Stephen Colbert and FiveThirtyEight recap the first night of the Republican National Convention

My readers seemed to like Stephen Colbert's live monologues of the first two nights of the Democratic Convention with assistance from FiveThirtyEight, viewing it 779 times and making it the second most read entry so far this month behind WOOD-TV finds dismantled mail sorting machines in Michigan and Governor Whitmer and Senator Peters react on MSNBC. Since that's what my readers want, I'm giving them more of it for the Republican National Convention. Watch When They Go Low, We Go LIVE: Watch Stephen Colbert's Monologue From Night 1 Of The RNC.

The first night of the Republican National Convention was "a long midnight of the soul" according to our host, and featured speeches from Donald Trump Jr., Nikki Hayley (sic), and Kimberly Guilfoyle as well as multiple appearances by President Trump.

Despite the attempts by Nikki Haley (not "Hayley") and Rick Scott to make the party and convention seem normal and non-threatening, Kimberly Guilfoyle managed to set the tone that viewers on the other side of the aisle found believable. If the Republicans wanted to get the Fox News viewers fired up, she was the one to do it. If they wanted to convince persuadable voters to vote Republicans, she wasn't.

As Colbert promised at the conclusion of his monologue, here is Pod Save America: The RNC's Message Of Fear Is In Opposition To The DNC's Message Of Hope.

Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett and Tommy Vietor from "Pod Save America" thought night one of the RNC painted a dark and fearful vision of America.

The irony was the Republicans wanted to portray what they were doing as hopeful and the Democrats as having been negative last week. I think they were projecting.

Enough of the silly take on the first night of the convention. Follow over the jump for a more serious examination from FiveThirtyEight.

For a sober look at what happened, I recommend my readers watch RNC Night 1: Trumpism vs. Traditionalism l FiveThirtyEight Politics Podcast. The opening is the funniest part.

The crew reacts to the first night of the 2020 Republican National Convention.

If that's too long, here are the final headlines from FiveThirtyEight's What Went Down On Night 1 Of The RNC.

• Julia: It’s Trump’s GOP, But First Night Offers Hints Of The Party’s Future
• Amelia: The First Night of the RNC Paints a Picture of a Kinder, Gentler Trump
• Kaleigh: RNC Aims For A More Traditional Style For First Night Of Virtual Convention
• Nathaniel: RNC Night 1 Beats Expectations, Which I Know Were Low But It Still Might Matter
• Galen: After Democrats Make A Pitch To Romney-Clinton Voters, GOP Makes A Pitch To Obama-Trump Voters. The Realignment Is Here To Stay.
• Geoffrey: The First Night Of GOP Convention Offers A Mix Of American Carnage And American Exceptionalism
• Matt: Diverse Cast of Republicans Touts A Culture War for American Exceptionalism
• Emily: A Reality TV Election Star Gets His First Live Reality TV Convention
• Meena: On The First Day Of The RNC, Republicans Sent To Us … A Normal Convention In A Not Too Normal World

"A Normal Convention In A Not Too Normal World" — at least on that note, the Republican attempt to appear hopeful succeeded.

If my readers enjoy this enough and I don't either get bored of it or find a shinier object, I'll repeat this kind of coverage throughout the week. Stay tuned.