If Republicans were looking for a way to use a pack of lies to stoke hate, fear and anger, they found their keynote speaker in Patricia Smith, mother of Sean Smith. Notice the way she is carefully escorted to the podium by Paul Manafort, Trump's campaign manager.
If you cannot bear to watch the entire video, skip to about 5 minutes in and watch her claim that Hillary Clinton personally excluded her from any details about her son in a cold-hearted and mean way, because she was not "immediate family."
I'm told, by the way, that if someone is married with children, parents are not immediate family, so it's likely she was told that. And it's equally obvious that she's a bitter, grieving woman who should be handled gently, not exploited for national political gain. Steve Schmidt called it the "weaponization of grief," and I think that's an accurate description.
At the end, she called for Hillary Clinton to go to prison, which certainly played to the crowd. This was the moment where I realized Mrs. Smith was really most interested in drinking blood rather than healing.
The transcript is below:
My name is Patricia Smith.
My son Sean was one of four brave Americans killed during the 2012 terrorist attack at Benghazi.
Sean was a wonderful son and father to my two amazing grandchildren, Samantha and Nathan, now 10 and 11.
He was proud to serve his country with the United States Foreign Service. The last time I talked to Sean, the night before the terrorist attack, he told me, “Mom, I am going to die.”
All security had been pulled from the embassy, he explained. And when he asked why, he never received a response.
Nobody listened. Nobody seemed to care.
The very next day, he was murdered by radical Islamic terrorists.
To this day, I don’t even know why a computer guy like Sean was sent to Benghazi.
That night, we lost sons, brothers, fathers, and husbands.
We lost four brave Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice for the country they chose to serve.
And, the American people lost the truth.
For all of this loss, for all of this grief, for all of the cynicism the tragedy in Benghazi has wrought upon America, I blame Hillary Clinton.
I blame Hillary Clinton personally for the death of my son.
In an email to her daughter shortly after the attack, Hillary Clinton blamed it on terrorism.
But when I saw Hillary Clinton at Sean’s coffin ceremony, just days later, she looked me squarely in the eye and told me a video was responsible.
Since then, I have repeatedly asked Hillary Clinton to explain to me the real reason why my son is dead.
I’m still waiting.
Whenever I called the State Department, no one would speak to me because they say I am “not a member of the immediate family.”
Sean is my SON.
Hillary Clinton is a woman, a mother and a grandmother of two. I am a woman, a mother and a grandmother of two.
How could she do this to me? How could she do this to any American family? Donald Trump is everything Hillary Clinton is not.
He is blunt, direct, and strong.
He speaks his mind, and his heart.
And, when it comes to the threat posed by radical Islamic terrorism, he will not hesitate to kill the terrorists who threaten American lives.
He will make America stronger, not weaker. This entire campaign comes down to a single question.
If Hillary Clinton... can’t give us the TRUTH... why should we give HER the presidency?
