You won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America, Pence warns voters
MIKE PENCE used his Republican convention speech to tell voters “you won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America” in a fierce articulation of Donald Trump’s law and order message.
The US vice-president claimed Mr Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, would pursue policies that would escalate the violent clashes seen at times this year in some US cities.
The attack, one of many Mr Pence launched at the Democrat in his address, came as another night of anger and tension was seen in Kenosha, Wisconsin, after the police shooting of Jacob Blake, an African-american man.
Mr Pence named Mr Biden no fewer than 21 times in his 37-minute speech as he warned that Mr Trump’s opponent was a “Trojan horse for a radical Left” who would lead America “on a path to socialism and decline”.
One of the key Republican attack lines in this election has been that Mr Biden is weak on crime, with party leaders attempting to portray him on the side of rioters and looters rather than the police force.
Mr Biden, who is treading a careful line between supporting antiracism protests and condemning violence, dismissed Mr Pence’s attack yesterday and hit back at Mr Trump.
“The problem we have right now is we’re in Donald Trump’s America,” Mr Biden said, pinning the problems of today on the US president. “This happens to be Donald Trump’s America.”
Mr Pence, a deeply religious former Indiana governor who has been unflinchingly loyal to Mr Trump as his deputy, accepted the party’s vice-presidential nomination in his Wednesday night address.
He spoke before a row of American flags at Fort Mchenry in Baltimore, the site of a famous battle where the British Army were repelled by US revolutionaries in 1814.
The clash inspired the US national anthem, The Star Spangled Banner.
One of the most eye-catching passages was on Mr Biden’s stance on the protests against racial injustice which broke out this year after George Floyd’s death at the hands of a white police officer.
Mr Pence claimed Mr Biden believed “America is systemically racist” and picked out a comment the Democrat made in an interview suggesting he would favour police cuts – a remark the Biden camp has distanced itself from.
“Joe Biden would double down on the very policies that are leading to unsafe streets and violence in America’s cities,” Mr Pence said.
“The hard truth is you won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America. Under President Trump, we will stand with those who stand on the Thin Blue Line, and we’re not going to defund the police – not now, not ever.”
Elsewhere, Mr Pence challenged Mr Biden’s past record on foreign policy, an area seen as one of the Democrat’s strengths in the race given he spent eight years as vice-president and decades as a senator.
Mr Pence noted that “history records that Joe Biden even opposed the operation that took down Osama bin Laden”, a reference to how Mr Biden once said he urged caution in the plan to take out the al-qaeda terrorist leader.
Mr Pence often came back to one of the central attack lines the Trump campaign is pursuing ahead of the Nov 3 election, saying: “Joe Biden would set America on a path of socialism and decline.”
The attack has been harder to land since Mr Biden is widely seen as a centrist and ran against calls for a Leftwing “revolution” during the race for the Democratic nomination.
At the end of the speech, which was punctuated with chants of “four more years” and “USA! USA!” from the hundred or so supporters in the audience, Mr Pence was joined by Karen, his wife, as well as Mr Trump and Melania, the First Lady.
They later greeted their supporters, few of whom were wearing masks as they ditched social distancing requirements to rush forward for photographs. The president posed for “selfies”.
Mr Trump was scheduled to close the four-day Republican convention on Thursday night with a White House speech followed by fireworks.
‘Joe Biden would double down on the very policies that are leading to unsafe streets and violence in America’s cities’