Republican National Convention 2020

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      Kamala Harris assails Donald Trump's 'reckless disregard' for American people

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      Kamala Harris launched a withering attack on Donald Trump’s leadership hours before he will accept his party’s re-nomination on Thursday, accusing the president of demonstrating a “reckless disregard” for the American people in his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.Speaking from an auditorium at George Washington University, Harris, a California senator who last week became the first woman of color to accept the vice-presidential nomination of a major party, unfurled a wide-ranging offensive against Trump to address what she said was “a reality completely absent from this week’s Republican national convention”.“The Republican convention is designed for one purpose: to soothe Donald Trump’s ego, to make him feel good,” Harris said. “But here’s the thing: he’s the president of the United States, and it’s not supposed to be about him. It’s supposed to be about the health and the safety and the wellbeing of the American people.”“On that measure,” she continued, “Donald Trump has failed.”Harris , a former prosecutor, methodically detailed Trump’s response to the pandemic from his early praise of the Chinese government to his focus on the stock market.“He got it wrong from the beginning and then he got it wrong again and again and the consequences have been catastrophic,” she said.During their four-day convention, Republicans have made few references to the pandemic, even as the death toll rises to 180,000. Instead, they sought to portray the president as a superhero figure, whose strong leadership will “make America great again, again” as Vice-President Mike Pence vowed.Harris, who marched alongside Black Lives Matter protesters earlier this year, also opened her remarks on Thursday by addressing the shooting of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, by a white officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in an incident captured on camera. Attorneys say Blake is paralyzed and fighting for his life.“The shots fired at Mr Blake pierced the soul of our nation,” she said. “It’s sickening to watch. It’s all too familiar. And it must end.”Harris invoked Blake’s name, repeating the circumstances of his shooting for emphasis – “shot seven times, in the back”. She also spoke the names of other Black Americans killed this summer, including George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery.While condemning violence that has transpired in Kenosha, Harris said Black Americans were “rightfully angry” and praised the Blake family, who she spoke with on Wednesday, for appealing for peace even as they seek justice.“It’s no wonder people are taking to the streets, and I support them,” she said, adding: “Make no mistake we will not let these vigilantes and extremists derail the path to justice.”The Wisconsin governor, Tony Evers, increased the number of national guard troops in Kenosha after a white 17-year-old was charged on Wednesday with killing two protesters and injuring a third.Identifying the mounting crises – from the raging wildfires in California and the hurricane ripping across Louisiana, to the spate of police killings of Black Americans and a rising death toll from the coronavirus – Harris closed her speech by asking Americans to judge Trump on his performance.“We all know, he’s not changing. The president he has been is the president he will be,” she said. “But we have a chance to right these wrongs, and put America on a better path.” More

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      Trump puts women 'on equal footing' with men, say female advisers at RNC – video

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      1:43

      A strong female contingent was out in force during the third day of the Republican national convention, with Trump’s advisers attempting to paint a picture of a compassionate, open-minded president in an apparent attempt to win over female voters. 
      Kayleigh McEnany recounted how the president called her after her mastectomy, the White House adviser Kellyanne Conway applauded Trump for putting women ‘on equal footing with the men’ and his daughter-in law, Lara Trump, described the Trump family as ‘warm and caring’.
      The president’s advisers ignored the dozens of sexual misconduct allegations against Trump (which he denies) and his history of referring to women as ‘dogs’ and ‘fat pigs’. 
      False claims and a grim message: key takeaways from night three of the RNC

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      Republican national convention 2020

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      The Republican convention is proof that traditional Republicans have given up | Cas Mudde

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      The Republican national convention is the Trump show, and all the Trumps are being rolled out, even the black sheep, Tiffany. Most of the family members are there in merely supporting roles for the pater familias, although Don Jr might fancy a political career in the wake of daddy’s second – or third – term. After all, he is the most closely connected to the Trump base, having peddled racist conspiracy theories since at least 2016 – remember the Skittles tweet?Speaking of sideshows, there were also, of course, the heroes of rightwing “cancel culture” panic, such as the Covington Catholic kid and the St Louis Bonnie and Clyde. The evil cartoon characters from St Louis warned suburban America that “no matter where you live, your family will not be safe in the radical Democrats’ America”, while the Covington kid is here to personify the attack on “free speech” by the identity politics of the radical left.In many ways, this convention is a call-back to the old Republican party of dog-whistle politics. The intended audience knows who they won’t be safe from – Black people – and knows that no one is so powerless as a white man. But they don’t explicitly mention race, as their audience still feels a bit awkward when the racism is too overt.Similarly, the non-white sideshow is there to tell this dog-whistle audience that, to quote Nikki Haley, “America is not a racist country.” Even liberals got swayed by the South Carolina Republican Tim Scott’s “body blows” to Biden. As he portrayed himself as the product of “the promise of the American journey”, older moderate Republicans could probably hear the tunes of Reagan’s “Morning in America” in their minds.But these were just intermezzos in an onslaught of aggressive, relentless and unapologetic attacks on the so-called radical left provided by the Trump family and the host of people making their highly profitable careers through them – including the hope for the Trumpian future, Charlie Kirk.Many people have noted the absence of establishment Republicans. Sure, the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, and the House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, will both speak, but they are exceptions, and sideshows to the Trump show. In fact, in a whole new twist to “No Platform”, the Republican national committee proudly announced it would have no new platform for the 2020 elections.The Washington Post claimed that this means that “the Republican party stands for nothing”. But this is obviously wrong. Trump is the platform! And by now, even the Post should know what Trump stands for: authoritarianism, corruption, egocentrism, nativism and populism. As I’ve argued before, US democracy is not dying in darkness. It is dying in plain sight … if it is dying at all, but that is up to the American people and its vote. More

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      Republican convention delivers whirlwind of lies great and small

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      As Hurricane Laura roared towards the southern US coast, the Republican national convention unleashed Hurricane Liar.There were lies aplenty at the last convention in Cleveland four years ago but, in those innocent days, reporters were still reluctant to call a lie a lie. Donald Trump blew that up on his first day in office when he and his officials claimed his inauguration crowd was bigger than Barack Obama’s.Now there is no getting away from the fact that Republicans are commandeering more than two hours a night of primetime television to lie and mislead so brazenly, frequently and shamelessly that there’s a chance the American public will simply be worn down into submission and untruth will be normalised.As the New York Times columnist Frank Bruni noted, all conventions tell “extravagant fibs” but this one is “less a feat of pretty storytelling than an act of pure derangement”. Wednesday night was another opportunity to deny Trump’s record, deny the severity of the coronavirus pandemic and climate crisis, and deny reality itself.Vice-President Mike Pence portrayed Trump as America’s saviour from Covid-19. “Before the first case of coronavirus spread within the United States, President Trump took the unprecedented step of suspending all travel from China,” he said, a false statement since there were several exceptions to the ban that still allowed tens of thousands to travel.Putting on a patriotic show at Baltimore’s Fort McHenry, scene of a battle that inspired The Star-Spangled Banner, Pence also avoided some brutal truths: no mention of Trump praising China’s early response, his constant downplaying of the threat, failing to deliver testing or protective equipment, waffling over face masks for months or ruminating about miracle cures. There was mention of the 180,000 death toll, the highest in the world by far.Other lies came in the convention’s ongoing attempt to perform triage and rewrite not only history but Trump’s personality. Someone waking from a four-year coma this week would be gratified to learn the president is a Mount Rushmore-worthy paragon of dignity, humility and kindness and a grandmaster of geopolitical chess.Kayleigh McEnany, who famously began her tenure as White House press secretary by pledging “I will never lie to you,” did just that from a different podium in the bleakly empty Andrew W Mellon Auditorium in Washington.McEnany told a story of how she underwent a preventive mastectomy and how Trump called to see how she was doing. “I can tell you that this president stands by Americans with pre-existing conditions,” she claimed about the man who has worked tirelessly, in Congress and in court, to reverse the law that protects 130 million Americans with pre-existing conditions. More

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      Mike Pence accuses Biden of 'attacking America' in Republican convention speech – live

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      Vice-president, second lady, and Kellyanne Conway speak
      Protests continue over police shooting of Jacob Blake
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      RNC 2020 live: Mike Pence to headline third night of convention amid growing unrest in Kenosha

      Key events

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      11.19pm EDT23:19
      Third night of the Republican convention concludes

      11.13pm EDT23:13
      Pence: ‘We will make America great again, again’

      11.01pm EDT23:01
      Pence: ‘The violence must stop … we will have law and order’

      10.44pm EDT22:44
      Pence formally accepts vice presidential nomination

      10.39pm EDT22:39
      Pence accuses Biden of ‘attacking America’ during convention

      10.35pm EDT22:35
      Pence delivers convention speech

      9.16pm EDT21:16
      Second lady Karen Pence thanks military spouses

      Live feed

      Show

      11.23pm EDT23:23

      Lara Trump earlier misquoted Abraham Lincoln:
      “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter & lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves,” Trump said.

      PolitiFact
      (@PolitiFact)
      That nice Lincoln quote Lara Trump just said? Lincoln didn’t say it. https://t.co/6BrYGvSypy #RNC2020

      August 27, 2020

      From PolitiFact:

      On Jan. 27, 1838, Lincoln spoke before the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois, about “the perpetuation of our political institutions.” During that address, he said: “At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.”
      Michael Burlingame, a chair in Lincoln studies at the University of Illinois Springfield, told us Lincoln “was denouncing mob violence which would lead to chaos, provoking the public to demand law and order, which would be provided by an ambitious leader who would rule tyrannically.”

      – MS

      11.19pm EDT23:19

      Third night of the Republican convention concludes

      With Vice President Mike Pence’s speech wrapped up, the third night of the Republican convention has concluded.
      The blog will have more reactions and analysis to come, so stay tuned.

      11.16pm EDT23:16

      Mike Pence said Trump suspended “tall travel from China”. He did not – he restricted travel from China. After the restrictions went into place, nearly 40,000 Americans and other exempted travelers made their way to the US from China.
      Also, the travel restrictions limiting trips from China and Europe were enacted after the virus was already circulating within the US. Public health experts told me they were an ineffective measure against the virus.
      – Maanvi Singh

      Updated
      at 11.16pm EDT

      11.15pm EDT23:15

      At the end of his speech, Vice President Mike Pence was joined onstage by the president and the first lady, as well as his wife, second lady Karen Pence.

      Steve Herman
      (@W7VOA)
      #RNC2020 election ticket at @FortMcHenryNPS. pic.twitter.com/VryoRVrbKM

      August 27, 2020

      11.13pm EDT23:13

      Pence: ‘We will make America great again, again’

      Vice President Mike Pence closed his convention speech by promising Trump would “make America great again, again.”
      “We will re-elect our president and principled Republican leaders across this land,” Pence said. “And with President Donald Trump in the White House for four more years, and God’s help, we will make America great again, again.”
      The Trump campaign previously focused on the slogan “Keep America Great,” but that phrase has been de-emphasized since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

      11.09pm EDT23:09

      Mike Pence honored Dave Patrick Underwood, a federal officer who was shot during the “riots in Oakland California”. What Pence’s vague phrasing omits: An air force sergeant with links to the far-right “boogaloo” movement, was charged with killing Underwood.
      Pence’s mention of Underwood came with a tirade against rioters and looters amid protests against police brutality, misleadingly implying that largely peaceful demonstrators in Oakland (where – not-so-coincidentally, Kamala Harris was born) were somehow involved.
      Here’s more about the Underwood case, from my colleague Lois Beckett:
      – Maanvi Singh

      Updated
      at 11.11pm EDT

      11.09pm EDT23:09

      Echoing the dark theme of the Republican convention, Vice President Mike Pence painted a dire picture of the alleged dangers of electing Joe Biden.
      “President Trump set our nation on a path to freedom and opportunity from the very first day of this administration,” Pence said. “But Joe Biden would set America on a path of socialism and decline.”
      Biden does not identify as a socialist, and under the current Trump administration, the US unemployment rate stands at 10.2%.

      11.03pm EDT23:03

      Sounding like a Trump campaign ad, Vice-President Mike Pence said, “The hard truth is you won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America.”
      Pence continued, “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.”
      Despite the claims of many convention speakers this week, Biden does not support defunding the police and has repeatedly said so.

      Updated
      at 11.08pm EDT

      11.01pm EDT23:01

      Pence: ‘The violence must stop … we will have law and order’

      Mike Pence repeated Trump’s message of “law and order”, as protests continue in Kenosha over the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
      “The violence must stop, whether in Minneapolis, Portland or Kenosha,” Pence said. “We will have law and order on the streets of this country for every American of every race and creed and color.”
      The vice-president has not yet mentioned the name of Blake, an African American father of six who was repeatedly shot in the back by Kenosha police officers.

      Updated
      at 11.09pm EDT

      10.53pm EDT22:53

      Like other convention speakers, Vice-President Mike Pence tried to direct focus to the pre-pandemic economy.
      “In our first three years, we built the greatest economy in the world,” Pence said. “We made America great again. And then the coronavirus struck from China.”
      The US unemployment rate is currently at 10.2%, and tens of millions of Americans remain jobless.
      Pence also took issue with Joe Biden’s comment last week that “no miracle is coming” to save the US from the pandemic.
      “What Joe doesn’t seem to understand is that America is a nation of miracles and we’re on track to have the world’s first safe, effective coronavirus vaccine by the end of this year.”

      Updated
      at 10.55pm EDT

      10.52pm EDT22:52

      As Mike Pence was speaking at the RNC, Joe Biden countered with this:

      Joe Biden
      (@JoeBiden)
      This moment demands moral leadership. And these players answered by standing up, speaking out, and using their platform for good.Now is not the time for silence. https://t.co/hF3dIb7Hde

      August 27, 2020

      The Milwaukee Bucks boycotted their game today as a protest against the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Milwaukee’s baseball team, the Brewers, have also boycotted their upcoming game.
      – Maanvi Singh

      Updated
      at 10.55pm EDT

      10.47pm EDT22:47

      In his convention speech, Mike Pence reflected on Trump’s leadership style since taking office.
      “He does things his own way, on his own terms. Not much gets past him and when he has an opinion, he’s liable to share it,” Pence said.
      “He’s certainly kept things interesting,” Pence added. “But more importantly, President Donald Trump has kept his word to the American people.”
      According to Politifact, Trump has actually broken about half of the promises he has made to the American people.

      Updated
      at 11.00pm EDT

      10.47pm EDT22:47

      Madison Cawthorn, the 25-year-old congressional candidate in North Carolina said, “James Madison was just 25 years old when he signed the Declaration of Independence.”
      James Madison did not sign the Declaration of Independence, though he was 25 when other people signed it.
      – Maanvi Singh

      10.44pm EDT22:44

      Pence formally accepts vice presidential nomination

      Four years after first doing so, Mike Pence once again formally accepted the Republican vice-presidential nomination.
      “With gratitude for the confidence President Donald Trump has placed in me, the support of our Republican party, and the grace of God, I humbly accept your nomination to run and serve as vice-president of the United States,” Pence said.

      Updated
      at 11.01pm EDT

      10.41pm EDT22:41

      In his convention speech, Vice-President Mike Pence provided an update on the response to Hurricane Laura and offered a message of support to those affected by the storm.
      “Stay safe, and know that we’ll be with you every step of the way,” Pence said.

      Updated
      at 11.01pm EDT

      10.39pm EDT22:39

      Pence accuses Biden of ‘attacking America’ during convention

      Reflecting on the setting of his speech, Vice-President Mike Pence began his speech by talking about the early American heroes who defended the country’s values.
      “But they were hardly ever mentioned at last week’s Democratic national convention,” Pence said.
      “Democrats spent four days attacking America. Joe Biden said we were living through a ‘season of American darkness.’
      “But as President Trump said, ‘where Joe Biden sees American darkness, we see American greatness.’”
      That messaged seemed odd considering the country is currently losing about 1,000 people a day to coronavirus.

      Updated
      at 11.02pm EDT

      10.37pm EDT22:37

      Ric Grenell, the former US ambassador to Germany and the former acting director of national intelligence, said he saw how Trump “charmed the chancellor of Germany”.
      Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany, has expressed that she is decidedly not charmed by how Donald Trump runs the country. Speaking about the global response to coronavirus pandemic in July, Merkel had this thinly veiled rebuke: “As we are experiencing first-hand, you cannot fight the pandemic with lies and disinformation any more than you can fight it with hate or incitement to hatred.”
      Speaking at a Harvard graduation ceremony in 2019 she said: “More than ever our actions have to be multilateral rather than unilateral … Don’t disguise lies as truth, and truth as lies … Tear down walls of ignorance and narrow-mindedness,” mounting an argument against Trump’s “America First” approach to foreign policy.
      She did not visit the White House during a visit to the country. And then there’s this:

      russchoma
      (@russchoma)
      Actual picture of Trump “charming” Angela Merkel pic.twitter.com/Hl6hf22CBe

      August 27, 2020

      – Maanvi Singh

      Updated
      at 11.03pm EDT More

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      Kenosha: teen arrested over killings at Jacob Blake protests – live

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      500 more members of national guard to be sent to Kenosha
      Tonight’s NBA playoff games reportedly postponed over protests
      Two dead in Kenosha on third night of unrest after Jacob Blake shooting
      Key takeaways from RNC night two: culture wars and a pitch to women
      US recorded 1,212 coronavirus deaths and 38,712 new cases
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