RNC Night 4: Trump accepts GOP nomination on White House lawn, claims ‘Biden is weak’
President Trump declared Thursday night that he’s the last barrier standing between America and anarchy as he formally accepted his party’s nomination for reelection in a controversial speech at the White House, even as a perfect storm of social, economic and environmental unrest raged across the nation.
Closing out the otherwise mostly virtual four-night Republican National Convention with a well-attended speech on the South Lawn, Trump began on an optimistic note and said it was “with a heart full of gratitude” that he accepted the GOP’s nomination.
He also paid tribute to Miosotis Familia, an NYPD officer who was killed while sitting in her squad car in 2017, and had even invited the late cop’s daughter to the event and said he was “so grateful” she was there.
But the president quickly switched gears and launched characteristically dark and ominous political attacks.
He decried his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, as a puppet of “socialists” and “anarchists” who will claw back the “greatness” of his administration.
“Joe Biden is weak,” Trump told an audience of more than 1,500 supporters with the White House as his backdrop — an unprecedented use of the executive mansion for blatantly political purposes. “He takes his marching orders from the liberal hypocrites who drive their cities into the ground.”
Members of the audience did not appear to have been tested for COVID-19 beforehand. Nonetheless, they were seated close together and few wore face masks in violation of the Trump administration’s own COVID-19 guidelines.
Mention of the virus was scant in Trump’s speech, even though it has killed more than 180,000 Americans, thrust the U.S. economy into a recession and forced millions of workers into unemployment.
Reluctant to address the hardships of the virus, Trump sought to toot his own horn by claiming his administration is beating it back, even though it’s still killing more than 1,000 Americans every day and polls show a majority of voters harshly disprove of the president’s handling of the pandemic.
“We will have a safe and effective vaccine this year and together we will crush the virus,” Trump said, offering a timeline that’s far more optimistic than the one offered by his own public health experts.
Ivanka Trump, the president’s oldest daughter and adviser, added an empathetic note to her father’s COVID-19 remarks in an introductory speech.
“I pray for the families who are mourning the loss of a loved one, for those who are battling COVID-19 and for the first responders and the healthcare heroes who remain on the front lines of this fight,” the presidential daughter told the maskless crowd.
The president’s other family members were also in attendance, including First Lady Melania Trump, who appeared to be donning a lime-green dress from Italian designer Valentino, contrasting her predecessor, Michelle Obama, who usually dressed American.
Also absent from the president’s speech was mention of the racial unrest and violence plaguing Kenosha, Wisc., where Jacob Blake, a Black father of three, was shot seven times in the back in front of his children by a white police officer earlier this week.
Instead, Trump, who rejiggered his reelection bid to focus on “law and order” after the coronavirus crushed his previous promise of a strong economy, took another shot at Biden.
“No one will be safe in Joe Biden’s America,” Trump said. “My administration will always stand with the men and women of law enforcement.”
Biden punched back in real-time.
“Remember: every example of violence Donald Trump decries has happened on his watch. Under his leadership. During his presidency,” the former vice president tweeted.
The demonstrations in Kenosha reached a fever pitch Tuesday, when a Trump-supporting Illinois teen shot two protesters to death in the city, according to authorities.
The protests have spread across the country, echoing the national uproar in the wake of the caught-on-camera cop killing of George Floyd in May, with thousands of people taking to the streets anew to demand reform and an end to police brutality against African-Americans.
But Trump didn’t offer any support for the protests.
“Your vote will decide whether we protect law-abiding Americans or whether we give free rein to violent anarchists and agitators,” he said.
A few blocks away from the White House, protesters were staging a demonstration at the newly-renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza.
Ahead of Trump’s acceptance speech, Housing Secretary Ben Carson, the only Black member of his Cabinet, became the first speaker at this year’s RNC to offer sympathies for the Blake family in taped remarks from a nearby event space.
“I’d like to say that our hearts go out to the Blake family and the other families who have been impacted by the tragic events in Kenosha,” Carson said.
The third crisis hanging over Trump’s acceptance speech was Hurricane Laura, which struck Texas and Louisiana with devastating force Thursday morning, killing at least six people and causing what is likely to be billions of dollars in property damage.
“Our thoughts are with the wonderful people who have just come through the wrath of Hurricane Laura,” Trump said, adding that he plans to travel to Texas and Louisiana this weekend.
Like the previous three nights of the GOP convention, Trump mixed politicking with official government business by announcing that his administration would soon start distributing 150 million rapid COVID-19 tests that were recently given emergency authorization from his Food and Drug Administration.
Government watchdogs say the GOP convention’s blend of politics and official business could violate federal ethics laws, and House Democrats have launched at least one investigation into such potential transgressions.
The unprecedented decision to use the White House as a prop for Trump’s acceptance speech also prompted intense backlash, but the president’s advisers have said in-house lawyers cleared the legality beforehand.
After Trump’s speech, an extraordinary fireworks show was put on over the Washington Monument. One set of pyrotechnics even spelled out “TRUMP 2020″ across the night sky.
During the lead-up speeches at the nearby event space, Republican lawmakers took at times bizarre potshots at Democrats.
“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,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said.
Some prominent New Yorkers were also among the night’s speakers.
Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor-turned-personal Trump attorney, offered an angry denunciation of Biden and called him a “trojan horse” for “his party’s entire left-wing,” even though the former vice president holds distinctly more moderate views than most progressives.
The ex-Hizzoner also took a jab at Mayor de Blasio.
“Don’t let Democrats do to America what they have done to New York,” Giuliani said. “The Democrats are urging you to vote for an obviously defective candidate.”
Trump’s “law and order” pitch also received backing from Pat Lynch, the leader of the city’s Police Benevolent Association, which offered a rare endorsement for the president’s reelection bid earlier this month.
Even though scenes of violence played in video clips at the RNC this week happened on Trump’s watch, Lynch deadpanned: “You won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America.”
“You can have four more years of President Trump,” said Lynch, who represents 24,000 NYPD officers. “Or you can have no safety, no justice, no peace.”
