WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump accepted the Republican party’s renomination on Thursday night from a stage at the White House South Lawn.
Trump said his Democratic opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, has “the most extreme set of proposals ever put forward” in the country’s political history and is a “Trojan horse” for socialism.
“We have spent the last four years reversing the damage Joe Biden inflicted over the last 47 years,” Trump said. “At no time before have voters faced a clearer choice between two parties, two visions, two philosophies or two agendas. This election will decide whether we save the American dream or whether we allow a socialist agenda to demolish our cherished destiny.”
Trump was closing the Republican National Convention after his daughter Ivanka Trump introduced him as a compassionate and empathetic leader while facing the coronavirus pandemic.
“I have been with my father and seen the pain in his eyes,” Ivanka Trump said.
Trump began his speech by saying he is working with officials in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Laura. Trump also said the U.S. is delivering life-saving therapies and with three different vaccines in the final stage of trials will produce a vaccine before the end of the year.
“Many Americans, including me, have sadly lost friends and cherished loved ones to this horrible disease,” Trump said. “As one nation, we mourn, we grieve, and we hold in our hearts forever the memories of all of those lives that have been so tragically taken.”
Outside of the White House, there were hundreds of protesters shouting in hope of interrupting Trump’s acceptance speech. Protesters are planning to march on Friday on Pennsylvania Avenue and the Black Lives Matter Plaza.
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EXCERPTS FROM SPEECH
Trump said China wants Biden to win. He criticized Biden for supporting NAFTA, the Trans Pacific Partnership, South Korea trade deal, China’s entry into the World Trade Organization,
Trump reminded voters he approved the Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipelines and ended “the unfair and very costly” Paris Climate Accord, the North American Free Trade Agreement “nightmare” and the “one-sided” Iran nuclear deal.
- “Unlike many presidents before me, I kept my promise, recognized Israel’s true capital and moved our embassy to Jerusalem. But not only did we talk about it as a future site, we got it built. Rather than spending $1 billion on a new building as planned, we took an already-owned existing building in a better location, real estate deal, right? And opened it at a cost of less than $500,000.”
- “We also recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. And this month we achieved the first Middle East peace deal in 25 years. In addition, we obliterated 100 percent of the ISIS caliphate and killed its founder and leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Then in a separate operation, we eliminated the world’s number one terrorist by far, Qassem Solemeini.”
- “Unlike previous administrations, I have kept America out of new wars, and our troops are coming home. We have spent nearly $2.5 trillion on completely rebuilding our military, which was very badly depleted when I took office, as you know. This includes three separate pay raises for our great warriors. We also launched the Space Force, the first new branch of the United States military since the Air Force was created almost 75 years ago. "
- “We will make sure our companies and jobs stay in our country as I’ve already been doing for quite some time, if you’ve noticed. Joe Biden’s agenda is Made in China. My agenda is Made in the USA.”
- “Biden has promised to abolish the production of American oil, coal, shale and natural gas, laying waste to the economies of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Colorado, and New Mexico, destroying those states.”