In perhaps the most important speech of his political career, President Donald Trump said the upcoming election is the nation’s most important in history, as he closed the 2020 Republican National Convention Thursday night.
“We have spent the last four years reversing the damage Joe Biden inflicted over the last 47 years,” Trump said. “At no time before have voters faced a clearer choice between two parties, two visions, two philosophies or two agendas.”
Trump accepted the GOP nomination for president from the White House south lawn.
“This election will decide whether we save the American Dream, or whether we allow a socialist agenda to demolish our cherished destiny,” Trump said. “It will decide whether we rapidly create millions of high paying jobs, or whether we crush our industries and send millions of these jobs overseas, as has foolishly been done for many decades.
“Your vote will decide whether we protect law abiding Americans, or whether we give free reign to violent anarchists and agitators, and criminals who threaten our citizens.”
Trump called Biden “the destroyer of American greatness.”
“For 47 years, Joe Biden took the donations of blue collar workers, gave them hugs and even kisses,” he said, drawing laughter from the crowd of about 2,000. “And told them he felt their pain, and then he flew back to Washington and voted to ship their jobs to China and many other distant lands.”
“At the Democrat National Convention, Joe Biden and his party repeatedly assailed America as a land of racial, economic, and social injustice,” Trump said. “So tonight, I ask you a very simple question: How can the Democrat Party ask to lead our country when it spends so much time tearing down our country?”
“In the left’s backward view, they do not see America as the most free, just, and exceptional nation on earth. Instead, they see a wicked nation that must be punished for its sins,” he says. “Our opponents say that redemption for you can only come from giving power to them. This is a tired anthem spoken by every repressive movement throughout history.”
Trump was introduced by his daughter Ivanka, an influential White House adviser, who portrayed her father as someone who empathizes with those who have suffered through the pandemic.
“I’ve been with my father and seen the pain in his eyes when he receives updates on the lives that have been stolen by this plague,” she said.
In other highlights of the convention’s final night:
- The head of New York City’s Police Benevolent Association praised Trump for his staunch support of law enforcement around the country. Pat Lynch said there is “no other choice” than the Republican incumbent when it comes to the safety of all Americans. Lynch accused Democratic politicians of walking away from police by cutting their budgets and passing laws that he says are making it hard for officers to do their jobs effectively.
- Rudy Giuliani said a vote for Democrat Joe Biden is a vote for “soft on crime” policies and risks a continuation of the “wave of lawlessness” that he said is ravaging the country. He said the riots in American cities give “you a good view” of what life would be like in a Biden administration, though the current violence is happening during Trump’s administration.
- The widow of a retired St. Louis police captain shot to death after a violent night of protests said Trump is bolstering law enforcement agencies and using federal resources to “restore order in our communities.” Ann Marie Dorn said that she relives the “horror” of her husband’s death daily. In detail, she described the night that 77-year-old David Dorn was fatally shot outside a pawn shop June 2 amid violence following the death of George Floyd. Saying “violence and destruction are not legitimate forms of protest,” Dorn said she hopes that her pain will “help shake this country from the nightmare we are witnessing in our cities and bring about positive, peaceful change.”
- Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said “today’s Democrat Party doesn’t want to improve life for middle America. They prefer that all of us in flyover country keep quiet and let them decide how we should live our lives ... They want to tell you what kind of car you can drive. What sources of information are credible. And even how many hamburgers you can eat.”
- The highest-ranking Black staffer in the White House said he’s seen Trump’s “true conscience” in the aftermath of recent high-profile killings of Black men and boys. Ja’Ron Smith said he wishes everyone else could see the “deep empathy” Trump shows families whose loved ones were taken by senseless violence.
- A New Jersey congressman who switched from Democrat to Republican said he deserted his former party when it “moved from liberal to radical.” Rep. Jeff Van Drew said Joe Biden isn’t in control of his own candidacy and “is being told what to do by the radicals running my former party.” Van Drew broke with his party and voted against impeaching Trump. Last year, he switched parties to become a Republican in the November election, promising Trump his “undying support.”
