Republicans nominate Trump at convention
He questions election integrity
President Donald Trump turned a surprise opening-day appearance at his party’s scaleddown national political convention into an opportunity to cast doubt on the integrity of the fall election just moments after delegates nominated him for a second term.
“The only way they can take this election away from us is if this is a rigged election,” Trump said as he made an unscheduled appearance at the party’s scaled-down convention.
The convention kicked off with a day of “official business” in Charlotte before moving to Washington, D.C., for prime-time programming.
Trump has sought to minimize the toll of the coronavirus pandemic, but its impact was plainly evident at the Charlotte Convention Center, where just 336 delegates gathered instead of the thousands once expected to converge on this city for a weeklong extravaganza. Attendees sat at well-spaced tables at first and masks were mandatory, though many were seen flouting the regulation.
The GOP convention is a crucial moment for Trump, who is trailing in national and battleground state polls and under intense pressure to turn the race around.
Just 23% think the country is heading in the right direction, while 75% think it’s on the wrong path, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Trump said he had made the trip to contrast himself with his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, who never traveled to Wisconsin, the state where the Democratic convention was originally supposed to be held.
And in a nearly hourlong speech, Trump once again sowed doubts about the integrity of November’s election as he laced into mailin voting, which experts say has proven remarkably safe.
“Be very, very careful,” he told the crowd as he concluded. “This is the most important election in the history of the country. Don’t let them take it away from you.”
Many of the usual trappings of a convention were present Monday, including signs designating each state and gift bags with Republican swag. But gone were the grandeur, the pomp and the pageantry.
Republicans will spend the week trying to convince the American people that the president deserves a second term. Aides want the convention to recast the story of Trump’s presidency and present the election as a choice between his vision for America’s future and the one presented by Biden.
Besides the formal nomination roll call, the party also approved a handful of new resolutions, including one that backs Columbus Day as a federal holiday and one that labels the Southern Poverty Law Center, which catalogs the country’s hate groups, as a “radical organization.” Another bemoans “cancel culture,” warning that it “has grown into erasing of history, encouraging lawlessness, muting citizens and violating free exchange of ideas, thoughts, and speech.”
But they did not vote on a new 2020 platform, after a unanimous vote to forgo one this year.
“RESOLVED, That the Republican Party has and will continue to enthusiastically support the President’s America-first agenda,” a resolution instead reads, in part.
After the Charlotte kickoff, most of the GOP convention will take place in Washington, D.C., at and around the White House, as well as by video. First lady Melania Trump will speak today from the Rose Garden, Pence will appear from Fort McHenry in Baltimore on Wednesday and Trump will deliver his marquee acceptance speech Thursday from the South Lawn.