Thank Goodness!
Speakers include: Ivanka Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Kevin McCarthy and Donald Trump….
Donald Trump finishes off things by talking for 70 minutes and mostly on script..
His audience was without masks for the most part and sitting right on top of each other…
Between the lines: The hour-plus speech mentioned Joe Biden 44 times. Biden’s own speech at the Democratic convention last week did not once reference Trump by name.
- In a veiled rebuttal to Biden’s speech, in which the Democrat offered himself as an “ally of the light,” Trump said his opponent “is not a savior of America’s soul – he is the destroyer of America’s jobs, and if given the chance, he will be the destroyer of American greatness.”
- Later, when referencing the “crippling power outages” that have swept across California this month, Trump quipped: “How can Joe Biden claim to be an ‘ally of the light’ when his own party can’t even keep the lights on?” (Reality check: The operator of California’s power grid is not a political entity)
The big picture: Trump’s speech was riddled with falsehoods and echoed the same record of accomplishments that he has repeated throughout countless hours of rallies, press briefings, interviews and daily appearances over the past three years.
- For example, Trump said that he will “always, and very strongly, protect patients with pre-existing conditions,” but his administration is currently arguing before the Supreme Court that the Affordable Care Act — which protects pre-existing conditions — should be struck down.
- He also claimed that his administration passed the private-sector health care program Veterans Choice, when it was in fact passed in 2014 under President Obama.
On the issue of the coronavirus, which is widely seen as one of the most important issues to voters, Trump offered only praise for his administration’s response and shifted blame to China for allowing a “once-in-a-century pandemic” to spread around the globe.
- He touted the administration’s progress on therapeutics and boldly asserted that a vaccine will be ready by the end of the year: “Together, we will crush the virus.”
Worth noting: Despite his “law and order” rhetoric and descriptions of violent unrest, Trump did not once mention the name of Jacob Blake, whose shooting by a police officer has set off demonstrations in Kenosha and across the country.
Mitch McConnell’s piece…
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) pledged Thursday that Republicans, if they keep control of the Senate in November, will be a “firewall” against Speaker Nancy Pelosi‘s (D-Calif.) priorities.
“I am immensely proud of the work the Republican Senate has done. We are the firewall against Nancy Pelosi’s agenda. Like President Trump, we won’t be bullied by a liberal media intent on destroying America’s institutions,” McConnell said during taped remarks delivered during the final night of the virtual Republican National Convention.
“The stakes have never been higher. Which is why I’m asking you to support Republican Senate candidates across the country and reelect my friend, President Donald Trump,” he added.
McConnell outlined a list of items he believes Democrats will try to pass if they win control of the Senate, including allowing Washington, D.C., to become a state.
“They want to codify all of this by making the swamp itself — Washington, D.C. — America’s 51st state. With two more liberal senators, we cannot undo the damage they’ve done,” he said.
McConnell added that Democrats wanted to “tell you what kind of car you can drive, what sources of information are credible, and even how many hamburgers you can eat.”…
Rudolph Giuliani….
Former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani called George Floyd’s killing during an arrest by police “unforgivable” but blamed what he called a rise in lawlessness on “progressive Democrat mayors” and their national leaders.
Giuliani, an ally and outside adviser of President Trump, spoke to the Republican convention via a taped address. When it aired, he was seated at the White House, awaiting Trump’s live remarks.
“The condemnation of the killing was universal from President Trump to Democrat leaders,” Giuliani said of Floyd’s death in Minneapolis, in May. He alleged that Democrats misused the outcry over Floyd’s death as a way to criticize Trump.
“It seemed for a ‘a few brief shining moments’ like Democrat and Republican leaders would come together with a unified proposal to reduce police misconduct. This possibility was very dangerous to the left,” Giuliani said.
“They are making this election a choice between the Democrat policies soft on crime against the Republican program of law and order,” he said.
“It is clear that a vote for Biden and the Democrats creates the risk that you will bring this lawlessness to your city, town or suburb,” he said, referring to Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
“If Biden is elected, along with the Democrats who are unwilling to speak out against this anarchy, then the crime wave will intensify and spread from cities and towns to suburbs and beyond,” Giuliani alleged….
Tom Cotton….
Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton argued that the United States is safer under President Donald Trump’s leadership and that Joe Biden “would return us to a weak and dangerous past” if elected president.
“We need a president who stands up for America, not one who takes a knee. A strong and proud America is a safe America. Safe from our enemies and safe from war,” Cotton said at the Republican National Convention
Protests audible from the South Lawn where Trump is set to deliver speech shortly
From CNN’s Jason Hoffman
Protests organized by anti-Trump protesters are now audible from the South Lawn of the White House.
Reporters on the South Lawn, where President Trump will deliver his acceptance speech at the conclusion of the Republican National Convention, say they can hear banging, air horns, and muffled chanting, and say it sounds like protesters are southeast of the South Lawn, either along 15th Street NW or the Ellipse.
DC’s GoGo musicians say they are deploying their GoGo truck, which will have musicians and loudspeakers aboard, and organizers say their goal is to “drown out Trump.”
The media area on the South Lawn is behind where Trump’s guests are seated, so it’s unclear how audible the protests will be closer to the stage by the south portico entrance to the White House….
President Trump formally accepted the GOP nomination for reelection on Thursday evening in front of a sea of guests on the White House South Lawn on the final night of the 2020 Republican National Convention.
“We are one national family, and we will always protect, love and care for each other,” Trump, 74, said to thunderous applause from the crowd of supporters after emerging from the White House with first lady Melania Trump to the sounds of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.”
“My fellow Americans, tonight with a heart full of gratitude and boundless optimism, I profoundly accept the nomination for president of the United States,” he said to wild cheers of “four more years!”
The president shared his sympathy with those in the path of Hurricane Laura at the top of his address and promised he would “spare no effort” to save lives….
President Trump has accepted his party’s renomination, capping the fourth and final night of the Republican National Convention with a speech delivered from the South Lawn of the White House. His address has contained misleading claims on NATO spending, as well as Black Americans. More than 1,000 people are in attendance, and the overwhelming majority were not tested for the novel coronavirus…
…
“Rather than spending $1 billion on a new building as planned, we took an already owned existing building in a better location … and opened it at a cost of less than $500,000.”
–President Trump
The new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem is a temporary location. It’s not a new building; the U.S. refurbished its existing consulate in Jerusalem for about $400,000. Costs for the permanent embassy could well surpass $1 billion when all is said and done…
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“I have done more for the African American community than any president since Abraham Lincoln, our first Republican president.”
— President Trump
Trump appears to base this assertion on pre-coronavirus employment figures and some relatively minor actions taken during his administration. Historians say this claim is ridiculous.
Trump has taken few actions specifically on behalf of African Americans.
Lincoln freed the enslaved people in the Confederacy and pressed for passage of constitutional amendments to give them equal status under the law. Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which also had lasting impact on the lives of African Americans. These legislative victories were not easy, requiring Johnson to build coalitions with moderate Republicans and liberal Democrats to defeat the powerful segregationists in his own party who dominated the South. Trump is never one to be modest, but this kind of bragging is simply ridiculous….
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Trump misleads on NATO spending
“Our NATO partners, as an example, were far behind in their defense payments. But at my strong urging, they agreed to pay $130 billion more a year, the first time in over 20 years that they upped their payments. And this $130 billion dollars will ultimately go to $400 billion. Secretary General [Jens] Stoltenberg, who heads NATO, was amazed, and said that President Trump did what no one else was able to do.”
— President Trump
Throughout the 2016 campaign and his presidency, Trump has demonstrated that he has little notion of how NATO is funded and operates. He repeatedly claimed that other members of the alliance “owed” money to the United States and that they were delinquent in their payments. Then he claimed credit for the money “pouring in” as a result of his jawboning, even though much of the increase in those countries’ contributions had been set under guidelines arranged during the Obama administration….
…
With the gleaming White House as his backdrop, Trump began his acceptance speech, claiming that the coronavirus pandemic is under control and that a vaccine is right around the corner.
He compared the persistent public health crisis to the challenge President Franklin Delano Roosevelt faced after Pearl Harbor. In six months, covid-19 has killed nearly 180,000 Americans; 2,403 were killed at Pearl Harbor.
“In recent months, our nation and the entire planet has been struck by a new and powerful invisible enemy,” Trump said. “Like those brave Americans before us. We are meeting this challenge. We are delivering life saving therapies and will produce a vaccine before the end of the year or maybe even sooner.”
The coronavirus continues to upend Americans’ lives, with tens of thousands of new cases reported every day.
Joe Biden would be worst from Donald Trump’s mouth is the ultimate Bull Shit line of the last 4 nights from the Trump cheering squad…