Donald Trump Accepts GOP's Nomination For President

WASHINGTON, DC — President Donald Trump accepted the Republican Party’s nomination for a second term Thursday evening from the South Lawn of the White House, wrapping up a four-day convention that included rousing speeches and controversial political theatrics aimed at flexing presidential power in front of a prime time national audience.

“This is the most important election in the history of our country,” the president said, calling opponent Democrat Joe Biden the destroyer of greatness.

Voters will decide if they protect millions of Americans or give free rein to anarchists and criminals who threaten citizens, Trump said.

“How can the Democrat party ask to lead our country when it spends so much time tearing down our country?” the president asked to loud cheers.

Bucking procedures of traditional conventions, Trump was highly visible throughout all four days of the RNC. That would, in the end, prove to be the least of the notable norms that were broken this year. The party eschewed putting forward a new platform and instead voted to "continue to enthusiastically support the president's America-first agenda."

Thursday night's speeches focused on Trump's vision of a country at risk of lawlessness if Democrat Joe Biden is elected. Presenting himself as the last barrier protecting an American way of life under siege from radical forces, Trump said the Democratic agenda is "the most extreme set of proposals ever put forward by a major party nominee.”

“We have spent the last four years reversing the damage Joe Biden inflicted over the last 47 years," the president said. “At no time before have voters faced a clearer choice between two parties, two visions, two philosophies or two agendas."

The latest average of recent polls by Real Clear Politics showed the former vice president leads Trump 49.6 percent to 42.5 percent.

A crowd estimated at 1,500 violated coronavirus safety guidelines in place in Washington, D.C., to fill the space on the South Lawn of the White House. Masks were not required to be worn by those in attendance, chairs were placed close together, and many attendees had not been tested for COVID-19, the Associated Press reported.

Ivanka Trump introduced her father, saying Washington hates her father because he has called out its hypocrisy.

“Washington has not changed Donald Trump, Donald Trump has changed Washington,” she said.
She said the country needs four more years of leadership from the “warrior” in the White House.

“You are the elite, you are the only people he cares about scoring points with,” Ivanka Trump said.
Routing the convention to Washington, D.C., last minute opened the door to criticisms.

While speakers delivered their addresses earlier in the week remotely from the stage of an empty Mellon Auditorium in Washington, Trump's appearances were made from the White House grounds, conducting presidential business in an overtly political space.

He issued a surprise presidential pardon for a convicted felon and held a naturalization ceremony conducted by Department of Homeland Security acting secretary Chad Wolf. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, traveling on official business, addressed the political convention through a message recorded in Jerusalem.

Critics railed against the use of the White House — the epicenter of federal governance — for political campaigning and decried the political appearances of cabinet secretaries acting in official roles — something that critics charged is illegal and banned under the Hatch Act.

The White House, pushed back saying it, "publicized the content of both events on a public website (Tuesday) afternoon and the campaign decided to use the publicly available content for campaign purposes."

Trump surrogates tried to tie Democratic nominee and former vice president Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, to unsubstantiated allegations of corruption linked to Ukrainian energy companies.

For Trump, the fight was the focus, and the convention a platform to reframe events, rally his base around him and present his own reality.

"The pandemic, we're handling it very well," he said in a speech before party delegates in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Monday, before taking aim at mail-in voting and falsely claiming tens of millions of ballots would be mailed to unregistered voters.

Vice President Mike Pence, former governor of Indiana, accepted his renomination Wednesday, at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland, where in 1812, Francis Scott Key was inspired to write "The Star Spangled Banner."

The last night of the RNC concluded a series of speeches that painted a defensive and dire view of the nation in need of Trump's brand of law-and-order.

The Trump campaign’s outreach to Black politicians and business owners, along with suburban voters, was part of each night’s videos and speaker corps.

Speakers during the convention included several Black politicians and candidates as the president tried to broaden his base. Featured speakers of color included former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, Maryland Congressional candidate Kimberly Klacik, and Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron.

Biden "can't tell me how to vote because of the color of my skin," Cameron said. "Joe Biden is a backwards thinker in a world that is craving forward-looking leadership."

Speaking against the backdrop of a recently redesigned Rose Garden, Melania Trump delivered words of compassion that countered the harsher tones of speeches before her. She defended her husband as "an authentic person who loves this country," and acknowledged those who had lost loved ones to COVID-19. Much like other speeches delivered that night, she spoke of the pandemic as if it were past-tense.

"I know many people are anxious and some feel helpless. I want you to know you are not alone. My husband's administration will not stop fighting until there is an effective treatment or vaccine available to everyone," she said to the live audience. "I have been moved by the way Americans have come together in such an unfamiliar and often frightening situation. It is in times like this that we will look back and tell our grandchildren that through kindness and compassion, strength and determination, we were able to restore the promise of our future."

Trump was born in Queens, New York. His career in business spans commercial interests in golf courses, luxury hotels and real estate, as well as production of reality television shows. He first entered politics with his presidential bid in the 2016 election.

Trump has been married three times, and has five children and 10 grandchildren.

Reporting and writing from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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