Republican National Convention 2020: Day 4

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Dr. Ben Carson shared words of solace for the family of Jacob Blake and others "who have been impacted by the tragic events in Kenosha," he said tonight during the Republican National Convention.

"In order to succeed and change, we must first come together in love of our fellow citizens. History reminds us that necessary change comes through hope and love, not senseless and destructive violence," he continued.

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UFC President Dana White backed President Trump's leadership in his Republican National Convention speech, saying he has "unstoppable energy" and is "one of most loyal human beings."

"I spoke at this convention four years ago and I'm back because I believe we need President Trump's leadership now more than ever," he said.

He also railed against any effort to defund police departments, saying that "is not the answer."

"The first responders have always taken care of us, and now more than ever we need to take care of them," he said.

White praised Trump for facing Covid-19 head-on, and said he "personally observed his ability to listen and understand the issues impacting Americans of all backgrounds."

"It was clear his highest priority was always the health and safety of everyone in our country. Not just Republicans. Not just supporters. But every single American," he said.

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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that the Republican-controlled Senate is a “firewall against" House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's agenda, and that he is “immensely proud of the work the Republican Senate has done.”

McConnell has systematically blocked Senate votes on a long list of bills the Democrat-led House of Representatives has passed, on issues from gun control to additional protections for patients with preexisting health problems.

McConnell, in a Republican National Convention video recorded from his home state of Kentucky, urged Americans to vote for Republican Senate candidates across the country as well as President Donald Trump. 

“We'll continue to support American families as we defeat the coronavirus and return our economy to the envy of the world,” McConnell said. “The stakes have never been higher. Which is why I'm asking you to support Republican Senate candidates across the country and re-elect my friend President Donald Trump.”

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New Jersey Rep. Jeff Van Drew, who switched parties in 2019 from Democratic to Republican, told a story about his political conversion. He said one of the reasons was that the Democratic Party had become “radical”: “Now they were for open borders.”

Facts First: This is false. Democratic congressional leaders and the presidential candidates who were running for the Democratic nomination at the time of Van Drew’s party switch — including eventual nominee Joe Biden — simply did not and do not support completely unrestricted migration.

It’s perhaps unsurprising that President Donald Trump’s impeachment has been largely forgotten. He is still the President, a world-altering pandemic struck weeks after he was acquitted and the political calculus surrounding the matter shifted.

What is surprising is who, seven months later, is raising it as an issue. Democrats entirely ignored the impeachment era during their convention last week, even though many claimed back then that the stain of impeachment would follow Trump forever.

Instead it is Republicans who have made it an issue during their convention — including through the final-night speaking slot assigned to Rudy Giuliani, the President’s volatile personal attorney whose actions helped prompt the entire impeachment scandal in the first place.

There was a time when many of Trump’s aides cringed when they looked up and saw Giuliani on television, given his predilection for openly admitting to doing things Democrats said were crimes. 

Trump stuck by him, though occasionally asked he appear less on TV. Emerging intact from the impeachment, Giuliani seemed to gain new stature in Trump’s orbit and has continued questioning the actions of Hunter Biden in Ukraine while adding new attacks on Joe Biden’s mental acuity into the mix.

Trump and his allies have repeatedly made unfounded and false claims to allege that the former vice president and his son acted corruptly in Ukraine. 

Trump’s allies appear to have calculated that time has either softened Americans’ views of the impeachment, clouded their memories of its specifics or rendered it a petty distraction compared to the massive problems of today.

Speaking Wednesday, Rep. Elise Stefanik — whose avid defense of Trump and questioning of witnesses made her one of the breakout Republican stars of the impeachment — called the matter “baseless and illegal” and said it amounted to an attack "not just on the President, it was an attack on you — your voice and your vote." 

Dan Scavino, a White House aide who first met Donald Trump when he was a high school golf caddy, said during his speech at the Republican National Convention that Trump’s belief in him when he was a 16-year-old boy is a testament to how he sees the potential in everyday Americans. 

Scavino recalled seeing Trump on the golf course, adding, “He saw potential in me. A spark. The possibility that I could be more, do more, and achieve more than even I thought was possible.” 

Scavino, now the White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications and Director of Social Media, used his time at the lectern to talk about Trump’s character, asserting, “You know the President cannot be bought,” “(You) know the President cannot be bullied,” and “You know the President cannot be beaten.” 

“If there is one thing I hope you will hear from me tonight, it is this — President Trump is a kind and decent man. I wish you could be at his side with me to see his endless kindness to everyone he meets,” he said. 

Scavino also took a swipe at the press, calling the media “a fog machine, creating a partisan mist around everything that’s hard to see through.”

“But in 2016, you navigated through it all — you found your way through the swamp -- and you arrived safely on the other side, with Donald J. Trump as your new president,” Scavino continued.

He concluded: “Donald Trump believed in me when I was a teenage golf caddie and he was already one of the wealthiest, most famous people on the planet. He saw my potential, even when I couldn’t. He sees greatness in our country, too. And in each of you. He believes the world you dream about at night can be yours."

New Jersey Rep. Jeff Van Drew, who was elected to Congress as a Democrat but switched parties last year, claimed at the Republican National Convention that a lot of Democrats support President Donald Trump. 

“There are a lot of Democrats who support our President, and are disgusted for what their old party, what my old party, has become,” Van Drew said.

Trump announced that Van Drew would be joining the Republican Party a day after the New Jersey congressman and one other Democrat voted against both articles of impeachment. Trump was impeached by the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives but was later acquitted by the Republican-controlled Senate. 

He criticized Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and claimed the former Vice President “is being told what to do by the radicals running my former party — the same radicals trying to install him as their puppet president.”

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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy delivered the opening speech at the final night of the Republican National Convention, revisiting themes referenced repeatedly throughout the convention week, boasting about Trump administration victories and warning that Democrats would sink the US into socialism and poverty.

He opened the night in a slickly cut video featuring various scenes of Americana, saying, “Together we built the greatest economy the world has ever seen. And we will do it again. We confronted China head-on, tore up bad trade deals and made better ones, supported our men and women in uniform and took out the world’s top terrorist, achieved energy independence, defended the sanctity of life, and restored law and order at the border.” 

McCarthy also addressed coronavirus, saying it was an "invisible enemy that we didn't ask for nor invite, but we will defeat it."

Appearing to reference the night’s theme, “Land of Greatness,” McCarthy later added that “as Republicans, it’s our mission to renew the American dream, restore our way of life and rebuild the greatest economy in the world.” 

But in his remarks about Democrats, the video cut to looting, fires, and protests. 

“The socialist Democrats have a different agenda. They will dismantle our institutions, defund our police and destroy our economy. “ 

Like many speakers throughout the convention, McCarthy offered contrasting choices, making a plea to voters.

“The choice before you could not be clearer,” McCarthy argued. “Forward in freedom, or backward in socialism. Forward in prosperity or backward in poverty. Forward and personal liberty, or backward and more government control. I know which direction I'm heading."

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The “law and order” message Trump hopes to advance Thursday comes at tense moment. Kenosha, Wisconsin, remains on edge after the police shooting of a Black man. Many professional athletes were continuing a boycott, though NBA playoff games were scheduled to resume. In Washington, a large racial justice demonstration was being planned for Friday.

The tinder-box atmosphere surrounding the President’s address is not an entirely unfamiliar or uncomfortable place for Trump, and in some ways fits squarely into the theme of his convention and campaign: that Democratic-run areas will devolve into chaos should Joe Biden win.

One of Trump’s top advisers, Kellyanne Conway, appeared to acknowledge as much in an interview earlier Thursday, quoting an earlier speaker during the convention: “The more chaos and anarchy and vandalism and violence reigns, the better it is for the very clear choice on who’s best on public safety and law and order,” she said. 

Speakers on Thursday — including Ann Dorn, the widow of a police captain who was killed during violence in St. Louis, and Patrick Lynch, the president of a New York Police Department union — seemed designed to advance that message.

But in refusing the address or even acknowledge the circumstances that have led to protests in Wisconsin, Trump also seems to undercut the assertions made over and over during the convention that he is attuned to the issues of the Black community and eager to help.

Those themes also seemed poised to arise again Thursday, with planned speeches from Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, Trump’s sole Black Cabinet member, and Ja’Ron Smith, the highest-ranking Black official at the White House. Also scheduled to speak is Alice Johnson, whose life sentence for a drug violation was commuted by Trump.

Given an opportunity earlier Thursday to comment on the shooting of Jacob Blake that precipitated protests in Kenosha this week, Trump instead pivoted to his familiar pledge to tamp down on violence.

"We will put out the fire. We will put out the flame," Trump said during a visit to FEMA headquarters, where he received a briefing on Hurricane Laura. "We will stop the violence very quickly.”