The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee was a favorite topic of RNC speakers, with harsh criticism of Clinton often receiving a stronger audience response than any affirmation of conservative values. Indeed, Republican orators often seemed to be trying to one-up each other with their digs at the former Secretary of State. In response, conventioneers repeatedly broke into chants of "Lock her up!", often with encouragement from the rostrum.
Notably, Donald Trump's speech accepting the party's presidential nomination was rather tame in its criticism of Clinton — at least by Trump's standards — featuring none of the references to "Crooked Hillary" that were a hallmark of Trump stump speeches for months. In contrast to earlier speakers, rather than joining the crowd's chants of "Lock her up!" Trump simply responded, "Let's defeat her in November."
Ranging in character from "hyperbolic" to "bad insult comic" to "wait, what?", collected below are highlights of the RNC's Clinton hate-fest:
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump: "This is the legacy of Hillary Clinton: death, destruction, terrorism, and weakness."
RNC Chairman Reince Priebus: "She reads ethics codes as carefully as Americans read their junk mail."
Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr.: "If Hillary Clinton is allowed to elect the next few Supreme Court justices, that in itself could be a fatal blow to our republic... In the days before my father passed away in 2007, he joked with CNN that he dreamed that Chelsea Clinton had interviewed him about the three greatest threats facing this nation. He replied, 'Those three greatest threats are Osama, Obama, and yo' mama.' "
Indiana Gov. and Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence: "Hillary Clinton wants a better title. And I would too if I was already America's 'Secretary of the Status Quo.' "
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich: "The cost of Hillary's dishonesty could be the loss of America as we know it."
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz: "Hillary Clinton believes that government should make virtually every choice in your life."
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio: "Hillary Clinton does not have the honesty, the courage, or the independence to be the president we need for the next four years."
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker: "Hillary Clinton is the ultimate liberal Washington insider. If she were any more on the inside, she'd be in prison."
Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn: "Lock her up. That's right. Yep, lock her up... I have called on Hillary Clinton to drop out of the race because she put our nation's security at extremely high risk with her careless use of a private email server... Crooked Hillary Clinton, leave this race now. She needs to go."
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie: "We didn't disqualify Hillary Clinton to be President of the United States the facts of her life and career disqualifies her... We know exactly what four years of Hillary Clinton will bring: all the failures of the Obama years, but with less charm and more lies. It is our obligation to stop Hillary Clinton now and never let her within 10 miles of the White House again."
Former Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson: "[Saul Alinsky] was someone she greatly admired... So he wrote a book called Rules for Radicals. It acknowledges Lucifer, the original radical who gained his own kingdom... Are we willing to elect someone as president who has as their role model somebody who acknowledges Lucifer?"
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (who solicited a $25,000 political donation from Donald Trump shortly before her office declined to join New York state's probe of Trump University): "Hillary believes our enemies deserve our respect and empathy. Donald Trump believes terrorists deserve to die."
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