Republican National Convention 2020: Day 3

President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, made a personal pitch to the Republican National Convention referencing her relationship with the President and his support of women and family, turning to a dire warning of socialism, and then back to a personal pitch.

Trump did not have a speaking slot in the 2016 Republican National Convention, but has emerged as a top surrogate and paid adviser to his reelection campaign.

When she met her husband, Eric Trump, and his family, she said, “Any preconceived notion I had of this family disappeared immediately. They were warm and caring, they were hard workers, and they were down to earth. They reminded me of my own family. They made me feel like I was home.”

She described the Trump Organization as a “family environment,” and highlighted the “countless women executives who thrived there.”

“Though I had no political experience, he believed in me. He knew I was capable even if I didn’t,” she said, one day after another convention speaker, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, railed against nepotism.

Trump, a former producer at "Inside Edition," was a frequent presence on the 2016 campaign trail, and worked for former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale’s digital firm, Giles-Parscale, as a senior consultant after her father-in-law’s inauguration. She is now a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, and appears often on its livestreams and as a surrogate at events. 

She touted the administration’s economic successes before the pandemic, without referencing coronavirus, commemorated the 100th anniversary of the adoption of the 19th Amendment, and abruptly turned her remarks to warn of a Biden administration, which, she said, would put the nation on an “uncharted, frightening path towards socialism,” going on to quote Abraham Lincoln.

She reiterated the President’s “law and order” message and railed against “weak, spineless politicians,” who, she said, have “(ceded) control of our great American cities to violent mobs.”

“Joe Biden will not do what it takes to maintain order,” she warned.

Trump highlighted her personal story and cast herself as an everyday American born to small business owners: “I know the promise of America because I have lived it, not just as a member of the Trump family, but as a woman who knows what it’s like to work in blue collar jobs, to serve customers for tips, and to aspire to rise.”

Unlike her husband, and brother-in-law Donald Trump Jr., and sister-in-law Tiffany Trump, Lara Trump sought to paint a more personal picture of the President.

“I learned that he is a good man, that he loves his family, that he didn’t need this job… He is a person of convictions. He is a fighter and will never stop fighting for America,” she said.

Trump continued, “He will uphold our values. He will preserve our families. And he will build on the great American edict that our union will never be perfect until opportunity is equal for all — including, and especially, for women.”

She briefly referenced Hurricane Laura, the convention’s second reference to the storm barreling toward Louisiana and Texas: “May God bless the Gulf States in the path of the Hurricane,” she said.

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North Carolina congressional candidate Madison Cawthorn, 25, made a case for young leaders in a speech at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday. 

Cawthorn scored a stunning political upset in June when CNN projected he would win the North Carolina Republican congressional primary to fill the seat vacated by President Donald Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows. Trump and Meadows had both backed Cawthorn’s opponent. 

“In times of peril, young people have stepped up and saved this country, abroad and at home,” Cawthorn said, in remarks that focused on himself rather than Trump. 

He also called on conservatives to “define what we support and win the argument in areas like health care, on the environment.” Notably, the Republican National Committee decided it would not define and adopt a new party platform in 2020 and would instead support Trump’s agenda. 

Cawthorn was partially paralyzed in a 2014 car accident. Toward the end of his remarks, he lifted himself out of his wheelchair onto a walker as he said, “for our republic, for which I stand.”

In August, Cawthorn faced criticism for resurfaced Instagram posts of his 2017 visit to Adolf Hitler's vacation house in Germany known as the "Eagle's Nest," in which he referred to Hitler as "the Fuhrer" and said the visit was "on his bucket list for a while." 

"Strange to hear so many laughs and share such a good time with my brother where only 79 years ago a supreme evil shared laughs and good times with his compatriots," the caption states.

Cawthorn has defended the posts and said he denounces White nationalism.

Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst said, “The Democratic Party of Joe Biden is pushing this so-called Green New Deal.” She continued by alleging that “if given power, they would essentially ban animal agriculture…” 

Facts First: This claim about animal agriculture is baseless. While we can’t definitively fact-check what might happen in the future, Biden’s platform does not include anything even close to a ban. The Green New Deal resolution introduced by other Democrats in 2019 also does not include anything resembling a ban.

Biden’s climate plan says he will “create new opportunities to support deployment of methane digesters,” which turn waste produced by cattle and other animals into electricity.  The plan also says Biden will “invest in climate-friendly farming such as conservation programs for cover crops and other practices aimed at restoring the soil and building soil carbon, and in the process, preventing run-off and helping family farmers deploy the latest technologies to maximize productivity.”

Trump has repeatedly alleged that the Green New Deal would ban cows. It wouldn’t. 

The allegation appears to be based on a single sentence in a Frequently Asked Questions document posted by the office of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. That sentence explained that proponents of the Green New Deal were proposing “net-zero” carbon emissions in 10 years, rather than proposing zero carbon emissions at all, “because we aren't sure that we'll be able to fully get rid of farting cows and airplanes that fast."

It wasn’t clear how serious the “farting cows” comment was supposed to be. Regardless, the FAQ document, which was quickly deleted, was never endorsed by the other Democrats who signed on to the Green New Deal resolution. 

Uiform through-lines have sometimes been hard to detect at this week’s convention, which has veered between fatalistic warnings about Democrats, denial about coronavirus and general economic optimism.

One consistent, however: every speaker has offered a view of the President that, no matter how divorced from reality, is the view he’s always wanted to see depicted on television. 

Trump’s self-produced television show — with his own editors and himself as the casting director — has achieved what near-daily complaints about news media converge and lengthy venting sessions to aides cannot: a depiction he finally agrees with.

Of course, the convention speakers and slickly produced videos have sanded off all of Trump’s flaws. In videos shot inside the White House of Trump greeting frontline workers, former American hostages, pardoned inmates and new US citizens, deft editing is employed to avoid the impression — often present when watching Trump live — that he struggles to remain on topic.

The angry outbursts and questionable information that are a hallmark of his news conferences and other media encounters are gone. Speakers describe a President who did not ignore the coronavirus pandemic, has not stoked racial tensions and generally acts like a different president than the one seen on television every day.

It’s exactly the person Trump wants to see.

New York Rep. Elise Stefanik said that the impeachment of President Donald Trump was not only “baseless” and a “sham” but “illegal.”

Facts First: The impeachment of Trump was not illegal. The Constitution grants the House “the sole power of impeachment.” In December, the House exercised that power for the third time in U.S history, charging Trump with two crimes: abuse of power, for pressuring Ukraine to investigate his political rival Joe Biden while withholding US security assistance and a coveted White House meeting, and obstructing Congress in its investigation. The House voted to impeach the President and the Senate voted to acquit him largely on party lines.

Republican Sen. Joni Ernst, an Army combat veteran and the highest-ranking woman in Senate leadership, used her remarks at Wednesday’s Republican National Convention to highlight service, the recent derecho storm, and agriculture to make a neatly-speech tailored to her Iowa constituents.  

Ernst, who is up for reelection this year, is currently in a competitive race with Democrat Theresa Greenfield that will be crucial to maintaining Republican control of the Senate. She appeared to directly address an audience of Iowa voters, standing in front of bales of hay piled on a tractor wearing a plaid shirt and jeans, American and Iowan flags in the background.

Like Gov. Kim Reynolds’ remarks on Tuesday, Ernst praised Trump’s response to the derecho that devastated an area nearly 800 miles wide with hurricane-force winds. Only one of the 27 counties impacted by the storm has received approval from the Trump administration for federal individual assistance, so far. Ernst also swiped at national media, which, she claimed, considers her state “still just flyover country.”

Speaking from her home state, she highlighted her Iowa roots and military record: “I was raised on a small family farm here in Iowa, where I learned the importance of faith, hard work and service. I worked my way through college, then dedicated my life to serving my country, as a local official, a battalion commander in the military, and as a US senator. Service, it’s more than a word to me: It’s a mission, a way of life.”

And she touted Trump’s trade and agricultural successes, including trade deals, removing the Waters of the United States rule, and implementing the sale of E15 fuel year-round, calling the Obama administration “hostile to farmers.”

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White House counselor Kellyanne Conway attempted to make the case at the Republican National Convention that President Donald Trump is a champion for women, despite Trump’s history of publicly demeaning women and leveling sexist and misogynistic attacks.

Trump’s presidential campaign is looking to win over female voters, as recent polls show female registered voters prefer Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden over Trump. 

Conway said that for decades, Trump has “elevated women to senior positions in business and in government,” that he “confides in and consults us, respects our opinions, and insists that we are on equal footing with the men.”

“President Trump helped me shatter a barrier in the world of politics by empowering me to manage his campaign to its successful conclusion,” Conway said. 

Trump has a long history of making sexist remarks and mocking women based on their appearances. Most recently, Trump has resorted to sexist and racist tropes to describe Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris. The President has been accused publicly by more than a dozen women of sexual harassment or assault. 

Trump apologized in 2016 for lewd and sexually aggressive remarks he made in 2005 that were recorded while he was taping of a segment for "Access Hollywood." 

Conway announced Sunday she would leave the White House at the end of the month, and her husband, George Conway, said he was withdrawing from The Lincoln Project, both citing a need to focus on their family. 

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New York Rep. Lee Zeldin got personal tonight during the Republican National Convention as he described what happened to his twin daughters who were born 14 weeks early.

Both girls weighed just a pound and a half and were in need of urgent medical attention, Zeldin said tonight.

Zeldin has since made it a point to support medical professionals. In April, he worked with the White House to have roughly 200,000 N-95 masks to Suffolk County as it struggled under the coronavirus pandemic, he said,

"That number quickly grew to a staggering 1.2 million items of PPE in just one month, including masks, gowns, and more," he said.

In the 90 minutes before he was scheduled to speak, Vice President Pence decided he will address the unrest unfolding in Wisconsin on the third night of the Republican convention.

Whether or not he would bring up Wisconsin when he took the stage remained up in the air all day Wednesday. In the morning, a source said he would reference it. Then, around 8 p.m., a source familiar with the speech said Pence would not address the matter whatsoever and said the draft of his speech was locked.

But after seeing how dramatically events had escalated throughout the day, as he watched from his residence Wednesday afternoon, Pence added a last-minute reference to Wisconsin into the final drafts of his speech, making the ultimate decision only after he had landed in Baltimore to headline the third night.