By Britt Nelson

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.

During prime time, keynote speaker Melania Trump shined as bright as the sun itself as she spoke with grace and poise about her husband, New York billionaire Donald Trump, for the opening night of the Republican National Convention, whose theme was Make “America Safe Again.”

“I have been with Donald for 18 years and I have been aware of his love for this country since we first met,” Melania Trump told cheering Republicans and a nationwide audience of millions. “He never had a hidden agenda when it comes to his patriotism because, like me, he loves this country very much.”

From Slovenia, Melania Trump, 46, became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 2006 and she would be the first First Lady not born in the USA if her husband is elected president in November.

Repeatedly, the issues of national security at home and abroad, immigration, and worldwide terrorist attacks came from speaker after speaker as the convention got underway Monday in Cleveland, on the heels of another horrific Islamic terrorist attack in France that left 84 people dead, and another triple-fatality of police officers in Baton Rouge, La., which occurred just this past week.

What is clear about Monday’s convention opening is that Trump, who broke with tradition by appearing onstage on the first night of the convention and speaking to introduce his wife, still has not unified the Republican Party to the degree needed to win in November. He has work to do to mend fences and bring long-standing Republicans together.

Former Presidents Bush, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and former 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney all are not attending the convention in protest over Trump as this year’s Republican nominee for president.

However, former Kansas Sen. Bob Dole, 92, a World War II veteran, is the only former Republican presidential nominee attending Trump’s nominating convention. Dole, the 1996 nominee, endorsed Trump in May.

“The voters of our country have turned out in record numbers to support Mr. Trump. It is important that their votes be honored and it is time that we support the party’s presumptive nominee, Donald J. Trump,” Dole said. “I plan to attend the RNC convention in Cleveland to show my support for our party and our ticket, as I have done my entire life. We must unite as a party to defeat Hillary Clinton.”

After all was said and done Monday night, one speech stands out from the others — that of Pat Smith, whose son Shawn was killed in the controversial 2012 Benghazi attack at the U.S. Consulate in Libya in which three other Americans were killed including U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens. Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton claimed the incident was blamed on a social media video that inflamed radical Muslims causing them to attack the consulate. Clinton, according to Smith, lied to all the family members of those killed 10 days after the killings during the funerals for the deceased when Clinton knew the attack was not initiated by a video. Subsequent investigations showed Stevens requested additional security but the requests were not answered by Clinton or President Obama.

“I blame Hillary Clinton personally for the death of my son … She lied to me and called me a liar,” Smith said fighting tears. “If Hillary Clinton can’t give us the truth, why should we give her the presidency? That’s right. Hillary for prison. She deserves to be in stripes.”

Former Mayor of New York City Rudy Giuliani passionately spoke of one America, not a black America, not a white America; while Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, of Wisconsin – a rising Republican star – began his speech with “Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to make something very clear: Blue lives matter in America … American law enforcement officers understand that race is and has been a heated issue in our country.”

Clarke, in recent weeks, has repeatedly stated that the Black Lives Matter movement in America is extremely racist and is a terrorist organization.

Does the Black Lives Matter movement understand that about 600,000 white men died during the Civil War (1860-1865) to free black slaves in the United States of America?

The night was not without a controversy. According to news reports, Melania Trump says she wrote most of her speech herself but she had some help, which apparently has led to the discovery that several short segments of her speech were lifted needlessly — word for word — from a 2008 speech by Michelle Obama, wife of President Obama. There is a Trump speech writer that has some explaining to do and should be fired immediately.

With different themes each night the RNC convention will continue through Thursday. In a few days, the Democrats will begin their convention in Philadelphia.

About the Author

Britt Nelson relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he served as news editor for the Palatka Daily News, a newspaper owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group (NYT-RNG) for 20 years.

Nelson served the NYT-RNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, staff writer, senior staff writer training new reporters, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member.