Donald Trump insisted that the week's agenda be carved into distinctive daily segments – the theme for Tuesday was "Make America Work Again". That might reasonably have been interpreted as a focus on the economy and job creation, but the session had hardly begun before the convention jumped the rails to its favourite pastime – bashing Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee.

Despite the star power of Trump's reputed billions, the best job creators he could pull from a US economy worth about $US200 trillion were a New York roof repair man who said he employed 140 people; a The Bold and The Beautiful actress turned California avocado farmer; and in what seemed like a blatant infomercial, the manager of the Trump Winery. Not exactly inspiring.

Some serious business was transacted. The convention formally nominated Trump and his running mate Mike Pence to represent the Republican Party in the November election – the groan that could be heard as the votes were tallied was from the reptiles of the media, because a good number who had betted against Trump getting this far realised that now they would have to pay up.

And by the yardstick of American politics, the stars of the evening were Trump's son Donald jnr and his 22-year-old daughter by an earlier marriage, Tiffany. They won praise – for warm personal insights into the candidate by daughter Tiffany and a powerful political speech by son Donald that was more coherent than much of what comes out of his father's mouth.

And that was a strange aspect of the evening – the upstaging.

The son upstaged the father; the daughter upstaged the candidate's current wife – humanising a man that many see as a buffoon and in a way that Melania Trump had failed to do in her convention speech on Monday night.

And we'll not even address claims that a couple of lines from Trump jnr's speech seemed to have been lifted from an essay written by a Canadian law professor - because as we discovered the previous evening, when lines from Michelle Obama's 2008 convention speech found their way into Melania Trump's convention speech, the Trump campaign does not see that as plagiarism.

Then there was Chris Christie. He has been jerked around and humiliated by the Trump campaign, being led to believe he might be selected as Trump's running mate, only to be dropped from the running at the last minute.

Some observers figured this was why Christie gave such a powerful presentation – just to show Trump what he was missing out on in selection of the very two-dimensional Pence as his running mate.

But even Christie's presentation was less about jobs and more obsessively about locking up Hillary Clinton. And it was a bit nutty.

As a former federal prosecutor, Christie might have had second thoughts about reducing the convention's delegates to a rabble that declared Clinton "Guilty!" of each of his indictments, which it then followed with a throaty chorus of "Lock her up! Lock her up!" – as a good many of them crossed their wrists to mimic handcuffs.

Clinton's "crimes" included: Libya in crisis; Nigeria and Boko Haram's abduction of hundreds of young girls; China and the loss of US jobs; the Syrian conflict; the Iran nuclear deal; Russia's involvement in the Middle East; ending the Cuba embargo; and her private email server.

Lots of red meat - but very little due process.

In the absence of the party's other heavyweights – the living former presidents and former nominees who are boycotting the convention – Trump had heavyweights of a sort in appearances by GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan.

Both were studies in circumlocution. Ryan wriggled and wriggled before seeming to endorse Trump, then branded him a racist and implied he was a bigot; ditto McConnell – he's the guy who said that Trump was not across the issues and was not a credible candidate.

The two had to get through their convention appearances without being seen to be rude or churlish – some in the crowd thought that to be beyond McConnell, so they booed him. Both men acknowledged Trump, but what they really wanted to talk about was shielding their Senate and House majorities from becoming collateral damage in any voter rejection of Trump.

"This year of surprises and dramatic turns can end in the finest possible ways when America elects a conservative governing majority," Ryan said. "What do you say that we unify this party at this crucial moment when unity is everything."

But the really weird turn was from Trump's failed nomination rival, neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who during the Republican primary contest was likened by Trump to a "pathological" child molester.

Carson's indictment of Clinton was to link her to Lucifer – yes, as in the Devil.

The charge went that one of Clinton's "mentors" was the pioneer community organiser Saul Alinsky, who mentions Lucifer as a radical in one of his books (Rules for Radicals). And so: "How could Americans vote for someone who has as their role model somebody who acknowledges Lucifer?"

If the conduct of the convention to date is any guide, then clearly Trump has embraced the challenging notion that he can win by making the election a referendum on Hillary Clinton. That's pretty much how he has campaigned to date – damning Clinton and offering himself as a guy who can get the best deal for America, but rarely padding out his proposals with policy detail.

It's a dubious proposition.