Trumps take center stage at RNC’s second night
President Donald Trump turned to his wife, daughter and son on the second day of the Republican National Convention that sought to portray the president as an empathetic man who works to help those who are overlooked.
“We have not forgotten the incredible people who were willing to take a chance on the businessman who had never worked in politics,” first lady Melania Trump said from the White House’s Rose Garden.
“Donald will not rest until he can do all he can to take care of everyone impacted from this terrible pandemic,” she said about the coronavirus outbreak, for which Democrats have heavily criticized the
president for waiting too long to take the virus’s threat seriously.
The Republican convention, like the Democratic event last week, has been held in front of cameras instead of crowds this year as the coronavirus pandemic continues to infect thousands of Americans each day. On its second day, the theme was opportunity.
Melania Trump spoke about her move to the U.S. from Slovenia when she was 26 and her path to becoming a U.S. citizen.
“It is still one of my proudest moments in my life,” she said.
In an emotional moment, Donald Trump pardoned a Nevada man who created a nonprofit organization to help inmates re-enter society after himself serving time in prison for bank robberies.
“Not so long ago, my life was running from the police, fearing the police, and avoiding the police,” Jon Ponder said, who was caught by surprise. “But today, praise God, I am filled with hope — a proud American citizen who has been given a second chance.”
In another, Trump held a naturalization ceremony for five people taking the oath to become a U.S. citizen — underscoring the president’s strict immigration policies.
“You followed the rules, you obeyed the laws, you learned the history and embraced our values and proved yourselves to be men and women of the highest integrity,” Trump said.
Women working for the president also appeared together, talking about the confidence he has in them. The moments sought to portray the president as empathetic and served as a response to arguments made by Democrats against the president, particularly his treatment of women he doesn’t like.
RNC features Wisconsin voices
The second night of the convention addressed the president’s relationship to the economy through two Wisconsinites but didn’t focus on its current state amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Wisconsin was front and center during Tuesday’s program with four speakers from the Badger State and an opening prayer seeking comfort for Wisconsin as it sweeps up ashes from fires lit in anger this week over the shooting of a Black man by a Kenosha police officer.
Wisconsin’s manufacturers and dairy farmers have struggled in recent years but two of them on Tuesday touted the effect of Trump’s presidency on their livelihoods.
“Donald Trump became president in the middle of the great depression for Wisconsin dairy farmers,” said Cris Peterson, who has with her family-owned Four Cubs Farm in Burnett County for 45 years.
“In 2016, prices were horrible and longtime generational farms across the nation were going out of business. In 2017, our 120-year-old barn, which served as our milking center, caught fire and burned to the ground,” Peterson said. “More than any president, (Trump) has acknowledged the importance of farmers and agriculture. That support and focus on negotiating new trade deals gave us the confidence to rebuild our barn and dairy operation.”
The experience of dairy farmers like Peterson, who also was appointed to the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents by former Republican Gov. Scott Walker in 2018, is more complicated than the brief appearance at the convention might suggest.
Trump has cast himself as the savior of farmers, championing the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the replacement to the North American Free Trade Agreement. Others say Trump has hurt the agricultural economy, noting the farm crisis that has gripped Wisconsin and other dairy-producing states.
Farmers have been at the mercy of trade wars, but Trump has told them those battles will ultimately result in better deals for Americans.
Wisconsin manufacturer takes stage
Wisconsin manufacturers also have been hit by the pandemic but most still remain profitable and many can’t find enough workers.
John Peterson, owner of Schuette Metals in Rothschild, also took the stage Tuesday to praise the president and warn of the effect of higher taxes on businesses like his metal fabrication operation.
Peterson, who is on the board of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., said the new trade deal with Canada and Mexico “ensured a more competitive playing field for American companies like ours.”
“We scrapped and clawed and hung on with everything we had for two years,” Peterson said of his operation under the Obama administration. “And then everything changed. Because Donald Trump was elected president. He knew what it was like to build a company and to create jobs for American workers. And he got right to work.”
A Madison mother also appeared with Vice President Mike Pence in a short video promoting private school vouchers.
In late January, Pence attended a school choice event at the state Capitol in Madison, where he met Sarah Hughes and posed for a photo with her 8-yearold son Jack.
Hughes was so taken by the vice president, she wrote him a letter to voice her support for school choice and to tell him of the strides her son was making at Lighthouse Christian School in Madison.
The vice president’s office called a few weeks ago to ask if the family would appear in a video at the Republican National Convention. Hughes left the decision up to her son.
“My son said, ‘We don’t turn down the vice president, mom,’ “Hughes told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
While Wisconsin’s two signature industries were on display at the Republicans’ convention, so was the most prominent issue facing the state at the moment.
Pastor Norma Urrabazo, of the International Church of Las Vegas, opened the convention by praying for the state and for the family of Jacob Blake, who was shot Sunday repeatedly in his back by a Kenosha police officer.
The incident left Blake paralyzed and has sparked protests, riots, fires and looting in Kenosha and Madison.
“Lord, we come before you to ask for your spirit of peace, to come over hurting communities in Wisconsin tonight,” she said. “We pray for healing and comfort to Jacob Blake and his family. We pray for your protection over those who put their lives in harm’s way to bring safety and security to our streets.”
Speaking from Jerusalem, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo focused on foreign policy, saying Trump had cracked down on China, initiated negotiations with North Korea and stood up to Iran, including by pulling out of an international nuclear deal backed by former President Barack Obama.
Trump’s daughter Tiffany contended the media, technology companies and the country’s educational system have tried to control people’s thoughts and keep them “mentally enslaved.”
“Rather than allowing Americans the right to form our own beliefs, this misinformation system keeps people mentally enslaved to the ideas they deem correct,” she said. “This has fostered unnecessary fear and divisiveness amongst us.”
Ahead of the convention program, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer told a different story about the president.
Whitmer, a Democrat, charged that “Donald Trump has driven our economy into the ground.”
“Even before the coronavirus struck, our job growth had slowed and our manufacturing sector was in a recession last year,” she said. “Farmers are going bankrupt under Donald Trump’s failed leadership.”
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker joined Whitmer in the call with reporters and also hit Trump over his handling of foreign policy, saying he had been “disastrous.”
“He’s been doing foreign policy by tweet, catching his own generals off guard. That’s why you’re seeing so many generals, break protocol, come out against this president,” Booker said.