This was published 1 year ago
While he rarely mentioned Joe Biden in his 93-minute speech, President Biden’s re-election campaign has offered its view on Trump’s address.
“It was Donald Trump who destroyed our economy, ripped away rights, and failed middle-class families,” said Jen O’Malley Dillon, the Biden campaign chair, in a statement after the speech.
“Now he pursues the presidency with an even more extreme vision for where he wants to take this country.”
For those conservative voters long turned off by former President Donald Trump’s rhetoric, his somewhat softened tone in accepting the Republican nomination was a welcome relief.
“He’s much improved,” Dave Struthers, a 57-year-old farmer from Collins, Iowa, said as he watched Trump’s speech in the basement of his farmhouse. “The thing I’ve had against him is he’s been so egotistical — ‘I, I, I. Me, me, me’. I’m not hearing that tonight.”
Trump, who has a long history of divisive commentary, has said shoplifters should be immediately shot, suggested the United States’ top general be executed as a traitor, and mocked Nancy Pelosi’s husband, who was beaten with a hammer by a far-right conspiracy theorist.
But in Milwaukee, he sported a white bandage over his right ear, which was pierced by a bullet from a would-be assassin just days earlier, and spoke in a quieter, more relaxed tone for at least the first part of the speech. He described his experience of the shooting and called for an end to discord, division and demonisation in national politics.
Good afternoon and thank you for reading our live coverage of US politics and the final night of the four-day Republican National Convention in the battleground state of Wisconsin.
If you’re just joining us now, here’s what you need to know:
We’ve just witnessed history: CNN is reporting that Donald Trump’s 1 hour and 32 minute speech was the longest for a nomination acceptance by a major party figure in modern American political history.
Trump’s 2016 acceptance speech was 1 hour 15 minutes; his 2020 speech was 1 hour and 10 mins.
Donald Trump has pledged a “total renewal” of America in his closing remarks at the Republican National Convention.
“We have to make the most of every day for the people and the country that we love,” he said.
Trump claimed the gunman in Pennsylvania on Saturday “wanted to stop our movement”, but it had never been about him. It was about the people and “it can’t be stopped”, he said.
“Success will bring us together. It is a story of love, sacrifice and so many other things.”
Among his final comments, Trump said: “I am humbly asking for your vote.”
In a less humble finale, he added: “We will press forward, and together we will win, win, win. We will very quickly make America great again.”
Donald Trump offered a tribute to 50-year-old father and volunteer firefighter, Corey Comperatore, who was killed on Saturday at a rally in Pennsylvania when a gunman attempted to assassinate Trump.
Two others were seriously injured in the attack.
Trump asked for a minute’s silence for “our friend, Corey”. He held up a firefighter’s jacket that with the surname as “Compertore”.
Donald Trump promises to slash energy costs before declaring: “Remember, we have more liquid gold under our feet than any other country by far.”
The US is among the world’s top oil-producing countries, but this does not mean it has the world’s largest oil reserves.
The nation was going to make an “absolute fortune” out of oil, Trump said.
“We have it and China doesn’t,” he added, and the US would be “energy dominant”.
“Drill, baby, drill.”
Donald Trump deploys hyperbole in claiming US President Joe Biden has done more damage than the country’s “10 worst presidents”.
“They will not have done the damage that Biden has done,” he said, before adding that he was going to use his name “just one time”. Later, he called Biden “that person”.
He claimed the country was “flooded with illegal aliens” and “they’re taking the jobs” from the black and hispanic populations.
“Inflation has wiped out the life savings of our citizens,” he continued.
“I will bring back the American dream. With great humility, I am asking you to be excited about the future of our country.”
Donald Trump claims that the US has an “illegal immigration crisis” but he will ensure the nation’s borders are totally secure.
The economy “will soar” under his leadership, he says.
Donald Trump tells the crowd that his running mate, J.D. Vance, met his wife at Yale and they’re two “very smart people”.
He predicts the 39-year-old Ohio senator, once a staunch critic of Trump, will be in politics a long time and tells him to “enjoy the ride”.
“I’m here tonight to lay out a vision for the whole nation,” Trump continued. “I extend to you a hand of loyalty and friendship.”