The 10 Best Speakers from the 2024 RNC

The Republican National Convention kicked off this week in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Lasting four days and featuring an abundance of conservative speakers, the RNC marks the official nomination of Donald Trump and J.D. Vance on the Republican ticket of the 2024 election. Here are the 10 best speakers from the convention:

10. Usha Vance 

The RNC marks the first time most people will have heard of Usha Vance. She was tapped to introduce her husband, J.D. Vance, Donald Trump’s Vice Presidential pick. Usha’s humor, touch of nervousness, and obvious adoration for her husband made her a fan favorite at the convention. Later in the week, Tucker Carlson would joke that J.D. Vance is one of the only politicians in Washington that has a close relationship with his wife. That relationship was on full display and shined brightly throughout both of their speeches.

9. Charlie Kirk 

Despite being one of the shorter speeches, Charlie Kirk is exactly the kind of speaker the RNC needs to reach a younger demographic. The Founder of Turning Point USA, Kirk spoke about the difficulties younger generations are having because of Joe Biden’s economy. He spoke directly to Gen Zers watching the RNC on TikTok, “You don’t have to stay poor. You don’t have to accept being worse off than your parents. You don’t have to feel aimless and unhappy. You don’t have to support leaders who lied to you and took advantage of you for your votes.” 

8. Vivek Ramaswamy

Vivek Ramaswamy cemented himself as a strong contender for a cabinet position in a Trump Administration. Vivek is one of the most articulate and eloquent speakers and is starting to remind me more and more of Barack Obama, charming and charismatic to his party and supporters, but smarmy and disingenuous to the opposing party and his critics. He continued his unwavering support of Donald Trump, “If you want to seal the border, vote Trump. If you want to restore law and order in this country, vote Trump. If you want to reignite the economy in this country, vote Trump. If you want to revive national pride in this country, vote Trump. If you want to make America great again, vote Trump.”

In the spirit of unity, Vivek ended his speech, “If you’re at home and you disagree with everything I just said, our message to you is this: We will still defend, to the death, your right to say it, because that is who we are as Americans. We are the country where we can disagree like hell and still get together at the dinner table at the end of it.”

7. Sarah Huckabee Sanders

The youngest governor of our country provided a good mix of humor and sentiment that made her one of the highlights of night two of the RNC. Sanders opened her speech reminiscing about her time as President Trump’s Press Secretary, “I got the chance to bring my four year old son, Huck, to bring your kid to work day. Much like Jill now drags Joe to bring your husband to work day.” She also shared a time when her son ran right past the former president, ignoring him completely, to jump into her arms. Governor Sanders said these stories serve as a reminder of why she supports Donald Trump, not for her, for him, but for her kids and all of our kids. She went on to describe how America was safer under President Trump and that every American was better off.

She also shared a softer side of the former president, recounting the encouragement he gave her when she was attacked relentlessly by the mainstream media. After hitting on her impressive record as governor, Sanders ended her speech speaking on Donald Trump’s resiliency and the need to get him back in the White House as soon as possible. “With God as our guide and President Trump back in the White House, we will show the world that America is the place where freedom reigns and liberty will never die.”

6. J.D. Vance

On Wednesday night, J.D. Vance formally accepted the nomination to be Donald Trump's running mate on the Republican ticket of the 2024 presidential election. Vance acknowledged that this celebration came close to being a day of heartache and mourning due to the attempt on the former President's life.

Trump's running mate spoke glowingly about the former President's record and accomplishments. Vance also went after President Biden, "When I was in the 4th grade, a career politician, by the name of Joe Biden, supported NAFTA, a bad trade deal that sent countless good jobs to Mexico. When I was a sophomore in high school, that same career politician, named Joe Biden, gave China a sweetheart trade deal that destroyed even more good, American, middleclass manufacturing jobs."

Vance spoke fondly of his Mamaw, his grandmother who raised him. He described her as both a woman who loved the Lord, but also loved the F word. He told a story where she once threatened to run a local drug dealer over with her car if J.D. ever hung out with him again. In one of the more heartwarming moments of the convention, J.D. introduced his mother who struggled during his childhood with addiction. He shared that she is almost 10 years clean and sober. The camera cut to his mother and she could be seen saying, "that's my boy."

Vance ended his speech promising the forgotten communities of our country that he would be a Vice President that never forgets where he came from.

5. Lara Trump

Few speakers did a better job of humanizing Donald Trump like Lara Trump was able to. The daughter-in-law of former President Trump and the co-chair of the Republican National Committee started her speech by saying she wrote a much different speech prior to the events on July 13, and that nothing could prepare her to handle the assassination attempt of her father-in-law and the grandfather of her children.

Lara Trump shared a message of unity. She described the phenomenon that is a Donald Trump rally. “At a Trump rally, you’re not viewed as your profession, your religion, or the color of your skin. You’re viewed as one thing, an American.”

She went on to praise Donald Trump’s record as President citing trade deals benefiting the American economy, forcing allies to increase defense spending, a strong southern border, energy independence, no new wars, and the historic peace agreements in the middle east. Lara made the point, often overlooked in my opinion, that people don’t have to imagine what life would be like during a Trump presidency, they just have to remember what it was like.

She shared the side of Trump that the public rarely gets to see, the man who cares deeply for his family. Lara Trump asked voters to vote for that man, and not the one the media portrays. She ended her speech, “Tonight, I’m asking you to vote, not for the Donald Trump you see flashed on your TV everyday, splashed across the headlines. Tonight, I am asking you to vote for the Donald Trump that Luke and Carolina call Grandpa. I’m asking you to vote for the Donald Trump that my husband, Eric, calls dad. I’m asking you to vote for the Donald Trump that I call my father-in-law. I’m asking you to vote for the Donald Trump who can, and will, make America great once again for all of us.” 

4. Dana White 

Dana White brought the energy. What was intended to just be an introduction for Donald Trump ended up being one of the best speeches of the RNC. White spoke about Trump’s softer side and how the former President was concerned that he would be interrupting a White family vacation to have Dana do his introduction. Getting more and more worked up, White passionately told the crowd, “I’m not telling you what to think, I’m telling you what I know, and I know President Trump. I know President Trump is a fighter … the higher the stakes, the harder he fights and this guy never ever gives up.”

He went on to say that Donald Trump is running for President again, despite not needing the circus that comes along with that, because he loves America. He wrapped up his introduction by saying, “I know America needs a strong leader and the world needs a strong America. I know Donald J. Trump is the best choice for President of the United States.”

3. Tucker Carlson 

Without notes or a teleprompter, Tucker Carlson’s speech seemed to come directly from the political commentator’s heart, making it one of the most genuine speeches I can remember. Carlson began his speech speaking about the assassination attempt and how, in his words, that moment changed everything. “He was no longer just a political nominee, or a former President, or a future President, this was the leader of a nation.”

Tucker took jabs at President Biden and spoke about his interaction with former President Trump directly after the attempt on his life. He then made the point that Trump turned down the opportunity to inflame the nation after being shot, but instead has projected a message of unity.

Carlson is such a talented and articulate speaker and he was arguably at his best describing democracy. “Actual democracy is the proposition that the citizens of a country own that country. They’re not renters, they’re not serfs, they’re not slaves, they’re the owners of the country. And for that to be true, their leaders have to represent them, they have to do what the people want them to do.”

He went on to describe a culture in Washington that doesn’t care about the issues of our country. He praised Trump’s VP pick in J.D. Vance, saying Vance’s political views align closely with Trump’s voting base. He ended with a story of Donald Trump calling his wife the day after she was terrorized by Antifa at her home. He said, “I’ll never forget this as long as I live. [Trump] said, there is a lot of hate out there, but there’s a lot of love.” 

2. Gold Star Families 

In one of the most powerful and emotional moments of the week, families of the fallen heroes who were killed in the Afghanistan withdrawal spoke to the convention. The families compared the indifference the Biden administration has shown to the compassion and support they received from former President Trump. Herman Lopez, the father of Corporal Hunter Lopez, recounted, “When Hunter and the other service members’ bodies were returned to the US in Dover, Delaware, Joe Biden met the plane. But he made the occasion more about his son’s loss to cancer than our sons and daughters lost on his watch. Worse than that, he has never said their names out loud and during last month’s debate, he claimed no service members have died during his administration.” Lopez went on to say all 13 names of the service men and women who lost their lives at Abbey Gate. The audience repeated each name in a moment that put tears in the eyes of almost every attendee caught on camera in the following seconds. 

1. Donald Trump

Never to be outdone the former President set a record for the longest acceptance speech at a convention, lasting 1 hour and 33 minutes on Thursday night. Despite the criticism from the mainstream media, the speech was the highlight of the Republican National Convention. Trump may have meandered through the middle of the speech, but there is no debating that he started strong and finished strong.

It was a surreal moment to hear the former President of the United States describe the assassination attempt that nearly took his life less than a week ago, an event that I don't think anyone has fully processed yet. Trump recounted the events of July 13, saying that he would never tell the story again because it is too painful to tell. He spoke of the chart on immigration that he had to turn to his right to see, "When I heard a loud whizzing sound and felt something hit me really, really hard on my right ear. I said to myself, wow, what was that? It could only be a bullet." Trump went on to compliment the Secret Service for jumping on him and protecting him. The former President told the audience, "I had God on my side."

President Trump honored Corey Comperatore, who was killed during the assassination attempt. In one of the more memorable moments of the convention, Trump kissed the fire helmet of Comperatore in tribute, revealed that he has raised over $6.3 million for the families that were affected, and had the crowd join him in a moment of silence.

Trump hit on a myriad of topics throughout his speech. He thanked a number of guests and speakers including many members of his own family that spoke throughout the convention. He played up his VP pick, J.D. Vance and went after the Biden administration, though he seemed to be more restrained, sticking to comparing Biden and his administrations, minimizing the name calling he has resorted to in the past.

At the end of his speech trump said, "The attacker in Pennsylvania wanted to stop our movement but the truth is the movement has never been about me, it has always been about you, it is your movement ... For too long our nation has settled for too little, we've given everything to other nations, to other people. You have been told to lower your expectations and to accept less for your families. I am here tonight with the opposite message. Your expectations are not big enough. It is time to start expecting and demanding the best leadership in the world, leadership that is bold, dynamic, relentless, and fearless ... We are Americans, ambition is our heritage, greatness is our birthright but as long as our energies are spent fighting each other, our destiny will remain out of reach and that's not acceptable ... We can do it together we will unite, we are going to come together and success will bring us together."