7 of the most bizarre and unhinged moments from the Republican National Convention's first night

The opening night of the Republican National Convention was every bit as unhinged as you might expect it to be.

From ranting about the Loch Ness monster to accidentally calling Harriet Tubman a segregationist, the speakers delivered a plethora of memorable moments, for all the wrong reasons.

We've rounded up 7 of the most bizarre things that happened on the RNC's opening night.

1. The crowd chanted "12 more years".

Trump began his RNC speech with a joke about holding office for longer than the legal two-term limit – to which attendees responded by chanting "12 more years".

He then launched into a tirade about Obamagate and "fraudulent" mail-in voting, his two favourite conspiracy theories, which are precisely the reason people are worried he won't accept the outcome of the election if he loses and will try to hold on to power.

Disconcerting behaviour from a sitting president and his supporters, to say the least.

2. The St Louis 'gun couple' warned people about "Marxist revolutionaries" destroying the suburbs.

Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the Missouri couple who pointed their guns at Black Lives Matter protesters walking past their palatial home back in June, might seem like an odd choice for RNC speakers.

After all, they were the laughing stock of the internet – as they acknowledged in their speech.

But their core message, delivered in an unnerving monotone, actually fits perfectly with Trump's strategy of painting himself as upholding "law and order" while Biden would allow protesters to allow "anarchy and chaos".

Patricia McCloskey began by warning "what you saw happen to us, could just as easily happen to any of you who are watching from quiet neighbourhoods around our country".

Using heavily coded language, she later continued:

They're not satisfied with spreading chaos and violence into our communities. They want to abolish the suburbs altogether by ending single family home zoning, 

This forced re-zoning would bring crime, lawlessness and low quality apartments into now-thriving neighbourhoods. 

No matter where you live, your family will not be safe in the radical Democrats' America. 

3. A chair accidentally touted Maryland's "greatest segregationists".

David Bossie, chair of Maryland's RNC delegation, had a very unfortunate slip of the tongue as he attempted to praise his home state.

We're pretty sure Harriet Tubman was not a segregationist.

4. Kimberly Guilfoyle shouted into an empty room.

Former Fox News host and wife of Donald Trump Jr. delivered by far the most energetic speech of the night, shouting about Democrats destroying the country and enslaving people's minds into a completely empty room.

Her big finish – raising her arms and practically shrieking "the best is yet to come" – was made all the more awkward by the total silence that followed it.

5. Trump praised Tennessee's "beautiful war fields".

The president has an unusual, and disconcerting habit, of describing utterly inappropriate things as "beautiful".

Aside from his "big beautiful wall", he's described sleeping gas, the two world wars and doctors sacrificing their lives to fight coronavirus as "beautiful".

What he was actually trying to get at here is something that probably only Trump fully understands. We're totally lost.

6. Louisiana's chair said that Joe Biden is "hiding in the dark, waiting to take the lives of our unborn babies".

Scaremongering about what the Democrats would do in office was a theme across the RNC, but Louisiana chair Ross Little Jr really kicked it up a notch when he painted Joe Biden as a literal bogeyman.

And then, as if things couldn't get any weirder, Donald Trump Jr described Biden as "the Loch Ness monster of the swamp".

Sorry to be pedantic, but the Loch Ness monster lives in a loch. It's right there in the name.

7. Mike Pence said we need to "Make America Great Again... again".

It's not the catchiest campaign slogan and it does beg the questions: what have you been doing for the past four years?

Maybe there's a reason he usually leaves the speech-making to Trump.

The RNC is just kicking off: there will be more speeches and testimonials until Friday.

And if this first night is anything to by, we're in for a completely bizarre and breathtaking ride.