Hunter Walker·White House Correspondent,
President Trump delivered a lengthy speech defending his record and railing against his Democratic rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, at the final night of the Republican National Convention on Friday.
Speaking from the South Lawn of the White House, Trump broke with longstanding tradition — and, potentially, ethics rules — that barred the use of the president’s official residence for political events. He began with optimistic visions of the country under a second term of his leadership.
“We will reach for new heights of national achievement. We will rekindle new faith in our values, new pride in our history, and a new spirit of unity that can only be realized through love for our great country,” Trump said as he formally accepted the Republican presidential nomination. “We understand that America is not a land cloaked in darkness. America is the torch that enlightens the entire world.”
Trump repeatedly suggested Democrats are focused on “tearing down” the country by highlighting racial and economic injustices. While describing the election as a contest between two starkly different “agendas,” Trump argued the country is a beacon of success and likely to stay that way — as long as Biden is not elected.
“Despite all of our greatness as a nation, everything that we have achieved is now in danger. This is the most important election in the history of our country,” Trump said, adding, “This election will decide whether we save the American dream or whether we allow a socialist agenda to demolish our cherished destiny.
Trump then turned to what has been a major theme at his party’s convention this week: the idea that Democratic support for protests over racial issues is synonymous with support for the rioting that has taken place alongside demonstrations.
“Your vote will decide whether we protect law abiding Americans or whether we give free reign to violent anarchist agitators and criminals who threaten our cities,” Trump said. “This election will decide whether we will defend the American way of life or whether we will allow a radical movement to completely dismantle and destroy it.”
While Trump said that “wrongdoers” involved in “police misconduct” should be held “fully and completely accountable,” he suggested the protests that began over high-profile police killings of Black Americans have gone too far.
“We can never have a situation where things are going on as they are today,” Trump said. “We must never allow mob rule. We can never allow mob rule.”
Elements of Trump’s speech were wildly contradictory and sometimes misleading. He suggested anyone who criticizes the country is unpatriotic right before suggesting city streets are home to dangerous criminals who could topple society. And he warned citizens will have to live in fear under Biden – while at the same time suggesting they have very many things to fear right now.
And in his critiques of the protests that have at times turned violent and even deadly, the president was decrying the state of the country under his own presidency.
Protests raged just a few blocks from the White House as the president spoke. Multiple reporters said noise from the demonstrations was audible on the South Lawn as the president was on stage.
Trump also offered dire predictions for how the coronavirus pandemic would unfold under Biden. He noted that the former vice president has said he would consider shutting down the country once again if scientists deemed it necessary to control the outbreak. Trump suggested this would have far worse consequences than coronavirus casualties.
“Joe Biden wants to inflict a painful shutdown on the entire country. His shutdown would inflict unthinkable and lasting harm,” Trump said. “The cost of the Biden shutdown would be measured in increased drug overdoses, depression, alcohol and drug addiction, suicides, heart attacks, economic devastation, job loss and much more.”
Trump claimed Biden’s approach is not “following the science.” However, Biden has said he would follow expert recommendations in determining whether a new lockdown would be necessary.
During the nearly six-month span of the pandemic, Trump has repeatedly questioned the scientific consensus around the virus. The final night of the convention was a vivid example of this as Trump spoke before a packed crowd that was largely unmasked, in defiance of the Trump administration’s own guidelines.
The president also criticized liberals for political correctness and what he described as “repressive mandates” where there are “approved words and phrases” that “are constantly changing.” Trump has repeatedly emphasized this phenomenon, which conservatives call “cancel culture,” as his poll numbers have dropped in recent months.
“The goal of ‘cancel culture’ is to make decent Americans live in fear of being fired, expelled, shamed, humiliated, and driven from society as we know it,” Trump said.
As he suggested Biden and other Democrats are in league with dangerous radicals, Trump offered a promise about his own allegiances.
“If the Democrat party wants to stand with agitators, rioters, looters, and flag burners, that is up to them,” said Trump.
“I, as your president, will not be part of it. The Republican Party will remain the voice of the patriotic heroes who keep America safe and salute the American flag.”
