On the day of Trump's speech, the White House grounds had the look of a fortress. Security officers erected multiple layers of barrier fencing around the grounds to prevent protesters from disrupting the president's convention acceptance speech, given from the executive mansion's south lawn. While law enforcement was building a physical protective bubble around the White House, the Republican Party has spent the past four days constructing a psychological bubble around the president - a more comforting reality sheltered from the tumult of the past six months. The goal for the party this week has been to welcome a winning coalition of voters into this bubble - not just Trump's loyal base, but also disaffected suburbanites who may be uncomfortable with the president's policies, women put off by his confrontational tone and ethnic minorities concerned about the nation's growing racial tensions Recent polls have indicated a sizeable majority of Americans believe the nation is heading in the wrong direction. That's poison for an incumbent president seeking re-election. The Republicans, from the president on down, sought to prove that things are actually good and getting better - or, at least, that they would be markedly worse under Democrat Joe Biden. It's a tall order, but here are six ways the president and his party tried to pull it off.