RNC Night 3: Pence accepts vice presidential nomination, claims ‘you won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America’
Vice President Mike Pence formally accepted his party’s nomination for a second term in a lofty convention speech Wednesday night, hailing his boss’ “energy” and “determination” while paying little mind to the myriad crises unfolding across the country.
Speaking before a small audience at the Fort McHenry military bastion in Baltimore, Pence sought to use the location of his speech to prop up President Trump as a defender of American history, while accusing Democrats of trying to erase it.
“The heroes who held this fort took their stand for life, liberty, freedom and the American flag. And those ideals have defined our nation,” Pence said. “But they were hardly ever mentioned at last week’s Democratic National Convention. Instead, Democrats spent four days attacking America ... But as President Trump said, where Joe Biden sees American darkness, we see American greatness.”
“So, with gratitude for the confidence President Donald Trump has placed in me, the support of our Republican Party and the grace of God, I humbly accept your nomination to run and serve as vice president of the United States,” he said.
Pence is widely viewed as a potential Republican presidential candidate in 2024 and his speech appeared in part aimed at laying the groundwork for a future White House run, as he described the president’s first term as a team effort.
“We defend this nation every day,” Pence said.
Pence also heaped praise on Trump for steering the country through the coronavirus crisis, even though nearly 180,000 Americans have already died from COVID-19 and the president has gotten poor marks from both Republican and Democratic voters for his handling of the pandemic and early downplaying of its severity.
“President Trump marshaled the full resources of our federal government from the outset,” Pence told the audience, members of which did not socially distance or wear face masks.
Wednesday night’s GOP festivities came as tumultuous protests continued in Kenosha, Wis., where a white police officer shot Jacob Blake, a Black father of three, at least seven times in front of his children earlier this week.
Pence didn’t offer any sympathy for Blake. Instead, the vice president echoed Trump’s hardline “law and order” message.
“The violence must stop, whether in Minneapolis, Portland or Kenosha,” Pence said. “We will have law and order on the streets of this country for every American.”
Instead of addressing calls for reform, Pence took another shot at Biden, claiming the Democratic nominee’s proposals for overhauling policing will put Americans in danger.
“You won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America,” he said.
The mostly virtual third night of the GOP convention came as Hurricane Laura, nearly at a Category 5, was expected to hit the Texas-Louisiana border overnight while enormous wildfires continued to ravage large swaths of California — all while the coronavirus continues to kill more than 1,000 Americans every day and keeping the U.S. economy in a stranglehold.
Pence offered prayers for the “families and communities in the path” of the hurricane.
Reluctant to leave all the limelight for Pence, Trump and his wife made a surprise appearance at Fort McHenry after the vice president’s speech.
The president didn’t make any remarks, but joined Pence in taking photos and bumping elbows with maskless supporters. It was not immediately clear if attendants had been tested for COVID-19 before the event.
Before Pence closed out the night with his acceptance speech, Trump received backing from other allies delivering taped remarks from an auditorium near the White House.
Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, who represents parts of upstate New York, provided cover for Trump over his impeachment.
“President Trump has fought tirelessly to deliver results for all Americans, despite the Democrats’ baseless and illegal impeachment sham and media’ endless obsession with it,” said Stefanik, who served on Trump’s defense team during his Senate impeachment trial on charges that he tried to pressure Ukraine into smearing Biden while holding up millions of dollars in U.S. military aid as leverage.
Switching gears, Kellyanne Conway — who’s leaving the White House next week after serving as Trump’s personal counselor for years — delivered a speech aimed at winning over women voters, a demographic that has increasingly slipped away from the president as his rhetoric has grown more divisive.
“For decades, he has elevated women to senior positions in business and in government. He confides in and consults us, respects our opinions and insists that we are on equal footing with the men,” Conway said.
Conway did not mention that Trump has a long record of demeaning and belittling women, including calling them “dogs,” “fat” and “ugly” and boasting on a hot mic about “grabbing” them by their private parts.
Piggybacking off of Conway’s speech, Kayleigh McEnany, Trump’s White House press secretary, sought to humanize her boss by recalling how he gave her a call after she underwent a preventative mastectomy after finding out she had a high genetic risk of breast cancer.
“I was blown away,” McEnany said. “Here was the leader of the free world caring about my circumstance. At the time, I had only met President Trump on a few occasions, but now I know him well, and I can tell you that this president stands by Americans with pre-existing conditions.”
McEnany did not mention that Trump’s administration is still fighting in court to undo the Affordable Care Act, which requires health insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions.
While Blake’s shooting went largely unaddressed, many of Wednesday night’s speakers took potshots at the anti-police brutality protests that have swept the nation since the caught-on-camera killing of George Floyd in May.
“From Seattle and Portland to Washington and New York, Democrat-run cities across this country are being overrun by violent mobs. The violence is rampant. There is looting, chaos and destruction and murder,” said South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem.
Contrary to last week’s Democratic National Convention, the first three nights of the mostly pre-recorded GOP confab have featured little dazzling star power and no speeches from A-list celebrities.
Instead, Trump has sought to showcase what his advisers have described as “everyday Americans” and Wednesday came under the banner theme of “Land of Heroes.”
One of Wednesday’s “heroes” was Michael McHale, a 27-year veteran police officer from Florida who said in taped remarks that cops support Trump because he got their backs.
“The violence we are seeing in these and other cities isn’t happening by chance; it’s the direct result of elected leaders refusing to allow law enforcement to protect our communities,” McHale said.
The four-day convention will wrap up Thursday night, with a widely-hyped acceptance speech from Trump on the South Lawn of the White House.
