Republican National Convention 2020: Day 3

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. 

Watch:

e

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.

Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn exaggerated Democrats’ views on coronavirus restrictions, then misleadingly described a remark about China by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Blackburn exaggerated by claiming that Democrats want people locked in their homes until they become “dependent on the government for everything.” (While some Democrats have called for additional stay-home orders to help stop the spread of the coronavirus, they are not seeking endless lockdowns for the purpose of fostering dependence.) Blackburn then said that this supposed Democratic position is reminiscent of “Communist China.” (It’s worth noting that many vibrant industrialized democracies had longer mandatory lockdowns than the US.)

And then she continued: “Maybe that’s why Joe Biden is so soft on them. Why Nancy Pelosi says that ‘China would prefer Joe Biden.’ Yeah. I bet they would.”

Facts First: Blackburn’s claim about Pelosi was misleading in two ways. First, Pelosi did not personally argue that China would prefer Biden. Rather, in a CNN interview on August 9, Pelosi made clear that she was quoting the view of the US intelligence community, not speaking for herself. Second, the intelligence community reported that China wants Trump to lose because it sees him as “unpredictable,” not because Biden is perceived to be friendly to Chinese interests. 

Speaking to CNN’s Dana Bash on August 9, Pelosi argued that what the intelligence community has concluded about China is “not equivalent” to its conclusion about Russia. She noted that the intelligence community has found that China would prefer Biden, but that Russia has been actively interfering in the election to hurt Biden.

Pelosi’s exact words: “What they said is, China would prefer Joe Biden. Whether they do -- that's their conclusion, that they would prefer Joe Biden. Russia is actively, 24/7 interfering in our election.”

Here are some excerpts from Vice President Mike Pence's speech that you can expect to hear tonight. President Trump is going to Baltimore's Fort McHenry to attend the speech.

On the decision voters need to make this November:

"On November 3rd, ask yourself: Who do you trust to rebuild this economy? A career politician who presided over the slowest economic recovery since the Great Depression? Or a proven leader who created the greatest economy in the world?"

On the Trump Administration's support for law and order:

"President Trump and I know the men and women that put on the uniform of law enforcement are the best of us. They put their lives on the line every day."

"The American people know we don't have to choose between supporting law enforcement, and standing with African-American neighbors to improve the quality of life in our cities and towns."

"From the first days of this Administration, we have done both. And we will keep doing both for four more years in the White House."

On Joe Biden:

"Joe Biden says America is systemically racist. And that law enforcement in America has a quote, 'implicit bias' against minorities."

"And when asked whether he'd support cutting funding to law enforcement, and he replied, "Yes, absolutely."

On the Two Paths America Faces: 

"When you consider their agenda, it's clear: Joe Biden would be nothing more than a trojan horse for a radical left.  

The choice in this election has never been clearer and the stakes have never been higher.

Last week, Joe Biden said democracy is on the ballot, but the truth is...our economic recovery is on the ballot, law and order is on the ballot. But so are things far more fundamental and foundational to our country. 

It's not so much whether America will be more conservative or more liberal, more Republican or more Democrat. The choice in this election is whether America remains America.

It's whether we will leave to our children and our grandchildren a country grounded in our highest ideals of freedom, free markets, and the unalienable right to life and liberty--or whether we will leave to our children and grandchildren a country that is fundamentally transformed into something else."

Obtained by CNN's Nikki Carvajal 

Legendary football coach Lou Holtz threw his support behind President Trump because he said Trump "works hard at making America greater, and who genuinely cares about people."

He went on to say that "Trump always finds a way to get something done."

"If you want to do something bad enough, you will find a way. If not, you will find an excuse, and excuses are a lot easier to find than solutions. President Trump finds solution," Holtz said.

"President Trump is committed," he said.

Watch:

Michael McHale, the president of the National Association of Police Organizations, praised President Trump tonight during the Republican National Convention, calling him someone who shown support "for the men and women on the front lines, particularly during these challenging times."

McHale, who served for 27-years with the Sarasota, Florida, Police Department, claimed the lack of support for law enforcement in cities like Portland and Minneapolis is why "shootings, murders, looting and rioting occur unabated," he said tonight.

Wat

h:

The early portion of the third night of the RNC was a microcosm of how President Donald Trump's campaign has sought to ignore or move past the crises gripping the nation.

There were no mentions of the police killing of Jacob Blake or the vigilante who killed two people in Wisconsin last night. Little acknowledgment of the coronavirus pandemic that has left 180,000 Americans dead. Barely anything about Hurricane Laura, which is bearing down on the Gulf Coast, hours from making landfall.

Instead, Republicans stayed focused on Trump -- often inflating or misstating his record, while touting his support for the military, backing of religious freedom and efforts to crack down on protesters in major cities.

In a vacuum, it set the stage for some moving speeches. But in the context of fast-moving developments on health, climate and racial crises, it felt disconnected from reality.

It was all intentional: The Trump campaign's efforts to close the polling gap with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden could depend on the President's ability to redirect Americans' focus. Polls have shown voters trust Biden more on matters of health care and racial justice, forcing Trump and the RNC to try to shift the landscape on which the 2020 campaign is being waged in short order.

Second lady Karen Pence’s Republican National Convention remarks largely eschewed politics, sticking closely to the evening’s theme of “Land of Heroes” by honoring the 100th anniversary of the adoption of the 19th Amendment, military spouses, veterans, and first responders with compelling anecdotes from those she’s met in her role. 

Pence has made art therapy her platform and worked to raise awareness for the practice as a mental health profession and treatment option. She share the story of a Marine veteran dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder through art therapy.

Master Gunnery Sgt. Chris Stowe, she said, “Credits art therapy with saving his marriage and his life.”

A mom of a Marine and mother-in-law to a Naval Lieutenant, Pence also, like her predecessor Jill Biden, has worked with military spouses. On Wednesday, she called those spouses “home front heroes.”

“Military spouses may experience frequent moves and job changes, periods of being a single parent while their loved one is deployed—all while exhibiting pride, strength, and determination and being a part of something bigger than themselves,” she said, thanking them.

Pence is, arguably, the vice president’s closest and most trusted adviser. Early this year, Pence was tapped to lead PREVENTS, the administration’s interagency task force on mental health and suicide prevention.

She described a recent meeting with Americans who answer the Veterans Crisis Line.

“One in particular, Sidney Morgan, especially impacted me. A veteran herself, Sidney said it is the highest honor of her life to be on the other end of the phone to hold a veteran’s hand every step of the way until they physically walk into a clinic to receive help they deserve and she can pass their hand to someone ready to help,” she said.

Like first lady Melania Trump, Pence acknowledged the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic in her six-minute remarks. As a part-time art teacher at a private school, Pence is returning to the classroom in the coming weeks, her husband noted in an interview last week. The Northern Virginia school is resuming full-time, in-person instruction amid the administration’s push to reopen schools.

“In these difficult times, we’ve all seen so many examples of everyday Americans reaching out a hand to those in need,” she said, calling healthcare workers, teachers, first responders, mental health providers, law enforcement officers, grocery and delivery workers, and farmers “heroes all.”

Watch: