By: AP & Fern Sidman
A rising generation of Republican stars offered an optimistic view of President Donald
Trump’s leadership but on the opening night of the GOP’s scaled-back convention other speakers issued dark warnings about the country’s future under a possible Biden administration, as was reported by AP.
Trump faces pressure to expand his appeal beyond his loyal supporters. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the Senate’s sole Black Republican, and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, sought to cast the GOP as welcoming to Americans of color, of a party that not only welcomes but also embraces ethnic, racial and religious diversity.
AP reported that the prime-time convention proceedings, which featured a blend of taped and live speeches, focused largely on dire talk about Joe Biden, Trump’s Democratic challenger in the November election. Speakers ominously warned that electing Biden would lead to violence in American cities spilling into the suburbs, a frequent Trump campaign message. One speaker called Trump the “bodyguard of Western civilization.”
The speeches delivered at the convention featured optimism from those who could represent the GOP’s future as well as attempts to characterize Biden as a vessel for socialists and far-left Democrats, according to the AP report. Those supporting Biden include the radical Democratic socialist senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders as well as several far-left, anti-Israel members of the House of Representatives such as New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rep. Rashida Tlaib.
Trump and a parade of fellow Republicans charged Biden with proposing to defund police, ban oil fracking, take over health care, open borders and raise taxes on most Americans, as was reported by AP.
The opening night of the four-day convention reflected the rising urgency fueling Trump’s push to reshape a presidential contest. It will continue Tuesday, when first lady Melania Trump will deliver remarks from the White House.
AP reported that one of several African Americans on Monday night’s schedule, former football star Herschel Walker, defended the president against those who call him a racist.
“It hurts my soul to hear the terrible names that people call Donald,” Walker said. “The worst one is ‘racist.’ I take it as a personal insult that people would think I would have a 37-year friendship with a racist.”
Also featured on Monday night were Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the St. Louis couple charged with felonies for pointing guns at Black Lives Matter protesters marching past their home.
“What you saw happen to us could just as easily happen to any of you who are watching from quiet neighborhoods around our country,” Patricia McCloskey said, sitting on a couch in a wood-paneled room, as was reported by AP.
“They’ve actually charged us with felonies for daring to defend our home,” her husband said.
AP reported that Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida said Democrats will “disarm you, empty the prisons, lock you in your home and invite MS-13 to live next door.”
Trump’s political future may depend on his ability to convince voters that America is on the right track, even as the coronavirus death toll exceeds 177,000 and pandemic-related job losses also reach into the millions, as was reported by AP.
A deep sense of pessimism has settled over the electorate. Just 23% of Americans think the country is heading in the right direction, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
AP reported that Trump and his supporters touted his response to the pandemic while standing alongside front-line workers in the White House.
Organizers also repeatedly sought to cast Trump as an empathetic figure, borrowing a page from the Democrats’ convention playbook a week ago that effectively highlighted Biden’s personal connection to voters.
Those cheering Trump’s leadership on the pandemic included a coronavirus patient, a small business owner from Montana and a nurse practitioner from Virginia, according to the AP report.
“As a healthcare professional, I can tell you without hesitation, Donald Trump’s quick action and leadership saved thousands of lives during COVID-19,” said Amy Ford, a registered nurse who was deployed to New York and Texas to fight the coronavirus.
The first day of the 2020 Republican convention began early on Monday as Trump and Vice President Mike Pence were renominated by delegates who gathered in Charlotte, the city originally selected to host the convention before the pandemic struck, as was reported by AP.
Trump paid a surprise visit to the city, where he warned delegates that “the only way they can take this election away from us is if this is a rigged election,” raising anew his concerns about Americans’ expected reliance on mail voting during the pandemic.
The fact the Republicans gathered at all stood in contrast to the Democrats, who held an all-virtual convention last week, noted the AP report. The Democratic programming included a well-received roll call video montage featuring diverse officials from across the nation.
The Republicans spoke from the ballroom in Charlotte before the proceedings moved to Washington for prime-time.
One of the highlights of the first night of the RNC were the powerful remarks delivered by former UN ambassador and former Governor of South Carolina, Nikki Haley.
As was reported by World Israel News, Haley served as the U.S. ambassador to the UN from January 2017 to December 2018.
“The UN is not a place for the faint of heart,” said Haley. “It’s a place where dictators, murderers, and thieves denounce America, and then put their hands out and demand that we pay their bills.”
“Obama and Biden let Iran get away with murder and literally sent them a plane full of cash. President Trump did the right thing and ripped up the Iran nuclear deal.”
“Obama and Biden led the UN to denounce our friend and ally Israel,” she said. “President Trump moved our embassy to Jerusalem, and when the UN tried to condemn us, I was proud to cast the American veto.”
Win reported that Haley’s reference to Obama’s Israel policy comes after Israel Hayom reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin killed an Obama administration-backed anti-Israel UN resolution in early 2016, as a favor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Joe Biden is good for Iran and ISIS, great for communist China, and he’s a godsend for anyone who wants America to apologize, abstain, and abandon our values.”
“It’s tragic to see so much of the Democratic party turning a blind eye towards riots and rage,” she said, referencing the mass protests and violence that have devastated major American cities across the country.
“In much of the Democratic party it’s fashionable to say America is racist. That is a lie,” said Haley.
“This is personal for me. I am the proud daughter of Indian immigrants. They came to America and settled in a small southern town. My father wore a turban. My mother wore a sari.”
“We faced discrimination and hardship, but my parents never gave into grievance and hate. My mom built a successful business. My dad taught 30 years at a historically black college. The people of South Carolina chose me as their first minority and first female governor.”
“America is a story that’s a work in progress,” she said.
“Now is the time to build on that progress.”
Beyond the speeches, the Republican National Convention is casting light on the early maneuvering that is already underway to determine the future of the party after Trump and who will emerge as its 2024 nominee, according to the AP report.
“There’s a lot happening behind the scenes already,” said Republican strategist Alex Conant, who worked for the 2016 campaign of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. Still, he said the contest won’t begin in earnest until after November, when the electorate decides whether Trump will go down in history as a one-term fluke or the founder of a new Republican Party.
Some of the potential future candidates include Nikki Haley and Vice President Mike Pence, who will speak Wednesday. AP reported that those who were also allotted time slots were Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Florida Sen. Rick Scott and Donald Trump Jr.
AP reported that many are expecting a 2024 repeat of 2016, which drew a massive field of senators, governors and former party officials — along with a reality TV star few took seriously at the time.
This time, “Mike Pence and Nikki Haley are, by far, the two greatest fan favorites out there,” says Scott Walker, the former governor of Wisconsin and himself a 2016 candidate. “There’s others out there, but nobody else is even close in that stratosphere.”
Much will depend on whether Trump secures a second term, as was reported by AP. If he loses, it could open the door to critics like Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a moderate who voiced alarm at Trump’s handling of the coronavirus and recently wrote a book and launched a new national advocacy group promoting “bipartisan, common-sense solutions.”
On the other end of the spectrum is Pence, who has spent years serving as Trump’s most loyal solider. His allies are keenly aware that the former Indiana governor’s political future will hinge on whether Trump wins in November, and they have been laser-focused on that goal, according to the AP report.
Pence has embarked on an aggressive campaign schedule that has included 73 trips to more than two dozen states since October, as was reported by AP. And he has been holding calls with conservative groups like the Susan B. Anthony List and Heritage Foundation, in addition to sitting for a whopping 152 regional interviews.
If Trump does win in November, it is unclear how another four years would affect Pence’s standing and whether he has the charisma or star power to carry the president’s base on his own, observed the AP in its report. One donor has quipped that Pence carries all of Trump’s baggage without carrying many of Trump’s supporters.
AP reported that Pence in a Fox News interview sidestepped a question about whether he’s weighing a 2024 White House run. “All my focus is getting this president reelected for four more years,” Pence said.
At the same time, buzz has been growing about Haley, the rare official who managed to emerge from the Trump administration with her reputation intact and arguably lifted. Since her departure, she has been trying to keep a careful balance, maintaining some independence from the president while not directly drawing his ire, according to the AP report.
In her convention speech Monday night, Haley gave an unabashed endorsement of the president while spending time introducing herself to viewers.
“Regardless of the outcome of the election, conservatives and Republicans are going to regard Nikki Haley as one of the most talented messengers for the cause anywhere across the country,” said Rob Godfrey, who served as a spokesperson for Haley when she was South Carolina governor.
Since stepping down as U.N. ambassador, Haley has been a frequent presence on the stump for incumbent Republican Senate candidates in battleground states. Among those she’s campaigned for: Iowa’s Joni Ernst, North Carolina’s Thom Tillis and Colorado’s Cory Gardner.
“This opportunity has given her a chance to make a lot of friends,” said Godfrey. “Those friends are activists in early primary states. Those are friends with donors all around the country that she can call on going forward for whatever she may want to do.” (AP & WIN)
