The Trump family speechwriters apparently have no problem recycling zingers, be it their own or someone else's. After Melania Trump's channelling of Michelle Obama, it was Donald Trump Jr.'s turn on Tuesday night to deliver (or is that redeliver?) words that sounded oddly familiar.
Those instances of unoriginality, however, are nothing compared with the reality show rerun that Donald Trump himself is set to perform as he formally accepts the Republican presidential nomination Thursday night. The Trump campaign has made no secret of its candidate's admiration of Richard Nixon's 1968 convention speech and intention to copy its dour tone.
None of this should come as a surprise given Mr. Trump's exploitation of "white anxiety" to win the GOP nomination in the first place. For such an undiligent student of history, he has deftly recognized the parallels between the current mood of America and the late 1960s angst of a white majority faced with racial unrest and a breakdown of the social order at home, and utter chaos abroad.
Mr. Nixon, who ended up the most disgraced U.S. president in history, would seem to be a bad role model for anyone aspiring to the White House. But in 1968, his claim to speak for "the forgotten Americans – the non-shouters, the non-demonstrators" seeking to restore order and leadership to a country embroiled in a soul-destroying war in Vietnam, and whose cities were aflame in racial violence, was a clear winner.
"America is in trouble today not because her people have failed but because her leaders have failed," Mr. Nixon told Republicans gathered for their convention in Miami Beach. "Never has so much military and economic and diplomatic power been used so ineffectively."
Although Mr. Trump's language is much cruder than Mr. Nixon's, his message has been the same since he launched what turned out to be his not-so-improbable bid for the White House 13 months ago: America never wins any more; its way of life is threatened; its leaders are losers.
"If we do not get tough and smart real fast, we are not going to have a country any more," Mr. Trump said after last month's slaughter of 49 people at an Orlando gay dance club. "Because our leaders are weak; I said this was going to happen – and it is only going to get worse. I am trying to save lives and prevent the next terrorist attack."
Although he was rightly criticized for the self-congratulatory tone of his statement in the face of a terrible tragedy, it by now misses the point to dwell on Mr. Trump's rudeness and bombast. Clearly, it's working with its intended audience, which is much larger than anyone imagined.
The number crunchers still insist Hillary Clinton, who will officially become the Democratic nominee next week, is the strong favourite to win in November. But these are the same people who not long ago calculated Mr. Trump had no chance of becoming the GOP nominee.
Clearly, they missed (and are missing) something Mr. Trump understands instinctively.
The Republican convention has been a disgraceful spectacle showcasing the basest elements of American politics. Television critics may cringe at the amateurishness and ugliness of the show – and the parade onstage of relatives of terrorism victims and law-and-order types (including an unhinged Rudy Giuliani) has been truly cringe-worthy – but Mr. Trump is likely having the last laugh.
Read more: The Cleveland show: Your guide to the GOP convention
Thursday night, he will have the last word, too. It will come at the end of four nights of frightening warnings about the perils facing the country and the uselessness of the leaders currently charged with crushing them. Four nights of systematic assassination of Ms. Clinton's character that will have made even those repulsed by Mr. Trump nourish nagging doubts about voting for her.
"It still comes down to a contest of ideas, which is really good news … because when it's about ideas, the advantage goes to us," Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House of Representatives, told the convention on Tuesday night, trying to salvage what little dignity he could for a Republican Party whose nominee betrays almost every principle the GOP claims to stand for.
U.S. elections are rarely about ideas, at least not in the sense that voters distinguish between clear policy choices. But this GOP convention has made all the others look like a wonk's dream. It will end with Mr. Trump drawing on the rawest of emotions, fear and hate.
And Mr. Nixon will be looking down approvingly.
Konrad Yakabuski