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In Donald Trump's speech at the Republican National Convention, he spent a great portion of the time attacking Joe Biden and his campaign saying "No one will be safe in Biden's America," among other things. He spent so much time on that portion of his speech that it seemed he had no real arguments for why he should be reelected or any plans for positive change he would implement while in office. Trump practically avoided the topic of the current global pandemic entirely, not providing any new strategies. He also sided with the police in the question of police brutality and showed no sympathy to the recent victims or their families, which I found revolting.

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This conversation was very interesting to see considering they both come from completely different backgrounds, considering Cardi B is a black woman who grew up in the Broncs, and Joe Biden is a white man who comes from a family of wealth. The questions Cardi B was asking were really intelligent and important with her concerns for healthcare and many other issues, she seemed to be genuinely engaged in what he had to say and very clear and opinionated in her responses. They talked a lot about what they wanted for the future of America and their hopes for future generations.

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One of many things that bothered me a lot was when he was comparing Abraham Lincoln to the republican party now just to make himself and his supporters look better, when in reality it is like comparing apples and oranges because the party was so different back then. He used very little facts in his speech, and mostly just talked up a storm about how much better he is than Joe Biden. This looks great to his supporters, but is very unpromising to unbiased people because he is offering no actual information other than "I will be the best there ever was" which isn't really any information of any kind.

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This is very important, and also hopeful for the 2020 election that republicans are voting for a democratic candidate and turning against Trump. It is also hopeful that the national divide of the two parties which is occurring in the U.S will occur to a lesser degree, if at all.

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Militia group put out call to arms in Kenosha and 5,000 people responded.

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Militia group put out call to arms in Kenosha and 5,000 people responded.

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A facebook group organized by kenosha police with the goal to "protect" the citizens of kenosha. The way they described people peacefully protesting is by saying the people are "evil thugs." If in a small town that is only 60 miles away from my home there are over 1,000 people willing to bring large assault weapons to a protest of guns, then what else can I expect for the rest of the world. It really makes me think, how can I make change? How can anything that I do change an amendment so entangled in American society?

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Trump is trying to push the agenda that this country will go up in flames if he's not reelected as president, and continues to use the actions of the democratic party as an excuse for his neglect.

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President Donald Trump accepted the Republican Party's nomination for president on Thursday night, using an elaborate set on the South Lawn of the White House to warn of a radical takeover of America if Democrat Joe Biden is elected.

The event, a critical mixing of partisan politics and government on the lawn of the People's House, was the culmination of a Republican National Convention held in the shadow of a pandemic - though few of the 1,500 people in attendance wore masks and sat and cheered Trump with no social distancing.

For Trump, the convention's conclusion was an attempt to make his case for reelection and to "make America great again" in a post-pandemic world while warning that if elected, the former vice president would be "the destroyer of American greatness."

"When reelected, the best is yet to come," Trump said.

Against a backdrop of the coronavirus, a hurricane that battered the Texas-Louisiana coast and civil strife over the issues of law enforcement's role amid a push for racial and social justice, Trump restated his commitment for strong policing while warning of the threat of anarchy under Democrats.

"Your vote will decide whether we protect law abiding Americans or whether we give free rein to violent anarchists, agitators and criminals who threaten our citizens. And this election will decide whether we will defend the American way of life or whether we allow a radical movement to completely dismantle and destroy it," Trump said.

Trump assailed Biden and Democrats at the previous week's party convention for having "repeatedly assailed America as a land of racial, economic and social injustice."

"I ask you a very simple question: How can the Democrat Party ask to lead our country when it spends so much time tearing down our country," he said.

Trump's comments were the exclamation point of a truncated Republican convention that focused on a theme of law and order, coinciding with civil unrest and later deadly violence following the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by a white Kenosha police officer on Sunday. A 17-year-old alleged vigilante from Antioch, Kyle Rittenhouse, was charged with murder Thursday in the killing of two protesters and attempted murder for wounding a third during a subsequent protest.

Echoing a theme of seeking to appeal to voters in suburbs who have been shifting from Republican to Democrat, Trump warned, "If the left gains power, they will demolish the suburbs, confiscate your guns and appoint justices who will wipe away your Second Amendment constitutional freedoms.

"Make no mistake, if you give power to Joe Biden, the radical left will defund police departments all across America," Trump said. "They will pass federal legislation to reduce law enforcement nationwide. They will make every city look like Democrat-run Portland, Oregon. No one will be safe in Biden's America."

In contrast, Trump said, "My administration will always stand with the men and women of law enforcement."

Republicans have maintained the civil unrest and violence that erupted in Kenosha and, before that in Chicago and other cities following the death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis in May, is due to Democratic governors and mayors.

Republicans looked at the developments in Wisconsin and other cities as a call to restore law and order, chastising Democrats for supporting lawlessness. Democrats have sought to draw a line between peaceful protest and violent unrest and looting, contending Trump has failed to condemn extremism and promoted division and racial strife.

"We must remember that the overwhelming majority of police officers in this country are noble, courageous and honorable. We have to give law enforcement, our police, back their power. They are afraid to act. They are afraid to lose their pension. They are afraid to lose their jobs. And by being afraid, they are not able to do their jobs. And those who suffer most are the great people who they want so desperately to protect," Trump said.

"When there is police misconduct, the justice system must hold wrongdoers fully and completely accountable, and it will. But what we can never have in America -and must never allow - is mob rule," he said. "In the strongest possible terms, the Republican Party condemns the rioting, looting, arson and violence we have seen in Democrat-run cities like Kenosha, Minneapolis, Portland, Chicago and New York."

Trump contended there was "violence and danger in the streets of many Democrat-run cities throughout America" that could be "easily fixed" by federal intervention.

"We must always have law and order," the president said. "As long as I am president, I will defend the absolute right of every American citizen to live in security, dignity and peace."

Trump said if the Democratic Party wants to "stand with anarchists, agitators, rioters, looters, and flag-burners, that is up to them. But I, as your president, will not be a part of it. The Republican Party will remain the voice of the patriotic heroes who keep America safe."

The final night of the convention featured an interesting juxtaposition of messaging over civil unrest.

Ben Carson, Trump's Housing and Urban Development secretary said, "Our hearts go out to the Blake family and the other families that have been impacted by the tragic events in Kenosha." Carson said, "History reminds us that necessary change comes through hope and love, not senseless and destructive violence."

But Carson's measured message was followed by attacks on Democrats by the head of the largest union in the New York Police Department and former New York Mayor Rudi Giuliani, an attorney for Trump.

"The Democrats have walked away from us," said Pat Lynch, head of the New York City Police Benevolent Association. "They have walked away from police officers and they have walked away from the innocent people we protect. Democratic politicians have surrendered our streets and our institutions."

Giuliani accused "Black Lives Matter and antifa" of hijacking peaceful protests and turning them into "vicious brutal riots."

"Soon protests turned into riots in many other American cities, almost all Democrat. Businesses were burned and crushed. People were beaten, shot and killed. Police officers were routinely assaulted, badly beaten and occasionally murdered. And the police handcuffed by progressive Democrat mayors from doing anything," Giuliani said.

Trump also contended that killings of African Americans in Democratic-run cities are ignored by Biden and the left. "I never will," he said.

"Just imagine if the so-called peaceful demonstrators in the streets were in charge of every lever of power in the U.S. government," he said.

Earlier in the day, speaking at a briefing on Hurricane Laura, Trump restated his call for Democratic leaders to request the National Guard and other federal assistance.

"And we will put out the fire. We will put out the flame. We will put out the vandalism, because the vandalism and the looting is ridiculous to allow this to happen. I don't know how they can possibly do it and why they do it. I don't understand, because all they have to do is call," Trump said.

But Biden contended it was Trump fueling the racial strife.

"The part that bothers me the most is the idea of just pouring gasoline on the racial flames that are burning now," Biden said on MSNBC. "That does not justify any of the looting, any of the burning any of the ... damage being done by protesters. But the people have a right to be angry, people have a right to protest."

Biden said he didn't believe the divisions in Kenosha were about whether "all folks in that community agree with white supremacists, or blacks in the community agree with some of those folks who are looting."

"I don't think that's what Kenosha is about. I don't think that's what Black and white America is about. But that's what's being seen now and it has to stop," he said.

Prior to the start of the convention, Biden spent a half-hour speaking at a virtual fundraiser hosted by the Illinois Trial Lawyers' Association in which he repeated many of his comments from earlier in the day.

Larry Rogers Jr., a partner with Power Rogers LLP and president of the trial lawyers' group, said Biden was needed "because of the lawless, self-serving conduct and destruction we're seeing with the current president and administration."

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President Trump accepts GOP nomination for second term during White House RNC speech, says Biden will be 'destroyer of American greatness'

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President Donald Trump accepted the Republican Party's nomination for president on Thursday night, using an elaborate set on the South Lawn of the White House to warn of a radical takeover of America if Democrat Joe Biden is elected.

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I think that this discussion was a step in the right direction for citizens across America. Cardi B was able to bring some issues to the table that could give Joe Biden some insight on what needs to be fixed in this country.

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President Trump accepts GOP nomination for second term 

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President Trump accepts GOP nomination for second term 

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During trumps speech he touched on the "horrors" that would be experienced if Biden got elected. I feel like a candidate that tries to win by attacking the other person, rather than making strong arguments is not a strong enough candidate to be dealing with the weight of the oval office. furthermore,  I thought it was terrible how he had no remorse towards the victims of police brutality.  He decided to stand with the cops and side with them.

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This is a very important moment from the DNC. Kasich turning blue reminds me a lot of how John Mccain voted to save ObamaCare. When people vote against their own party I think it shows a lot of bravery but also shows how sometimes you have to settle for the better option for the future of America.

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I will be speaking at the #DNC Convention because I believe that America needs to go in a different direction.

I've searched my conscience and I believe the best way forward is for change - to bring unity where there has been division. And to bring about a healing in America.

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I will be speaking at the #DNC Convention because I believe that America needs to go in a different direction.

I've searched my conscience and I believe the best way forward is for change - to bring unity where there has been division. And to bring about a healing in America. https://t.co/sfnBGBF3kG

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Something went wrong, but don’t fret — let’s give it another shot.

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I will be speaking at the #DNC Convention because I believe that America needs to go in a different direction.

I've searched my conscience and I believe the best way forward is for change - to bring unity where there has been division. And to bring about a healing in America. pic.twitter.com/sfnBGBF3kG
— John Kasich (@JohnKasich) August 11, 2020

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I will be speaking at the #DNC Convention because I believe that America needs to go in a different direction.

I've searched my conscience and I believe the best way forward is for change - to bring unity where there has been division. And to bring about a healing in America. https://t.co/sfnBGBF3kG

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I will be speaking at the #DNC Convention because I believe that America needs to go in a different direction.

I've searched my conscience and I believe the best way forward is for change - to bring unity where there has been division. And to bring about a healing in America. https://t.co/sfnBGBF3kG

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.text
I will be speaking at the #DNC Convention because I believe that America needs to go in a different direction.

I've searched my conscience and I believe the best way forward is for change - to bring unity where there has been division. And to bring about a healing in America.

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A militia group uses Facebook to organize an armed response to protests in Kenosha. This later led to the death of two innocent people by the hands of one of the militia members. Facebook later deleted the post, which I think I good because in the pst Facebook has not been good at responding to similar events. Next time they should take the post down before someone dies.

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Trump making this statement “Make no mistake, if you give power to Joe Biden, the radical left will defund police departments all across America,” Trump said. “They will pass federal legislation to reduce law enforcement nationwide. They will make every city look like Democrat-run Portland, Oregon. No one will be safe in Biden’s America", is very ironic to me. Who is safe in trumps america? Not immigrants, not people of color, not women. I think after listening to both Trump and Bidens speech you can clearly tell who has more intelligence.

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President Donald Trump accepted the Republican Party's nomination for president on Thursday night, using an elaborate set on the South Lawn of the White House to warn of a radical takeover of America if Democrat Joe Biden is elected.

The event, a critical mixing of partisan politics and government on the lawn of the People's House, was the culmination of a Republican National Convention held in the shadow of a pandemic - though few of the 1,500 people in attendance wore masks and sat and cheered Trump with no social distancing.

For Trump, the convention's conclusion was an attempt to make his case for reelection and to "make America great again" in a post-pandemic world while warning that if elected, the former vice president would be "the destroyer of American greatness."

"When reelected, the best is yet to come," Trump said.

Against a backdrop of the coronavirus, a hurricane that battered the Texas-Louisiana coast and civil strife over the issues of law enforcement's role amid a push for racial and social justice, Trump restated his commitment for strong policing while warning of the threat of anarchy under Democrats.

"Your vote will decide whether we protect law abiding Americans or whether we give free rein to violent anarchists, agitators and criminals who threaten our citizens. And this election will decide whether we will defend the American way of life or whether we allow a radical movement to completely dismantle and destroy it," Trump said.

Trump assailed Biden and Democrats at the previous week's party convention for having "repeatedly assailed America as a land of racial, economic and social injustice."

"I ask you a very simple question: How can the Democrat Party ask to lead our country when it spends so much time tearing down our country," he said.

Trump's comments were the exclamation point of a truncated Republican convention that focused on a theme of law and order, coinciding with civil unrest and later deadly violence following the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by a white Kenosha police officer on Sunday. A 17-year-old alleged vigilante from Antioch, Kyle Rittenhouse, was charged with murder Thursday in the killing of two protesters and attempted murder for wounding a third during a subsequent protest.

Echoing a theme of seeking to appeal to voters in suburbs who have been shifting from Republican to Democrat, Trump warned, "If the left gains power, they will demolish the suburbs, confiscate your guns and appoint justices who will wipe away your Second Amendment constitutional freedoms.

"Make no mistake, if you give power to Joe Biden, the radical left will defund police departments all across America," Trump said. "They will pass federal legislation to reduce law enforcement nationwide. They will make every city look like Democrat-run Portland, Oregon. No one will be safe in Biden's America."

In contrast, Trump said, "My administration will always stand with the men and women of law enforcement."

Republicans have maintained the civil unrest and violence that erupted in Kenosha and, before that in Chicago and other cities following the death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis in May, is due to Democratic governors and mayors.

Republicans looked at the developments in Wisconsin and other cities as a call to restore law and order, chastising Democrats for supporting lawlessness. Democrats have sought to draw a line between peaceful protest and violent unrest and looting, contending Trump has failed to condemn extremism and promoted division and racial strife.

"We must remember that the overwhelming majority of police officers in this country are noble, courageous and honorable. We have to give law enforcement, our police, back their power. They are afraid to act. They are afraid to lose their pension. They are afraid to lose their jobs. And by being afraid, they are not able to do their jobs. And those who suffer most are the great people who they want so desperately to protect," Trump said.

"When there is police misconduct, the justice system must hold wrongdoers fully and completely accountable, and it will. But what we can never have in America -and must never allow - is mob rule," he said. "In the strongest possible terms, the Republican Party condemns the rioting, looting, arson and violence we have seen in Democrat-run cities like Kenosha, Minneapolis, Portland, Chicago and New York."

Trump contended there was "violence and danger in the streets of many Democrat-run cities throughout America" that could be "easily fixed" by federal intervention.

"We must always have law and order," the president said. "As long as I am president, I will defend the absolute right of every American citizen to live in security, dignity and peace."

Trump said if the Democratic Party wants to "stand with anarchists, agitators, rioters, looters, and flag-burners, that is up to them. But I, as your president, will not be a part of it. The Republican Party will remain the voice of the patriotic heroes who keep America safe."

The final night of the convention featured an interesting juxtaposition of messaging over civil unrest.

Ben Carson, Trump's Housing and Urban Development secretary said, "Our hearts go out to the Blake family and the other families that have been impacted by the tragic events in Kenosha." Carson said, "History reminds us that necessary change comes through hope and love, not senseless and destructive violence."

But Carson's measured message was followed by attacks on Democrats by the head of the largest union in the New York Police Department and former New York Mayor Rudi Giuliani, an attorney for Trump.

"The Democrats have walked away from us," said Pat Lynch, head of the New York City Police Benevolent Association. "They have walked away from police officers and they have walked away from the innocent people we protect. Democratic politicians have surrendered our streets and our institutions."

Giuliani accused "Black Lives Matter and antifa" of hijacking peaceful protests and turning them into "vicious brutal riots."

"Soon protests turned into riots in many other American cities, almost all Democrat. Businesses were burned and crushed. People were beaten, shot and killed. Police officers were routinely assaulted, badly beaten and occasionally murdered. And the police handcuffed by progressive Democrat mayors from doing anything," Giuliani said.

Trump also contended that killings of African Americans in Democratic-run cities are ignored by Biden and the left. "I never will," he said.

"Just imagine if the so-called peaceful demonstrators in the streets were in charge of every lever of power in the U.S. government," he said.

Earlier in the day, speaking at a briefing on Hurricane Laura, Trump restated his call for Democratic leaders to request the National Guard and other federal assistance.

"And we will put out the fire. We will put out the flame. We will put out the vandalism, because the vandalism and the looting is ridiculous to allow this to happen. I don't know how they can possibly do it and why they do it. I don't understand, because all they have to do is call," Trump said.

But Biden contended it was Trump fueling the racial strife.

"The part that bothers me the most is the idea of just pouring gasoline on the racial flames that are burning now," Biden said on MSNBC. "That does not justify any of the looting, any of the burning any of the ... damage being done by protesters. But the people have a right to be angry, people have a right to protest."

Biden said he didn't believe the divisions in Kenosha were about whether "all folks in that community agree with white supremacists, or blacks in the community agree with some of those folks who are looting."

"I don't think that's what Kenosha is about. I don't think that's what Black and white America is about. But that's what's being seen now and it has to stop," he said.

Prior to the start of the convention, Biden spent a half-hour speaking at a virtual fundraiser hosted by the Illinois Trial Lawyers' Association in which he repeated many of his comments from earlier in the day.

Larry Rogers Jr., a partner with Power Rogers LLP and president of the trial lawyers' group, said Biden was needed "because of the lawless, self-serving conduct and destruction we're seeing with the current president and administration."

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President Trump accepts GOP nomination for second term during White House RNC speech, says Biden will be 'destroyer of American greatness'

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President Donald Trump accepted the Republican Party's nomination for president on Thursday night, using an elaborate set on the South Lawn of the White House to warn of a radical takeover of America if Democrat Joe Biden is elected.

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During the RNC's night, Donald Trump talked about his potential future goals that would restore American greatness. The fact that he did not miss the opportunity to disparage Joe Biden is utterly revolting.

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President Trump took center stage on the Here are the key takeaways from day four of the RNC, whose theme was "America, Land of Greatness": final night of the Republican National Convention

and delivered a speech that sought to assure voters that despite more than 180,000 COVID-19 deaths and a badly damaged U.S. economy amid the coronavirus pandemic, he had made good on his promise to "make America great again." Like incumbent presidents before him, he also spent much of his speech laying out his proposed agenda for a second term. He saved plenty of time to attack Joe Biden, the man hoping to succeed him in the White House.
Flouting coronavirus guidelines, Trump delivers defiant acceptance speech

In a defiant speech accepting the Republican presidential nomination that went on for more than an hour and contained 5,600 words, Trump repeatedly mocked his opponent and trolled his political enemies.

Gesturing to the White House behind him, an unprecedented setting for a political convention speech - and one that Democrats say was in violation of the Hatch Act - Trump chided the opposing party. "The fact is, I'm here," he said. "What's the name of that building? But I'll say it differently. The fact is: We're here, and they're not." His crowd of nearly 1,500 supporters, seated closely together on the White House South Lawn, cheered the insult.

"Joe Biden may claim he is an ally of the light, but when it comes to his agenda, Biden wants to keep us completely in the dark," Trump joked at another point. "He doesn't have a clue."

In some respects, Trump's entire speech felt like a protest against the social-distancing restrictions intended to slow the spread of the virus, which he has been chafing under for so long. His campaign issued a statement Thursday saying it was following "strict protocols." It did not specify, though, which protocols were being followed, and many in the audience did not wear masks.

Like the speakers on the RNC schedule this week, Trump painted the choice between him and Biden in stark and absolute terms. "This election will decide whether we save the American dream, or whether we allow a socialist agenda to demolish our cherished destiny," he said, as protesters outside the White House leaned on car horns and blew vuvuzelas in the background.

When he did speak about the pandemic, the single biggest threat to his chances of being reelected, Trump depicted a string of successes. Nevertheless, the United States has reported far more cases and deaths from the virus than any other country.

"We developed, from scratch, the largest and most advanced testing system in the world. America has tested more than every country in Europe put together, and more than every nation in the Western Hemisphere combined. We have conducted 40 million more tests than the next closest nation," Trump said. "We developed a wide array of effective treatments, including a powerful antibody treatment known as convalescent plasma that will save thousands of lives. Thanks to advances we have pioneered, the fatality rate has been reduced by 80 percent since April."

He did not mention that the head of the FDA recently walked back earlier remarks in which he seemed to endorse Trump's positive assessment of the promise of convalescent plasma. Recent results have apparently yet to show the results the president has claimed.

The president was much more comfortable attacking Biden and the liberal Democrats he portrayed as controlling his rival.

"How can the Democrat Party lead our country when they spend so much time tearing down our country?" Trump asked at one point. He also quipped, "Joe Biden's agenda is made in China. My agenda is made in the U.S.A." Biden, meanwhile, has also called for an increase in American manufacturing.

As to Trump's agenda for a second term, he made a long list of pledges, some of them difficult to square with reality. Trump promised to expand charter schools, hire more police officers (something that in fact falls to local jurisdictions), ban " sanctuary cities " and bolster the manufacturing sector. He said he would reduce taxes and regulations "at levels not seen before" and create 10 million new jobs (although the country has lost millions of jobs during his first term, thanks to the virus).

Also on his list: to strike down terrorists, appoint more conservative judges (which would be more difficult if the Democrats were to retake control of the Senate) and to protect Medicare and Social Security (which are threatened by his own spending proposals). Meanwhile, he said he would protect medical coverage for preexisting conditions (despite his administration's lawsuit to kill the Affordable Care Act), expand oil drilling and land the first woman on the moon.

The central message of the convention and of Trump's speech was that Biden is not, in fact, a moderate Democrat, but a radical "Trojan horse" controlled by people intent on tearing the country to shreds.

Standout speaker Ann Dorn

One standout moment at Thursday's convention came courtesy of Ann Dorn, the widow of a retired St. Louis police captain who was fatally shot by looters in June amid unrest after the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.

It was a deeply personal speech.

"Violence and destruction are not legitimate forms of protest," said Dorn, her voice breaking with emotion as she recounted how her husband, a retired Black police captain, David Dorn, 77, was killed. "They do not safeguard Black lives. They destroy them.

"I relive that horror in my mind every single day," she said, often close to tears. "My hope is that having you relive it with me now will help shake this country from the nightmare we are witnessing in our cities and bring about positive, peaceful change."

Her speech was undeniably powerful, offering a graphic illustration of the consequences of lawlessness that Republicans at the convention had warned about all week.

"How did we get to this point where so many young people are so callous and indifferent towards human life?" she asked. "This isn't a video game where you can commit mayhem and then hit 'Reset' and bring all the characters back to life. David is never coming back. He was murdered by people who didn't know, and didn't care, that he would have done anything to help them."

At the same time, Dorn's decision to tell her story at the RNC did not sit well with her two stepdaughters.

"We know his wife is a Trump supporter, but he was not," Dorn's daughter Debra White told the St. Louis American. "He frequently said they were not able to talk about politics because they were at the opposite ends of the spectrum. I know he would not want his legacy to be for his death to be used to further Trump's law-and-order agenda."

Giuliani rails against Black Lives Matter

Rudy Giuliani, President Trump's personal lawyer and the former mayor of New York City, used his speech Thursday to go after the city's current mayor, Bill de Blasio. Following the RNC playbook on the causes of recent urban unrest, he placed the blame for rising crime rates and violent protests in U.S. cities squarely on local Democratic officials, shifting all responsibility from the president.

Giuliani, never one to pull his punches, declared: "If Biden is elected, along with the Democrats who are unwilling to speak out against this anarchy, then the crime wave will intensify and spread from cities and towns to suburbs and beyond."

He did, however, go even further than many other Republican speakers this week, portraying Biden as a pawn of "Bernie, AOC, Pelosi, Black Lives Matter and his party's entire left wing." The inclusion of Black Lives Matter with the GOP's list of usual suspects was noteworthy, and Giuliani went on to elaborate a theory implicating antifa, the umbrella term for left-wing groups that sometimes engage in street brawls, in a more sinister conspiracy.

"It seemed for a few brief shining moments like Democrat and Republican leaders would come together with a unified proposal to reduce police misconduct," Giuliani said. "This possibility was very dangerous to the left. They had a president to beat and a country to destroy, and although a bipartisan coalition agreeing on action against police brutality would be very valuable for the country, it would also make President Trump appear to be an effective leader. So, BLM and antifa sprang into action, and in a flash, hijacked the protests into vicious, brutal riots."
Read more from Yahoo News:
Twice in his speech, Giuliani conflated Black Lives Matter with antifa.

"The single biggest signal to encourage wanton lawlessness was surrendering a police headquarters to criminals in Minneapolis," he said. "From then on BLM, antifa and their criminal co-conspirators were in charge."

Giuliani closed his remarks by saying, "Mr. President, make our nation safe again."

It's a theme Trump touched on at a different RNC. In his GOP acceptance speech four years ago, Trump had pledged that in his first term: "Beginning on Jan. 20, 2017, safety will be restored."

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President Trump took center stage on the Here are the key takeaways from day four of the RNC, whose theme was "America, Land of Greatness": final night of the Republican National Convention and delivered a speech that sought to assure voters that despite more than 180,000 COVID-19 deaths and a badly damaged U.S.

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Jacob blake is a clear example of the corruption and crime that is en rooted in the American justice system. The fact that someone who was looking for the police to help him and when he started to leave to get his family they shot him several times shows they dont view their job as being the protector of society. In addition to that they are horribly under trained they dont have the skills to be called a police officer. If someone cannot accurately assess a situation and decides the correct coarse of action is to potentially kill a fleeing man shows they cant protect anyone.

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KENOSHA, Wis. (WLS) -- A Black man who was shot several times by Kenosha police Sunday evening remains hospitalized with serious injuries.

Jacob Blake, 29, was shot in the back in front of his young children after breaking up a fight in the neighborhood, his family said.

Video of the shooting was posted on social media, sparking protests and violence. People set cars on fire, smashed windows and clashed with officers in riot gear Sunday evening.

In video that appeared to show the shooting from across a street, three officers could be seen shouting and pointing their weapons at Blake as he walked around the front of a parked SUV. As Blake opened the driver's side door and leaned inside, one officer grabbed his shirt from behind and then fired into the vehicle.

"He was shot seven times in his back while his children sitting in the damn car," said Justin Blake, Jacob Blake's uncle.

Seven shots could be heard on the video, though it was unclear if more than one officer fired.

WARNING DISTURBING VIDEO | Kenosha police shooting caught on camera

Blake's family said he is now being treated at a Milwaukee hospital, where he is in serious, but stable condition. His children were inside the car at the time of the shooting.

"Livid wouldn't describe how I feel right now," Justin Blake said. "It's crazy and to traumatize some children that were in the vehicle-this is beyond repair," he said.

Blake's fiancée Laquisha Booke said that Blake was unarmed.

"That don't make no sense to treat somebody like that, who is not armed, with the kids in the back screaming," she said.

Blake's family and multiple witnesses told ABC News the 29-year-old security guard had just broken up an argument before he was shot.

"The officers were responding to a fight," said witness La-Ron Franklin."It was some girls fighting. A gentleman was breaking up the fight. When he was turning to get his kids, the officer shot this man seven times."

"He does the same job the police does. He protect people from being hurt and let people enjoy themselves at the same time," said Donnell Lauderdale, Jacob Blake's neighbor and friend. "Why can't the police do the same?"

Lauderdale said Sunday was supposed to be a celebration for their family.

"When I spoke to him he had presents in his hand," Lauderdale said. "He was inviting my 4-year-old son to come to his 6-year-old's birthday party."

Jacob Blake moved to Kenosha from Evanston for 'fresh start'

Blake grew up in Evanston, his family told ABC7. They said he moved to Kenosha from Evanston for a fresh start, only to find himself at the center of the national debate over police-use-of-force and racial justice.

Fifty miles from Jacob Blake's hometown, his name has become a rally cry. Evanston resident Amy Landolt drove to Kenosha to be with protesters.

"It's really just to support his family," she said. "Make sure that they know Evanston supports them and stands with them."

Blake, who relatives say attended Evanston High School, comes from a family synonymous with struggle.

His grandfather, Jacob Blake Sr., was lead pastor at Evanston's Ebenezer AME Church during the 1960s and 70s and fought for years for fair housing. Two senior homes bear his name.

"Because of the family legacy that's here in Evanston, I think it has shaken everyone just to hear this kind of news," Rev. Deborah Y. Scott, Ebenezer AME Church.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot reacted to the shooting on Twitter, saying, "Yesterday in Wisconsin, a police officer shot Jacob Blake, an unarmed Black man, a father, 7 times in the back. I am deeply disturbed by the video capturing part of the incident. I urge civil & criminal authorities to pursue an immediate & thorough investigation of the shooting.

"We pray that Mr. Blake survives. And we pray for his children, and for peace and justice in Kenosha."

Superintendent Brown said the video was "godawful" to watch.

"I have seen the video and it's godawful to watch. It is. We don't want to make any kind of assumptions based on a preliminary investigation that has just started but again, the video looks godawful."

Several protesters have drawn parallels between Blake's grandfather's fight for fair housing, and today's protests, some calling to this sort of full circle moment in the fight for social justice.

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Jacob Blake police shooting: Black man shot in front of 3 sons after he broke up fight, family says

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KENOSHA, Wis. (WLS) -- A Black man who was shot several times by Kenosha police Sunday evening remains hospitalized with serious injuries. Jacob Blake, 29, was shot in the back in front of his young children after breaking up a fight in the neighborhood, his family said.

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In trumps speech at this most recent RNC shows the blatant lack of respect between these two candidates. In almost every American election for the last two centuries their has been a base line of mutual respect but here there is a very apparent lack of it here. Trump is making a blatant attack on Biden here claiming his presidency will bring ruin to America despite trump with an entirely republican congress he has failed to make good on any of his claims.

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President Donald Trump accepted the Republican Party's nomination for president on Thursday night, using an elaborate set on the South Lawn of the White House to warn of a radical takeover of America if Democrat Joe Biden is elected.

The event, a critical mixing of partisan politics and government on the lawn of the People's House, was the culmination of a Republican National Convention held in the shadow of a pandemic - though few of the 1,500 people in attendance wore masks and sat and cheered Trump with no social distancing.

For Trump, the convention's conclusion was an attempt to make his case for reelection and to "make America great again" in a post-pandemic world while warning that if elected, the former vice president would be "the destroyer of American greatness."

"When reelected, the best is yet to come," Trump said.

Against a backdrop of the coronavirus, a hurricane that battered the Texas-Louisiana coast and civil strife over the issues of law enforcement's role amid a push for racial and social justice, Trump restated his commitment for strong policing while warning of the threat of anarchy under Democrats.

"Your vote will decide whether we protect law abiding Americans or whether we give free rein to violent anarchists, agitators and criminals who threaten our citizens. And this election will decide whether we will defend the American way of life or whether we allow a radical movement to completely dismantle and destroy it," Trump said.

Trump assailed Biden and Democrats at the previous week's party convention for having "repeatedly assailed America as a land of racial, economic and social injustice."

"I ask you a very simple question: How can the Democrat Party ask to lead our country when it spends so much time tearing down our country," he said.

Trump's comments were the exclamation point of a truncated Republican convention that focused on a theme of law and order, coinciding with civil unrest and later deadly violence following the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by a white Kenosha police officer on Sunday. A 17-year-old alleged vigilante from Antioch, Kyle Rittenhouse, was charged with murder Thursday in the killing of two protesters and attempted murder for wounding a third during a subsequent protest.

Echoing a theme of seeking to appeal to voters in suburbs who have been shifting from Republican to Democrat, Trump warned, "If the left gains power, they will demolish the suburbs, confiscate your guns and appoint justices who will wipe away your Second Amendment constitutional freedoms.

"Make no mistake, if you give power to Joe Biden, the radical left will defund police departments all across America," Trump said. "They will pass federal legislation to reduce law enforcement nationwide. They will make every city look like Democrat-run Portland, Oregon. No one will be safe in Biden's America."

In contrast, Trump said, "My administration will always stand with the men and women of law enforcement."

Republicans have maintained the civil unrest and violence that erupted in Kenosha and, before that in Chicago and other cities following the death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis in May, is due to Democratic governors and mayors.

Republicans looked at the developments in Wisconsin and other cities as a call to restore law and order, chastising Democrats for supporting lawlessness. Democrats have sought to draw a line between peaceful protest and violent unrest and looting, contending Trump has failed to condemn extremism and promoted division and racial strife.

"We must remember that the overwhelming majority of police officers in this country are noble, courageous and honorable. We have to give law enforcement, our police, back their power. They are afraid to act. They are afraid to lose their pension. They are afraid to lose their jobs. And by being afraid, they are not able to do their jobs. And those who suffer most are the great people who they want so desperately to protect," Trump said.

"When there is police misconduct, the justice system must hold wrongdoers fully and completely accountable, and it will. But what we can never have in America -and must never allow - is mob rule," he said. "In the strongest possible terms, the Republican Party condemns the rioting, looting, arson and violence we have seen in Democrat-run cities like Kenosha, Minneapolis, Portland, Chicago and New York."

Trump contended there was "violence and danger in the streets of many Democrat-run cities throughout America" that could be "easily fixed" by federal intervention.

"We must always have law and order," the president said. "As long as I am president, I will defend the absolute right of every American citizen to live in security, dignity and peace."

Trump said if the Democratic Party wants to "stand with anarchists, agitators, rioters, looters, and flag-burners, that is up to them. But I, as your president, will not be a part of it. The Republican Party will remain the voice of the patriotic heroes who keep America safe."

The final night of the convention featured an interesting juxtaposition of messaging over civil unrest.

Ben Carson, Trump's Housing and Urban Development secretary said, "Our hearts go out to the Blake family and the other families that have been impacted by the tragic events in Kenosha." Carson said, "History reminds us that necessary change comes through hope and love, not senseless and destructive violence."

But Carson's measured message was followed by attacks on Democrats by the head of the largest union in the New York Police Department and former New York Mayor Rudi Giuliani, an attorney for Trump.

"The Democrats have walked away from us," said Pat Lynch, head of the New York City Police Benevolent Association. "They have walked away from police officers and they have walked away from the innocent people we protect. Democratic politicians have surrendered our streets and our institutions."

Giuliani accused "Black Lives Matter and antifa" of hijacking peaceful protests and turning them into "vicious brutal riots."

"Soon protests turned into riots in many other American cities, almost all Democrat. Businesses were burned and crushed. People were beaten, shot and killed. Police officers were routinely assaulted, badly beaten and occasionally murdered. And the police handcuffed by progressive Democrat mayors from doing anything," Giuliani said.

Trump also contended that killings of African Americans in Democratic-run cities are ignored by Biden and the left. "I never will," he said.

"Just imagine if the so-called peaceful demonstrators in the streets were in charge of every lever of power in the U.S. government," he said.

Earlier in the day, speaking at a briefing on Hurricane Laura, Trump restated his call for Democratic leaders to request the National Guard and other federal assistance.

"And we will put out the fire. We will put out the flame. We will put out the vandalism, because the vandalism and the looting is ridiculous to allow this to happen. I don't know how they can possibly do it and why they do it. I don't understand, because all they have to do is call," Trump said.

But Biden contended it was Trump fueling the racial strife.

"The part that bothers me the most is the idea of just pouring gasoline on the racial flames that are burning now," Biden said on MSNBC. "That does not justify any of the looting, any of the burning any of the ... damage being done by protesters. But the people have a right to be angry, people have a right to protest."

Biden said he didn't believe the divisions in Kenosha were about whether "all folks in that community agree with white supremacists, or blacks in the community agree with some of those folks who are looting."

"I don't think that's what Kenosha is about. I don't think that's what Black and white America is about. But that's what's being seen now and it has to stop," he said.

Prior to the start of the convention, Biden spent a half-hour speaking at a virtual fundraiser hosted by the Illinois Trial Lawyers' Association in which he repeated many of his comments from earlier in the day.

Larry Rogers Jr., a partner with Power Rogers LLP and president of the trial lawyers' group, said Biden was needed "because of the lawless, self-serving conduct and destruction we're seeing with the current president and administration."

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President Trump accepts GOP nomination for second term during White House RNC speech, says Biden will be 'destroyer of American greatness'

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President Donald Trump accepted the Republican Party's nomination for president on Thursday night, using an elaborate set on the South Lawn of the White House to warn of a radical takeover of America if Democrat Joe Biden is elected.

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I watched Ann Dorn's video from RNC and throughout the video I felt her pain. It is terribly unbearable to lose a loved one and I sincerely sympathize with her. The only thing I disagree with is that Trump can bring peace and order back to our communities. He showed long ago what kind of person and leader he is- a tyrant and an indifferent human, who doesn't care at all about people.

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Ann Dorn, the widow of a retired St. Louis police captain who was fatally shot by looters in June amid unrest following the death of George Floyd, condemned violent protesters while praising President Trump for offering "federal help to restore order in our communities" during the fourth and final night of the Republican National Convention.

"Violence and destruction are not legitimate forms of protest," said Dorn, her voice breaking with emotion. "They do not safeguard Black lives. They destroy them."

Dorn, a sergeant with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, gave a detailed account of the night her husband, 77-year-old David Dorn, was killed, saying, "I relive that horror in my mind every single day. My hope is that having you relive it with me now will help shake this country from the nightmare we are witnessing in our cities and bring about positive, peaceful change."

Dorn's comments echoed a common theme of the convention, which sought to portray Democratic-run cities as lawless wastelands overrun by violent rioters and looters, while largely ignoring systemic racism and police killings of Black men and women that have sparked nationwide protests.

While Dorn, who is white, evoked the memory of her late husband, a Black man, in the name of law and order, her decision to speak at the Republican National Convention prompted backlash from David Dorn's daughters, who said their father did not support President Trump.

"We know his wife is a Trump supporter, but he was not," Dorn's daughter, Debra White, told the St. Louis American. "He frequently said they were not able to talk about politics because they were at the opposite ends of the spectrum. I know he would not want his legacy to be for his death to be used to further Trump's law-and-order agenda."
_____ Read more from Yahoo News:

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Ann Dorn, whose husband was killed in St. Louis riots, backs Trump to 'shake this country from the nightmare we are witnessing in our cities'

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Ann Dorn, the widow of a retired St. Louis police captain who was fatally shot by looters in June amid unrest following the death of George Floyd, condemned violent protesters while praising President Trump for offering "federal help to restore order in our communities."

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Militia group puts out call to arms in Kenosha

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Militia group puts out call to arms in Kenosha

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Kevin Mathewson posted "patriots willing to take up arms and defend (Kenosha) form evil thugs." 4,000 people responded as being "interested" in the event. City officals also think that this event rose tensions ans could have contributed to the shooting of two protesters. Mathewson talks about how Kenosha is under attack and the police cant stop it, surprisingly I do agree with him but I don't think we are referring to the same type of attack. I am thinking of the innocent black people around the country being killed my police officers. The points he makes confuse me to my core and it seems as if he is seeing change and protests as a form of attack. What baffles me the most is that he considers himself the group under attack. Pure ignorance.

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After two straight nights of violent unrest, former alderman Kevin Mathewson posted a call to arms on the Facebook page of his fledgling militia group Kenosha Guard.

Formed in the days after George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis, the page boasted only 87 likes. But Mathewson got a wide response with his Tuesday post asking for "patriots willing to take up arms and defend (Kenosha) from the evil thugs."

Within about four hours, some 1,000 people responded they were "going" to the Kenosha event. Another 4,000 said they were "interested."

There's no evidence that a 17-year-old suspect taken into custody was led to Kenosha by the Facebook post. Mathewson said he does not know the suspect, Kyle Rittenhouse of Antioch, and knows of no communication with his group.

But city and law enforcement officials have blamed the armed vigilantes who showed up Tuesday night for worsening tensions and sparking unnecessary confrontations. Mathewson says he was only trying to protect his city.

"In my view, when the government can't protect us, that's when we rely on the Second Amendment, which is in place just for these circumstances," he said Thursday. "Our city was under siege, we were under attack and the government could not ensure our safety."

That's not how Facebook sees it. The social media giant has taken down the Kenosha Guard's page for violating its "dangerous organizations policy." Rittenhouse, who is facing murder charges in connection with the Tuesday night shootings, had his Facebook and Instagram accounts taken down and the company will temporarily prohibit anyone from starting a new account in his name.

Brian Fishman, who oversees Facebook's dangerous organizations department, also posted a thread to Twitter about the situation, saying: "None of the shooter's accounts were reported by users prior to the shooting."

Mathewson's personal account was also removed without notice and he was effectively banned from Facebook for life in connection with the policy, which prohibits organizations or individuals that declare a violent mission or are engaged in violence.

"He will not have been warned and (we) will not allow people who are banned under our dangerous orgs policy to have a profile," a spokeswoman for Facebook said in an email.

Facebook also looked into any obvious links between Mathewson's post and the arrival of Rittenhouse in Kenosha.

"At this time, we have not found evidence on Facebook that suggests the (suspect) followed the Kenosha Guard page or that he was invited on the Event Page they organized," the Facebook spokeswoman said. "However, the Kenosha Guard Page and their Event Page violated our new policy addressing militia organizations and have been removed on that basis."

The policy was announced Aug. 19 and comes after a summer of vigilante clashes during protests following Floyd's killing at the end of May.

"We've had too many tragedies like those in Kenosha. Companies like Facebook owe it to everyone to closely examine the influence of online content on such violence--and to take action to stop it," Fishman wrote.

Militia-style groups patrolled the streets of Minneapolis in the weeks after Floyd died. In Albuquerque, a person was shot and seriously wounded in June during a clash between protesters and a group called the New Mexico Civil Guard.

After the shootings in Kenosha, hundreds of people made clear they would like to see Mathewson face a much harsher punishment than losing his Facebook page. A petition circulating online demanding that Mathewson be charged as an accessory to murder had 1,650 signatures as of 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

Mathewson, a private investigator, said he has also been the target of death threats.

In an interview Thursday, Mathewson said he wouldn't go so far as saying he regretted that so many people came from outside his community to guard it, saying it wasn't his intention for the response to grow so large.

He said the posting was written up by the alt-right website Infowars run by Alex Jones, known for his conspiracy theories. Mathewson, in turn, said he promoted the Infowars article on the Kenosha Guard page, as a way to note the "event" was getting national media attention.

Soon, he started getting hundreds of messages of support from all over the world, as far away as Australia and New Zealand.

On Thursday, Mathewson said promoting the Infowars article was a mistake. "It certainly wasn't my intention to attract people from outside the community, let alone the state," he said.

He also acknowledged that the Infowars site is "not very credible."

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Mathewson said he made the post an "event" on Facebook but he hadn't planned logistics for something so large. He said he didn't have walkie-talkies or issue assignments or coordinate the turnout, other than suggesting people "go to the courthouse."

Before returning to his neighborhood, where he spent much of the night posted at a subdivision entrance with a small group, Mathewson himself was there, standing with other openly armed men in a park as curfew neared. At the time, Mathewson told a reporter he was there to "lend support to the good guys."

Kenosha Police Chief Dan Miskinis appeared to agree, saying Mathewson and the others were out to protect property and "exercise their constitutional right."

Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian disagreed, saying such groups only make the situation worse. "No, I don't need more guns on the street in the community," he said at a news conference the day after the shootings.

But Mathewson responded that the mayor had failed to protect the city. "If I was an officer getting Molotov cocktails and rocks thrown at me, I would be scared out of my mind," he said. "For them to say, 'We can handle it,' is disingenuous and reckless. It's putting politics ahead of safety and common sense, in my opinion.

"Here in Kenosha, I can smell burning rubber and I can see the building in front of me, the probation and parole building in a big pile of ash and debris," he continued. "We're at war, we're being invaded."

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Fledgling militia group put out call to arms in Kenosha and 5,000 people responded. Now it's banned from Facebook after fatal shootings during protests.

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After two straight nights of violent unrest, former alderman Kevin Mathewson posted a call to arms on the Facebook page of his fledgling militia group Kenosha Guard. Formed in the days after George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis, the page boasted only 87 likes.

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Republican and 2016 presidential hopeful, John Kasich is going blue. This is big. More and more republicans are turning against Trump and what he stands for. for a close knit party like the republicans, this is insane. It is so rare that a conservative would vote against their own party.

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Militia Group Incites Violence Via Facebook

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Militia Group Incites Violence Via Facebook

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The second amendment. A complicated and tumultuous clause in our constitution. But a right to bare arms is not the right to murder. Just because you are allowed to own guns does not negate the fact that shooting and killing someone is murder. Facebook is privately owned. It has no reason to "protect the constitution."

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One of the major points in President Trump's acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention is how he will protect America against all threats and bring our economy to record breaking heights. However, he fails to acknowledge how damaged our economy is from his short-comings in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and what a threat it has been to our country. It has killed hundreds of thousands of American's all while Trump has failed to protect us from this threat. It seems he is only continuing the denial of how terrible the situation truly is in this acceptance speech. I really do fear for how this pandemic might evolve if he is to stay in office for another term.

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Her story was a hard one to hear. It sounded like she lost a great man and was very traumatized by that. My heart ached for her but I couldn't help but see flaws in her call to action. In sharing that story of her husbands death, she admired President Trump for distributing troops into cities to combat protestors. She portrays all protests happening in major cities as dangerous and violent. What she fails to mention is that the police and troops who address these protestors use violence just the same. The people who murdered her husband should be brought to justice, but so should the murderers of so many black lives. However, those lives are treated as less than and those families might never get justice. When her husband decided on a career to protect those around him and put his life in danger everyday, he had the opportunity to not make that choice. But a black person in this country does not get to choose whether or not they get to fear for their life everyday simply because of the color of their skin. These protests, which she seems so against, are only calling out this fact and trying to get justice for the people who didn't deserve to die, just like her husband.

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The five biggest moments of the right's takeover of the Republican Party

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The five biggest moments of the right's takeover of the Republican Party

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This was a video that explained what lead to the swing to the right that the republican party had and is having. It brings up five points that have been happening over multiple decade. I personally liked watching this video because it helped me understand how much the political party has changed in a pretty short amount of time.

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The five biggest moments of the right's takeover of the Republican Party

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This Article tells readers the Highlights of The Final night of the Republican National Convention. It starts with Trump and his very long speech. He goes on to say lots of things but says next to nothing about the global pandemic that is constantly changing our country and how it functions. He also uses a good chunk of his speech to criticize the democratic party and Joe Biden. He wasn't the only person that spoke. Trump's Lawyer Rudy Giuliani spoke as well. He also takes his time to bash Joe Biden and the democratic party. He also Goes against the Black Lives Matter movement. This article though being bias towards the Democratic party does a good job of explaining the The final night of the Republican National Convention.

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President Trump took center stage on the Here are the key takeaways from day four of the RNC, whose theme was "America, Land of Greatness": final night of the Republican National Convention

and delivered a speech that sought to assure voters that despite more than 180,000 COVID-19 deaths and a badly damaged U.S. economy amid the coronavirus pandemic, he had made good on his promise to "make America great again." Like incumbent presidents before him, he also spent much of his speech laying out his proposed agenda for a second term. He saved plenty of time to attack Joe Biden, the man hoping to succeed him in the White House.
Flouting coronavirus guidelines, Trump delivers defiant acceptance speech

In a defiant speech accepting the Republican presidential nomination that went on for more than an hour and contained 5,600 words, Trump repeatedly mocked his opponent and trolled his political enemies.

Gesturing to the White House behind him, an unprecedented setting for a political convention speech - and one that Democrats say was in violation of the Hatch Act - Trump chided the opposing party. "The fact is, I'm here," he said. "What's the name of that building? But I'll say it differently. The fact is: We're here, and they're not." His crowd of nearly 1,500 supporters, seated closely together on the White House South Lawn, cheered the insult.

"Joe Biden may claim he is an ally of the light, but when it comes to his agenda, Biden wants to keep us completely in the dark," Trump joked at another point. "He doesn't have a clue."

In some respects, Trump's entire speech felt like a protest against the social-distancing restrictions intended to slow the spread of the virus, which he has been chafing under for so long. His campaign issued a statement Thursday saying it was following "strict protocols." It did not specify, though, which protocols were being followed, and many in the audience did not wear masks.

Like the speakers on the RNC schedule this week, Trump painted the choice between him and Biden in stark and absolute terms. "This election will decide whether we save the American dream, or whether we allow a socialist agenda to demolish our cherished destiny," he said, as protesters outside the White House leaned on car horns and blew vuvuzelas in the background.

When he did speak about the pandemic, the single biggest threat to his chances of being reelected, Trump depicted a string of successes. Nevertheless, the United States has reported far more cases and deaths from the virus than any other country.

"We developed, from scratch, the largest and most advanced testing system in the world. America has tested more than every country in Europe put together, and more than every nation in the Western Hemisphere combined. We have conducted 40 million more tests than the next closest nation," Trump said. "We developed a wide array of effective treatments, including a powerful antibody treatment known as convalescent plasma that will save thousands of lives. Thanks to advances we have pioneered, the fatality rate has been reduced by 80 percent since April."

He did not mention that the head of the FDA recently walked back earlier remarks in which he seemed to endorse Trump's positive assessment of the promise of convalescent plasma. Recent results have apparently yet to show the results the president has claimed.

The president was much more comfortable attacking Biden and the liberal Democrats he portrayed as controlling his rival.

"How can the Democrat Party lead our country when they spend so much time tearing down our country?" Trump asked at one point. He also quipped, "Joe Biden's agenda is made in China. My agenda is made in the U.S.A." Biden, meanwhile, has also called for an increase in American manufacturing.

As to Trump's agenda for a second term, he made a long list of pledges, some of them difficult to square with reality. Trump promised to expand charter schools, hire more police officers (something that in fact falls to local jurisdictions), ban " sanctuary cities " and bolster the manufacturing sector. He said he would reduce taxes and regulations "at levels not seen before" and create 10 million new jobs (although the country has lost millions of jobs during his first term, thanks to the virus).

Also on his list: to strike down terrorists, appoint more conservative judges (which would be more difficult if the Democrats were to retake control of the Senate) and to protect Medicare and Social Security (which are threatened by his own spending proposals). Meanwhile, he said he would protect medical coverage for preexisting conditions (despite his administration's lawsuit to kill the Affordable Care Act), expand oil drilling and land the first woman on the moon.

The central message of the convention and of Trump's speech was that Biden is not, in fact, a moderate Democrat, but a radical "Trojan horse" controlled by people intent on tearing the country to shreds.

Standout speaker Ann Dorn

One standout moment at Thursday's convention came courtesy of Ann Dorn, the widow of a retired St. Louis police captain who was fatally shot by looters in June amid unrest after the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.

It was a deeply personal speech.

"Violence and destruction are not legitimate forms of protest," said Dorn, her voice breaking with emotion as she recounted how her husband, a retired Black police captain, David Dorn, 77, was killed. "They do not safeguard Black lives. They destroy them.

"I relive that horror in my mind every single day," she said, often close to tears. "My hope is that having you relive it with me now will help shake this country from the nightmare we are witnessing in our cities and bring about positive, peaceful change."

Her speech was undeniably powerful, offering a graphic illustration of the consequences of lawlessness that Republicans at the convention had warned about all week.

"How did we get to this point where so many young people are so callous and indifferent towards human life?" she asked. "This isn't a video game where you can commit mayhem and then hit 'Reset' and bring all the characters back to life. David is never coming back. He was murdered by people who didn't know, and didn't care, that he would have done anything to help them."

At the same time, Dorn's decision to tell her story at the RNC did not sit well with her two stepdaughters.

"We know his wife is a Trump supporter, but he was not," Dorn's daughter Debra White told the St. Louis American. "He frequently said they were not able to talk about politics because they were at the opposite ends of the spectrum. I know he would not want his legacy to be for his death to be used to further Trump's law-and-order agenda."

Giuliani rails against Black Lives Matter

Rudy Giuliani, President Trump's personal lawyer and the former mayor of New York City, used his speech Thursday to go after the city's current mayor, Bill de Blasio. Following the RNC playbook on the causes of recent urban unrest, he placed the blame for rising crime rates and violent protests in U.S. cities squarely on local Democratic officials, shifting all responsibility from the president.

Giuliani, never one to pull his punches, declared: "If Biden is elected, along with the Democrats who are unwilling to speak out against this anarchy, then the crime wave will intensify and spread from cities and towns to suburbs and beyond."

He did, however, go even further than many other Republican speakers this week, portraying Biden as a pawn of "Bernie, AOC, Pelosi, Black Lives Matter and his party's entire left wing." The inclusion of Black Lives Matter with the GOP's list of usual suspects was noteworthy, and Giuliani went on to elaborate a theory implicating antifa, the umbrella term for left-wing groups that sometimes engage in street brawls, in a more sinister conspiracy.

"It seemed for a few brief shining moments like Democrat and Republican leaders would come together with a unified proposal to reduce police misconduct," Giuliani said. "This possibility was very dangerous to the left. They had a president to beat and a country to destroy, and although a bipartisan coalition agreeing on action against police brutality would be very valuable for the country, it would also make President Trump appear to be an effective leader. So, BLM and antifa sprang into action, and in a flash, hijacked the protests into vicious, brutal riots."
Read more from Yahoo News:
Twice in his speech, Giuliani conflated Black Lives Matter with antifa.

"The single biggest signal to encourage wanton lawlessness was surrendering a police headquarters to criminals in Minneapolis," he said. "From then on BLM, antifa and their criminal co-conspirators were in charge."

Giuliani closed his remarks by saying, "Mr. President, make our nation safe again."

It's a theme Trump touched on at a different RNC. In his GOP acceptance speech four years ago, Trump had pledged that in his first term: "Beginning on Jan. 20, 2017, safety will be restored."

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President Trump took center stage on the Here are the key takeaways from day four of the RNC, whose theme was "America, Land of Greatness": final night of the Republican National Convention and delivered a speech that sought to assure voters that despite more than 180,000 COVID-19 deaths and a badly damaged U.S.

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I think this was one of the most important parts of the DNC. A conservative republican siding with the democratic nominee has to cause people to take a second look at who they're voting for. I also 100% agree that voters shouldn't vote purely because of the party a nominee represents. It is important to do research and vote for the person you share the most interests and values with. Though I believe this election is an exception because of how desperate Americans are for change.

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I think Donald Trump's concluding speech at the RNC encompasses his whole Administration and presidency. There was a lack of regard of the well-being of American citizens with no social distancing and very minimal mask wearing. There was also an abundance of attacks against Joe Biden, which seems to be one of Trump's favorite pass times. Thirdly, there was also a numerous amount of false claims and possibly unconstitutional acts that took place at the RNC and within Trump's final speech. One of my biggest takeaways is that even amidst a global pandemic and an economic crisis, Trump still claims that he "made America great again" and that with him in office for four more years, we will "keep America great." There seems to be zero tangible evidence to back up these claims, and I hope that Americans can come to their senses and vote Trump out in November.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
President Trump took center stage on the Here are the key takeaways from day four of the RNC, whose theme was "America, Land of Greatness": final night of the Republican National Convention

and delivered a speech that sought to assure voters that despite more than 180,000 COVID-19 deaths and a badly damaged U.S. economy amid the coronavirus pandemic, he had made good on his promise to "make America great again." Like incumbent presidents before him, he also spent much of his speech laying out his proposed agenda for a second term. He saved plenty of time to attack Joe Biden, the man hoping to succeed him in the White House.
Flouting coronavirus guidelines, Trump delivers defiant acceptance speech

In a defiant speech accepting the Republican presidential nomination that went on for more than an hour and contained 5,600 words, Trump repeatedly mocked his opponent and trolled his political enemies.

Gesturing to the White House behind him, an unprecedented setting for a political convention speech - and one that Democrats say was in violation of the Hatch Act - Trump chided the opposing party. "The fact is, I'm here," he said. "What's the name of that building? But I'll say it differently. The fact is: We're here, and they're not." His crowd of nearly 1,500 supporters, seated closely together on the White House South Lawn, cheered the insult.

"Joe Biden may claim he is an ally of the light, but when it comes to his agenda, Biden wants to keep us completely in the dark," Trump joked at another point. "He doesn't have a clue."

In some respects, Trump's entire speech felt like a protest against the social-distancing restrictions intended to slow the spread of the virus, which he has been chafing under for so long. His campaign issued a statement Thursday saying it was following "strict protocols." It did not specify, though, which protocols were being followed, and many in the audience did not wear masks.

Like the speakers on the RNC schedule this week, Trump painted the choice between him and Biden in stark and absolute terms. "This election will decide whether we save the American dream, or whether we allow a socialist agenda to demolish our cherished destiny," he said, as protesters outside the White House leaned on car horns and blew vuvuzelas in the background.

When he did speak about the pandemic, the single biggest threat to his chances of being reelected, Trump depicted a string of successes. Nevertheless, the United States has reported far more cases and deaths from the virus than any other country.

"We developed, from scratch, the largest and most advanced testing system in the world. America has tested more than every country in Europe put together, and more than every nation in the Western Hemisphere combined. We have conducted 40 million more tests than the next closest nation," Trump said. "We developed a wide array of effective treatments, including a powerful antibody treatment known as convalescent plasma that will save thousands of lives. Thanks to advances we have pioneered, the fatality rate has been reduced by 80 percent since April."

He did not mention that the head of the FDA recently walked back earlier remarks in which he seemed to endorse Trump's positive assessment of the promise of convalescent plasma. Recent results have apparently yet to show the results the president has claimed.

The president was much more comfortable attacking Biden and the liberal Democrats he portrayed as controlling his rival.

"How can the Democrat Party lead our country when they spend so much time tearing down our country?" Trump asked at one point. He also quipped, "Joe Biden's agenda is made in China. My agenda is made in the U.S.A." Biden, meanwhile, has also called for an increase in American manufacturing.

As to Trump's agenda for a second term, he made a long list of pledges, some of them difficult to square with reality. Trump promised to expand charter schools, hire more police officers (something that in fact falls to local jurisdictions), ban " sanctuary cities " and bolster the manufacturing sector. He said he would reduce taxes and regulations "at levels not seen before" and create 10 million new jobs (although the country has lost millions of jobs during his first term, thanks to the virus).

Also on his list: to strike down terrorists, appoint more conservative judges (which would be more difficult if the Democrats were to retake control of the Senate) and to protect Medicare and Social Security (which are threatened by his own spending proposals). Meanwhile, he said he would protect medical coverage for preexisting conditions (despite his administration's lawsuit to kill the Affordable Care Act), expand oil drilling and land the first woman on the moon.

The central message of the convention and of Trump's speech was that Biden is not, in fact, a moderate Democrat, but a radical "Trojan horse" controlled by people intent on tearing the country to shreds.

Standout speaker Ann Dorn

One standout moment at Thursday's convention came courtesy of Ann Dorn, the widow of a retired St. Louis police captain who was fatally shot by looters in June amid unrest after the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.

It was a deeply personal speech.

"Violence and destruction are not legitimate forms of protest," said Dorn, her voice breaking with emotion as she recounted how her husband, a retired Black police captain, David Dorn, 77, was killed. "They do not safeguard Black lives. They destroy them.

"I relive that horror in my mind every single day," she said, often close to tears. "My hope is that having you relive it with me now will help shake this country from the nightmare we are witnessing in our cities and bring about positive, peaceful change."

Her speech was undeniably powerful, offering a graphic illustration of the consequences of lawlessness that Republicans at the convention had warned about all week.

"How did we get to this point where so many young people are so callous and indifferent towards human life?" she asked. "This isn't a video game where you can commit mayhem and then hit 'Reset' and bring all the characters back to life. David is never coming back. He was murdered by people who didn't know, and didn't care, that he would have done anything to help them."

At the same time, Dorn's decision to tell her story at the RNC did not sit well with her two stepdaughters.

"We know his wife is a Trump supporter, but he was not," Dorn's daughter Debra White told the St. Louis American. "He frequently said they were not able to talk about politics because they were at the opposite ends of the spectrum. I know he would not want his legacy to be for his death to be used to further Trump's law-and-order agenda."

Giuliani rails against Black Lives Matter

Rudy Giuliani, President Trump's personal lawyer and the former mayor of New York City, used his speech Thursday to go after the city's current mayor, Bill de Blasio. Following the RNC playbook on the causes of recent urban unrest, he placed the blame for rising crime rates and violent protests in U.S. cities squarely on local Democratic officials, shifting all responsibility from the president.

Giuliani, never one to pull his punches, declared: "If Biden is elected, along with the Democrats who are unwilling to speak out against this anarchy, then the crime wave will intensify and spread from cities and towns to suburbs and beyond."

He did, however, go even further than many other Republican speakers this week, portraying Biden as a pawn of "Bernie, AOC, Pelosi, Black Lives Matter and his party's entire left wing." The inclusion of Black Lives Matter with the GOP's list of usual suspects was noteworthy, and Giuliani went on to elaborate a theory implicating antifa, the umbrella term for left-wing groups that sometimes engage in street brawls, in a more sinister conspiracy.

"It seemed for a few brief shining moments like Democrat and Republican leaders would come together with a unified proposal to reduce police misconduct," Giuliani said. "This possibility was very dangerous to the left. They had a president to beat and a country to destroy, and although a bipartisan coalition agreeing on action against police brutality would be very valuable for the country, it would also make President Trump appear to be an effective leader. So, BLM and antifa sprang into action, and in a flash, hijacked the protests into vicious, brutal riots."
Read more from Yahoo News:
Twice in his speech, Giuliani conflated Black Lives Matter with antifa.

"The single biggest signal to encourage wanton lawlessness was surrendering a police headquarters to criminals in Minneapolis," he said. "From then on BLM, antifa and their criminal co-conspirators were in charge."

Giuliani closed his remarks by saying, "Mr. President, make our nation safe again."

It's a theme Trump touched on at a different RNC. In his GOP acceptance speech four years ago, Trump had pledged that in his first term: "Beginning on Jan. 20, 2017, safety will be restored."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
President Trump took center stage on the Here are the key takeaways from day four of the RNC, whose theme was "America, Land of Greatness": final night of the Republican National Convention and delivered a speech that sought to assure voters that despite more than 180,000 COVID-19 deaths and a badly damaged U.S.

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In his speech, Trump completely ignores how harmful the pandemic has been and only mentions the many victories he has had throughout the conflict. Trump also takes this opportunity to attack his opponents in order to rally his supporters. He said that in a democrat-run America, every city will look like Portland. This statement uses right- talking points without much evidence.

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I feel that Kasich delivering a speech at the DNC really spoke volumes. It really shows how problematic Trump and the republican party is. I hope it inspires other republicans to turn blue, even if they're not 100% for Joe Biden. It is important that people settle for Joe and vote blue because we need Trump out of office. He has done nothing but harm for our country.

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Although Kamala isn't everyone's first pick for the Democratic Vice President, I believe she was the right one for Biden's campaign. She is a very inspiring person to many marginalized groups, specifically women and POC. Further, I think the fact that a potential Vice President of the U.S. is a female and is a POC is such an amazing feat in the first place, and I think that she will hopefully be able to vastly benefit POC all over the country- specifically the Black community if Biden gets elected. She is such a strong woman and we really need more female empowerment and female representation in politics, and I think Kamala will be able to bring both to the White House!

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5 things to know about Kamala Harris, Joe Biden's running mate

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Joe Biden made history when he chose Kamala Harris as his running mate.

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I felt that the conversation with Biden and Cardi was very unique in regards to their age difference and the fact that they are apart of different generations. I feel that Cardi gave Biden an insightful message that he could reflect on. She spoke on justice for black people, which I admired because it's necessary to demand justice. Especially to someone who is in a power position, like Biden.

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These people are ridiculous. They say they want Second Amendment rights so they can defend themselves against potential government tyranny, but then they go shoot the people who are protesting against that exact thing. The people who own AR-15s and the like are just itching for a reason to use them. Those guns aren't for defense, that's not why people really buy them; they buy them to make themselves feel cool. And then they see a situation where they can potentially get an opportunity to go shoot people with their big toys and get to claim it was "self-defense" or to "fight oppression" and have no repercussions, and they're all over it. They'll drive to another state just to be able to use their big boy guns. It's disgusting and it just shows the level of gun culture we're at in this country.

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After two straight nights of violent unrest, former alderman Kevin Mathewson posted a call to arms on the Facebook page of his fledgling militia group Kenosha Guard.

Formed in the days after George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis, the page boasted only 87 likes. But Mathewson got a wide response with his Tuesday post asking for "patriots willing to take up arms and defend (Kenosha) from the evil thugs."

Within about four hours, some 1,000 people responded they were "going" to the Kenosha event. Another 4,000 said they were "interested."

There's no evidence that a 17-year-old suspect taken into custody was led to Kenosha by the Facebook post. Mathewson said he does not know the suspect, Kyle Rittenhouse of Antioch, and knows of no communication with his group.

But city and law enforcement officials have blamed the armed vigilantes who showed up Tuesday night for worsening tensions and sparking unnecessary confrontations. Mathewson says he was only trying to protect his city.

"In my view, when the government can't protect us, that's when we rely on the Second Amendment, which is in place just for these circumstances," he said Thursday. "Our city was under siege, we were under attack and the government could not ensure our safety."

That's not how Facebook sees it. The social media giant has taken down the Kenosha Guard's page for violating its "dangerous organizations policy." Rittenhouse, who is facing murder charges in connection with the Tuesday night shootings, had his Facebook and Instagram accounts taken down and the company will temporarily prohibit anyone from starting a new account in his name.

Brian Fishman, who oversees Facebook's dangerous organizations department, also posted a thread to Twitter about the situation, saying: "None of the shooter's accounts were reported by users prior to the shooting."

Mathewson's personal account was also removed without notice and he was effectively banned from Facebook for life in connection with the policy, which prohibits organizations or individuals that declare a violent mission or are engaged in violence.

"He will not have been warned and (we) will not allow people who are banned under our dangerous orgs policy to have a profile," a spokeswoman for Facebook said in an email.

Facebook also looked into any obvious links between Mathewson's post and the arrival of Rittenhouse in Kenosha.

"At this time, we have not found evidence on Facebook that suggests the (suspect) followed the Kenosha Guard page or that he was invited on the Event Page they organized," the Facebook spokeswoman said. "However, the Kenosha Guard Page and their Event Page violated our new policy addressing militia organizations and have been removed on that basis."

The policy was announced Aug. 19 and comes after a summer of vigilante clashes during protests following Floyd's killing at the end of May.

"We've had too many tragedies like those in Kenosha. Companies like Facebook owe it to everyone to closely examine the influence of online content on such violence--and to take action to stop it," Fishman wrote.

Militia-style groups patrolled the streets of Minneapolis in the weeks after Floyd died. In Albuquerque, a person was shot and seriously wounded in June during a clash between protesters and a group called the New Mexico Civil Guard.

After the shootings in Kenosha, hundreds of people made clear they would like to see Mathewson face a much harsher punishment than losing his Facebook page. A petition circulating online demanding that Mathewson be charged as an accessory to murder had 1,650 signatures as of 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

Mathewson, a private investigator, said he has also been the target of death threats.

In an interview Thursday, Mathewson said he wouldn't go so far as saying he regretted that so many people came from outside his community to guard it, saying it wasn't his intention for the response to grow so large.

He said the posting was written up by the alt-right website Infowars run by Alex Jones, known for his conspiracy theories. Mathewson, in turn, said he promoted the Infowars article on the Kenosha Guard page, as a way to note the "event" was getting national media attention.

Soon, he started getting hundreds of messages of support from all over the world, as far away as Australia and New Zealand.

On Thursday, Mathewson said promoting the Infowars article was a mistake. "It certainly wasn't my intention to attract people from outside the community, let alone the state," he said.

He also acknowledged that the Infowars site is "not very credible."

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Mathewson said he made the post an "event" on Facebook but he hadn't planned logistics for something so large. He said he didn't have walkie-talkies or issue assignments or coordinate the turnout, other than suggesting people "go to the courthouse."

Before returning to his neighborhood, where he spent much of the night posted at a subdivision entrance with a small group, Mathewson himself was there, standing with other openly armed men in a park as curfew neared. At the time, Mathewson told a reporter he was there to "lend support to the good guys."

Kenosha Police Chief Dan Miskinis appeared to agree, saying Mathewson and the others were out to protect property and "exercise their constitutional right."

Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian disagreed, saying such groups only make the situation worse. "No, I don't need more guns on the street in the community," he said at a news conference the day after the shootings.

But Mathewson responded that the mayor had failed to protect the city. "If I was an officer getting Molotov cocktails and rocks thrown at me, I would be scared out of my mind," he said. "For them to say, 'We can handle it,' is disingenuous and reckless. It's putting politics ahead of safety and common sense, in my opinion.

"Here in Kenosha, I can smell burning rubber and I can see the building in front of me, the probation and parole building in a big pile of ash and debris," he continued. "We're at war, we're being invaded."

Recommended on Chicago Tribune

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Fledgling militia group put out call to arms in Kenosha and 5,000 people responded. Now it's banned from Facebook after fatal shootings during protests.

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After two straight nights of violent unrest, former alderman Kevin Mathewson posted a call to arms on the Facebook page of his fledgling militia group Kenosha Guard. Formed in the days after George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis, the page boasted only 87 likes.

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What was so disturbing about all of this was not just the content of the speech, but also the location. For one thing, it's a complete break in a long standing tradition: you don't do campaign things on official grounds. But more than that, it's illegal. It's in violation of the Hatch Act, preventing this exact sort of thing. The fact that the Trump Administration can just get away with these things at this point is staggering. They've pushed the envelope so far that no one even cares at this point. It's not "that big of a deal". I find it scary that we've reached a point where the laws we've made can't be enforced because there are just too many offenses every day or because they aren't "big enough" offenses. We have laws for a reason, but it seems like some people are above adhering to them. I wonder how we'll ever get out of this.

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President Trump took center stage on the Here are the key takeaways from day four of the RNC, whose theme was "America, Land of Greatness": final night of the Republican National Convention

and delivered a speech that sought to assure voters that despite more than 180,000 COVID-19 deaths and a badly damaged U.S. economy amid the coronavirus pandemic, he had made good on his promise to "make America great again." Like incumbent presidents before him, he also spent much of his speech laying out his proposed agenda for a second term. He saved plenty of time to attack Joe Biden, the man hoping to succeed him in the White House.
Flouting coronavirus guidelines, Trump delivers defiant acceptance speech

In a defiant speech accepting the Republican presidential nomination that went on for more than an hour and contained 5,600 words, Trump repeatedly mocked his opponent and trolled his political enemies.

Gesturing to the White House behind him, an unprecedented setting for a political convention speech - and one that Democrats say was in violation of the Hatch Act - Trump chided the opposing party. "The fact is, I'm here," he said. "What's the name of that building? But I'll say it differently. The fact is: We're here, and they're not." His crowd of nearly 1,500 supporters, seated closely together on the White House South Lawn, cheered the insult.

"Joe Biden may claim he is an ally of the light, but when it comes to his agenda, Biden wants to keep us completely in the dark," Trump joked at another point. "He doesn't have a clue."

In some respects, Trump's entire speech felt like a protest against the social-distancing restrictions intended to slow the spread of the virus, which he has been chafing under for so long. His campaign issued a statement Thursday saying it was following "strict protocols." It did not specify, though, which protocols were being followed, and many in the audience did not wear masks.

Like the speakers on the RNC schedule this week, Trump painted the choice between him and Biden in stark and absolute terms. "This election will decide whether we save the American dream, or whether we allow a socialist agenda to demolish our cherished destiny," he said, as protesters outside the White House leaned on car horns and blew vuvuzelas in the background.

When he did speak about the pandemic, the single biggest threat to his chances of being reelected, Trump depicted a string of successes. Nevertheless, the United States has reported far more cases and deaths from the virus than any other country.

"We developed, from scratch, the largest and most advanced testing system in the world. America has tested more than every country in Europe put together, and more than every nation in the Western Hemisphere combined. We have conducted 40 million more tests than the next closest nation," Trump said. "We developed a wide array of effective treatments, including a powerful antibody treatment known as convalescent plasma that will save thousands of lives. Thanks to advances we have pioneered, the fatality rate has been reduced by 80 percent since April."

He did not mention that the head of the FDA recently walked back earlier remarks in which he seemed to endorse Trump's positive assessment of the promise of convalescent plasma. Recent results have apparently yet to show the results the president has claimed.

The president was much more comfortable attacking Biden and the liberal Democrats he portrayed as controlling his rival.

"How can the Democrat Party lead our country when they spend so much time tearing down our country?" Trump asked at one point. He also quipped, "Joe Biden's agenda is made in China. My agenda is made in the U.S.A." Biden, meanwhile, has also called for an increase in American manufacturing.

As to Trump's agenda for a second term, he made a long list of pledges, some of them difficult to square with reality. Trump promised to expand charter schools, hire more police officers (something that in fact falls to local jurisdictions), ban " sanctuary cities " and bolster the manufacturing sector. He said he would reduce taxes and regulations "at levels not seen before" and create 10 million new jobs (although the country has lost millions of jobs during his first term, thanks to the virus).

Also on his list: to strike down terrorists, appoint more conservative judges (which would be more difficult if the Democrats were to retake control of the Senate) and to protect Medicare and Social Security (which are threatened by his own spending proposals). Meanwhile, he said he would protect medical coverage for preexisting conditions (despite his administration's lawsuit to kill the Affordable Care Act), expand oil drilling and land the first woman on the moon.

The central message of the convention and of Trump's speech was that Biden is not, in fact, a moderate Democrat, but a radical "Trojan horse" controlled by people intent on tearing the country to shreds.

Standout speaker Ann Dorn

One standout moment at Thursday's convention came courtesy of Ann Dorn, the widow of a retired St. Louis police captain who was fatally shot by looters in June amid unrest after the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.

It was a deeply personal speech.

"Violence and destruction are not legitimate forms of protest," said Dorn, her voice breaking with emotion as she recounted how her husband, a retired Black police captain, David Dorn, 77, was killed. "They do not safeguard Black lives. They destroy them.

"I relive that horror in my mind every single day," she said, often close to tears. "My hope is that having you relive it with me now will help shake this country from the nightmare we are witnessing in our cities and bring about positive, peaceful change."

Her speech was undeniably powerful, offering a graphic illustration of the consequences of lawlessness that Republicans at the convention had warned about all week.

"How did we get to this point where so many young people are so callous and indifferent towards human life?" she asked. "This isn't a video game where you can commit mayhem and then hit 'Reset' and bring all the characters back to life. David is never coming back. He was murdered by people who didn't know, and didn't care, that he would have done anything to help them."

At the same time, Dorn's decision to tell her story at the RNC did not sit well with her two stepdaughters.

"We know his wife is a Trump supporter, but he was not," Dorn's daughter Debra White told the St. Louis American. "He frequently said they were not able to talk about politics because they were at the opposite ends of the spectrum. I know he would not want his legacy to be for his death to be used to further Trump's law-and-order agenda."

Giuliani rails against Black Lives Matter

Rudy Giuliani, President Trump's personal lawyer and the former mayor of New York City, used his speech Thursday to go after the city's current mayor, Bill de Blasio. Following the RNC playbook on the causes of recent urban unrest, he placed the blame for rising crime rates and violent protests in U.S. cities squarely on local Democratic officials, shifting all responsibility from the president.

Giuliani, never one to pull his punches, declared: "If Biden is elected, along with the Democrats who are unwilling to speak out against this anarchy, then the crime wave will intensify and spread from cities and towns to suburbs and beyond."

He did, however, go even further than many other Republican speakers this week, portraying Biden as a pawn of "Bernie, AOC, Pelosi, Black Lives Matter and his party's entire left wing." The inclusion of Black Lives Matter with the GOP's list of usual suspects was noteworthy, and Giuliani went on to elaborate a theory implicating antifa, the umbrella term for left-wing groups that sometimes engage in street brawls, in a more sinister conspiracy.

"It seemed for a few brief shining moments like Democrat and Republican leaders would come together with a unified proposal to reduce police misconduct," Giuliani said. "This possibility was very dangerous to the left. They had a president to beat and a country to destroy, and although a bipartisan coalition agreeing on action against police brutality would be very valuable for the country, it would also make President Trump appear to be an effective leader. So, BLM and antifa sprang into action, and in a flash, hijacked the protests into vicious, brutal riots."
Read more from Yahoo News:
Twice in his speech, Giuliani conflated Black Lives Matter with antifa.

"The single biggest signal to encourage wanton lawlessness was surrendering a police headquarters to criminals in Minneapolis," he said. "From then on BLM, antifa and their criminal co-conspirators were in charge."

Giuliani closed his remarks by saying, "Mr. President, make our nation safe again."

It's a theme Trump touched on at a different RNC. In his GOP acceptance speech four years ago, Trump had pledged that in his first term: "Beginning on Jan. 20, 2017, safety will be restored."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
President Trump took center stage on the Here are the key takeaways from day four of the RNC, whose theme was "America, Land of Greatness": final night of the Republican National Convention and delivered a speech that sought to assure voters that despite more than 180,000 COVID-19 deaths and a badly damaged U.S.

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Trump acception went on for more then an hour and was about 5,400 words. He talked about how he was going to "Make America Great Again... Again". The convention was held at the white house which says a lot in itself. And while Trump insists he is working on a plan for the virus he has yet to announce it and the at the convention there were more then 2000 people sitting very close together not many of then wearing masks and diffidently not social distancing.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
President Trump took center stage on the Here are the key takeaways from day four of the RNC, whose theme was "America, Land of Greatness": final night of the Republican National Convention

and delivered a speech that sought to assure voters that despite more than 180,000 COVID-19 deaths and a badly damaged U.S. economy amid the coronavirus pandemic, he had made good on his promise to "make America great again." Like incumbent presidents before him, he also spent much of his speech laying out his proposed agenda for a second term. He saved plenty of time to attack Joe Biden, the man hoping to succeed him in the White House.
Flouting coronavirus guidelines, Trump delivers defiant acceptance speech

In a defiant speech accepting the Republican presidential nomination that went on for more than an hour and contained 5,600 words, Trump repeatedly mocked his opponent and trolled his political enemies.

Gesturing to the White House behind him, an unprecedented setting for a political convention speech - and one that Democrats say was in violation of the Hatch Act - Trump chided the opposing party. "The fact is, I'm here," he said. "What's the name of that building? But I'll say it differently. The fact is: We're here, and they're not." His crowd of nearly 1,500 supporters, seated closely together on the White House South Lawn, cheered the insult.

"Joe Biden may claim he is an ally of the light, but when it comes to his agenda, Biden wants to keep us completely in the dark," Trump joked at another point. "He doesn't have a clue."

In some respects, Trump's entire speech felt like a protest against the social-distancing restrictions intended to slow the spread of the virus, which he has been chafing under for so long. His campaign issued a statement Thursday saying it was following "strict protocols." It did not specify, though, which protocols were being followed, and many in the audience did not wear masks.

Like the speakers on the RNC schedule this week, Trump painted the choice between him and Biden in stark and absolute terms. "This election will decide whether we save the American dream, or whether we allow a socialist agenda to demolish our cherished destiny," he said, as protesters outside the White House leaned on car horns and blew vuvuzelas in the background.

When he did speak about the pandemic, the single biggest threat to his chances of being reelected, Trump depicted a string of successes. Nevertheless, the United States has reported far more cases and deaths from the virus than any other country.

"We developed, from scratch, the largest and most advanced testing system in the world. America has tested more than every country in Europe put together, and more than every nation in the Western Hemisphere combined. We have conducted 40 million more tests than the next closest nation," Trump said. "We developed a wide array of effective treatments, including a powerful antibody treatment known as convalescent plasma that will save thousands of lives. Thanks to advances we have pioneered, the fatality rate has been reduced by 80 percent since April."

He did not mention that the head of the FDA recently walked back earlier remarks in which he seemed to endorse Trump's positive assessment of the promise of convalescent plasma. Recent results have apparently yet to show the results the president has claimed.

The president was much more comfortable attacking Biden and the liberal Democrats he portrayed as controlling his rival.

"How can the Democrat Party lead our country when they spend so much time tearing down our country?" Trump asked at one point. He also quipped, "Joe Biden's agenda is made in China. My agenda is made in the U.S.A." Biden, meanwhile, has also called for an increase in American manufacturing.

As to Trump's agenda for a second term, he made a long list of pledges, some of them difficult to square with reality. Trump promised to expand charter schools, hire more police officers (something that in fact falls to local jurisdictions), ban " sanctuary cities " and bolster the manufacturing sector. He said he would reduce taxes and regulations "at levels not seen before" and create 10 million new jobs (although the country has lost millions of jobs during his first term, thanks to the virus).

Also on his list: to strike down terrorists, appoint more conservative judges (which would be more difficult if the Democrats were to retake control of the Senate) and to protect Medicare and Social Security (which are threatened by his own spending proposals). Meanwhile, he said he would protect medical coverage for preexisting conditions (despite his administration's lawsuit to kill the Affordable Care Act), expand oil drilling and land the first woman on the moon.

The central message of the convention and of Trump's speech was that Biden is not, in fact, a moderate Democrat, but a radical "Trojan horse" controlled by people intent on tearing the country to shreds.

Standout speaker Ann Dorn

One standout moment at Thursday's convention came courtesy of Ann Dorn, the widow of a retired St. Louis police captain who was fatally shot by looters in June amid unrest after the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.

It was a deeply personal speech.

"Violence and destruction are not legitimate forms of protest," said Dorn, her voice breaking with emotion as she recounted how her husband, a retired Black police captain, David Dorn, 77, was killed. "They do not safeguard Black lives. They destroy them.

"I relive that horror in my mind every single day," she said, often close to tears. "My hope is that having you relive it with me now will help shake this country from the nightmare we are witnessing in our cities and bring about positive, peaceful change."

Her speech was undeniably powerful, offering a graphic illustration of the consequences of lawlessness that Republicans at the convention had warned about all week.

"How did we get to this point where so many young people are so callous and indifferent towards human life?" she asked. "This isn't a video game where you can commit mayhem and then hit 'Reset' and bring all the characters back to life. David is never coming back. He was murdered by people who didn't know, and didn't care, that he would have done anything to help them."

At the same time, Dorn's decision to tell her story at the RNC did not sit well with her two stepdaughters.

"We know his wife is a Trump supporter, but he was not," Dorn's daughter Debra White told the St. Louis American. "He frequently said they were not able to talk about politics because they were at the opposite ends of the spectrum. I know he would not want his legacy to be for his death to be used to further Trump's law-and-order agenda."

Giuliani rails against Black Lives Matter

Rudy Giuliani, President Trump's personal lawyer and the former mayor of New York City, used his speech Thursday to go after the city's current mayor, Bill de Blasio. Following the RNC playbook on the causes of recent urban unrest, he placed the blame for rising crime rates and violent protests in U.S. cities squarely on local Democratic officials, shifting all responsibility from the president.

Giuliani, never one to pull his punches, declared: "If Biden is elected, along with the Democrats who are unwilling to speak out against this anarchy, then the crime wave will intensify and spread from cities and towns to suburbs and beyond."

He did, however, go even further than many other Republican speakers this week, portraying Biden as a pawn of "Bernie, AOC, Pelosi, Black Lives Matter and his party's entire left wing." The inclusion of Black Lives Matter with the GOP's list of usual suspects was noteworthy, and Giuliani went on to elaborate a theory implicating antifa, the umbrella term for left-wing groups that sometimes engage in street brawls, in a more sinister conspiracy.

"It seemed for a few brief shining moments like Democrat and Republican leaders would come together with a unified proposal to reduce police misconduct," Giuliani said. "This possibility was very dangerous to the left. They had a president to beat and a country to destroy, and although a bipartisan coalition agreeing on action against police brutality would be very valuable for the country, it would also make President Trump appear to be an effective leader. So, BLM and antifa sprang into action, and in a flash, hijacked the protests into vicious, brutal riots."
Read more from Yahoo News:
Twice in his speech, Giuliani conflated Black Lives Matter with antifa.

"The single biggest signal to encourage wanton lawlessness was surrendering a police headquarters to criminals in Minneapolis," he said. "From then on BLM, antifa and their criminal co-conspirators were in charge."

Giuliani closed his remarks by saying, "Mr. President, make our nation safe again."

It's a theme Trump touched on at a different RNC. In his GOP acceptance speech four years ago, Trump had pledged that in his first term: "Beginning on Jan. 20, 2017, safety will be restored."

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President Trump took center stage on the Here are the key takeaways from day four of the RNC, whose theme was "America, Land of Greatness": final night of the Republican National Convention and delivered a speech that sought to assure voters that despite more than 180,000 COVID-19 deaths and a badly damaged U.S.

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Ann Dorn reflected on her husband's death in the Milwaukee protests, saying that we need more police officers in order to stop rioting, instead of having less to solve the problem that is actually causing the protests. She, and many others, are focusing too much on how people are protesting instead of admitting that the system being protested is racist and needs to be changed. By being white, she has the freedom to ignore police brutality because it doesn't affect her everyday life.

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Ann Dorn, the widow of a retired St. Louis police captain who was fatally shot by looters in June amid unrest following the death of George Floyd, condemned violent protesters while praising President Trump for offering "federal help to restore order in our communities" during the fourth and final night of the Republican National Convention.

"Violence and destruction are not legitimate forms of protest," said Dorn, her voice breaking with emotion. "They do not safeguard Black lives. They destroy them."

Dorn, a sergeant with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, gave a detailed account of the night her husband, 77-year-old David Dorn, was killed, saying, "I relive that horror in my mind every single day. My hope is that having you relive it with me now will help shake this country from the nightmare we are witnessing in our cities and bring about positive, peaceful change."

Dorn's comments echoed a common theme of the convention, which sought to portray Democratic-run cities as lawless wastelands overrun by violent rioters and looters, while largely ignoring systemic racism and police killings of Black men and women that have sparked nationwide protests.

While Dorn, who is white, evoked the memory of her late husband, a Black man, in the name of law and order, her decision to speak at the Republican National Convention prompted backlash from David Dorn's daughters, who said their father did not support President Trump.

"We know his wife is a Trump supporter, but he was not," Dorn's daughter, Debra White, told the St. Louis American. "He frequently said they were not able to talk about politics because they were at the opposite ends of the spectrum. I know he would not want his legacy to be for his death to be used to further Trump's law-and-order agenda."
_____ Read more from Yahoo News:

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Ann Dorn, whose husband was killed in St. Louis riots, backs Trump to 'shake this country from the nightmare we are witnessing in our cities'

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Ann Dorn, the widow of a retired St. Louis police captain who was fatally shot by looters in June amid unrest following the death of George Floyd, condemned violent protesters while praising President Trump for offering "federal help to restore order in our communities."

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President Trump was optimistic and hopeful for his next four years, listing grand achievements that he promises to the American people if elected. However, he focused his attention on what he will do in the next four years instead of on what he has been doing for the past four, because most of his promises from last election fell through. He is able to make these promises, because he has a strong base that will believe in him no matter what, but as a non-member of his base, his speech was very unpromising.

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President Trump took center stage on the Here are the key takeaways from day four of the RNC, whose theme was "America, Land of Greatness": final night of the Republican National Convention

and delivered a speech that sought to assure voters that despite more than 180,000 COVID-19 deaths and a badly damaged U.S. economy amid the coronavirus pandemic, he had made good on his promise to "make America great again." Like incumbent presidents before him, he also spent much of his speech laying out his proposed agenda for a second term. He saved plenty of time to attack Joe Biden, the man hoping to succeed him in the White House.
Flouting coronavirus guidelines, Trump delivers defiant acceptance speech

In a defiant speech accepting the Republican presidential nomination that went on for more than an hour and contained 5,600 words, Trump repeatedly mocked his opponent and trolled his political enemies.

Gesturing to the White House behind him, an unprecedented setting for a political convention speech - and one that Democrats say was in violation of the Hatch Act - Trump chided the opposing party. "The fact is, I'm here," he said. "What's the name of that building? But I'll say it differently. The fact is: We're here, and they're not." His crowd of nearly 1,500 supporters, seated closely together on the White House South Lawn, cheered the insult.

"Joe Biden may claim he is an ally of the light, but when it comes to his agenda, Biden wants to keep us completely in the dark," Trump joked at another point. "He doesn't have a clue."

In some respects, Trump's entire speech felt like a protest against the social-distancing restrictions intended to slow the spread of the virus, which he has been chafing under for so long. His campaign issued a statement Thursday saying it was following "strict protocols." It did not specify, though, which protocols were being followed, and many in the audience did not wear masks.

Like the speakers on the RNC schedule this week, Trump painted the choice between him and Biden in stark and absolute terms. "This election will decide whether we save the American dream, or whether we allow a socialist agenda to demolish our cherished destiny," he said, as protesters outside the White House leaned on car horns and blew vuvuzelas in the background.

When he did speak about the pandemic, the single biggest threat to his chances of being reelected, Trump depicted a string of successes. Nevertheless, the United States has reported far more cases and deaths from the virus than any other country.

"We developed, from scratch, the largest and most advanced testing system in the world. America has tested more than every country in Europe put together, and more than every nation in the Western Hemisphere combined. We have conducted 40 million more tests than the next closest nation," Trump said. "We developed a wide array of effective treatments, including a powerful antibody treatment known as convalescent plasma that will save thousands of lives. Thanks to advances we have pioneered, the fatality rate has been reduced by 80 percent since April."

He did not mention that the head of the FDA recently walked back earlier remarks in which he seemed to endorse Trump's positive assessment of the promise of convalescent plasma. Recent results have apparently yet to show the results the president has claimed.

The president was much more comfortable attacking Biden and the liberal Democrats he portrayed as controlling his rival.

"How can the Democrat Party lead our country when they spend so much time tearing down our country?" Trump asked at one point. He also quipped, "Joe Biden's agenda is made in China. My agenda is made in the U.S.A." Biden, meanwhile, has also called for an increase in American manufacturing.

As to Trump's agenda for a second term, he made a long list of pledges, some of them difficult to square with reality. Trump promised to expand charter schools, hire more police officers (something that in fact falls to local jurisdictions), ban " sanctuary cities " and bolster the manufacturing sector. He said he would reduce taxes and regulations "at levels not seen before" and create 10 million new jobs (although the country has lost millions of jobs during his first term, thanks to the virus).

Also on his list: to strike down terrorists, appoint more conservative judges (which would be more difficult if the Democrats were to retake control of the Senate) and to protect Medicare and Social Security (which are threatened by his own spending proposals). Meanwhile, he said he would protect medical coverage for preexisting conditions (despite his administration's lawsuit to kill the Affordable Care Act), expand oil drilling and land the first woman on the moon.

The central message of the convention and of Trump's speech was that Biden is not, in fact, a moderate Democrat, but a radical "Trojan horse" controlled by people intent on tearing the country to shreds.

Standout speaker Ann Dorn

One standout moment at Thursday's convention came courtesy of Ann Dorn, the widow of a retired St. Louis police captain who was fatally shot by looters in June amid unrest after the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.

It was a deeply personal speech.

"Violence and destruction are not legitimate forms of protest," said Dorn, her voice breaking with emotion as she recounted how her husband, a retired Black police captain, David Dorn, 77, was killed. "They do not safeguard Black lives. They destroy them.

"I relive that horror in my mind every single day," she said, often close to tears. "My hope is that having you relive it with me now will help shake this country from the nightmare we are witnessing in our cities and bring about positive, peaceful change."

Her speech was undeniably powerful, offering a graphic illustration of the consequences of lawlessness that Republicans at the convention had warned about all week.

"How did we get to this point where so many young people are so callous and indifferent towards human life?" she asked. "This isn't a video game where you can commit mayhem and then hit 'Reset' and bring all the characters back to life. David is never coming back. He was murdered by people who didn't know, and didn't care, that he would have done anything to help them."

At the same time, Dorn's decision to tell her story at the RNC did not sit well with her two stepdaughters.

"We know his wife is a Trump supporter, but he was not," Dorn's daughter Debra White told the St. Louis American. "He frequently said they were not able to talk about politics because they were at the opposite ends of the spectrum. I know he would not want his legacy to be for his death to be used to further Trump's law-and-order agenda."

Giuliani rails against Black Lives Matter

Rudy Giuliani, President Trump's personal lawyer and the former mayor of New York City, used his speech Thursday to go after the city's current mayor, Bill de Blasio. Following the RNC playbook on the causes of recent urban unrest, he placed the blame for rising crime rates and violent protests in U.S. cities squarely on local Democratic officials, shifting all responsibility from the president.

Giuliani, never one to pull his punches, declared: "If Biden is elected, along with the Democrats who are unwilling to speak out against this anarchy, then the crime wave will intensify and spread from cities and towns to suburbs and beyond."

He did, however, go even further than many other Republican speakers this week, portraying Biden as a pawn of "Bernie, AOC, Pelosi, Black Lives Matter and his party's entire left wing." The inclusion of Black Lives Matter with the GOP's list of usual suspects was noteworthy, and Giuliani went on to elaborate a theory implicating antifa, the umbrella term for left-wing groups that sometimes engage in street brawls, in a more sinister conspiracy.

"It seemed for a few brief shining moments like Democrat and Republican leaders would come together with a unified proposal to reduce police misconduct," Giuliani said. "This possibility was very dangerous to the left. They had a president to beat and a country to destroy, and although a bipartisan coalition agreeing on action against police brutality would be very valuable for the country, it would also make President Trump appear to be an effective leader. So, BLM and antifa sprang into action, and in a flash, hijacked the protests into vicious, brutal riots."
Read more from Yahoo News:
Twice in his speech, Giuliani conflated Black Lives Matter with antifa.

"The single biggest signal to encourage wanton lawlessness was surrendering a police headquarters to criminals in Minneapolis," he said. "From then on BLM, antifa and their criminal co-conspirators were in charge."

Giuliani closed his remarks by saying, "Mr. President, make our nation safe again."

It's a theme Trump touched on at a different RNC. In his GOP acceptance speech four years ago, Trump had pledged that in his first term: "Beginning on Jan. 20, 2017, safety will be restored."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
President Trump took center stage on the Here are the key takeaways from day four of the RNC, whose theme was "America, Land of Greatness": final night of the Republican National Convention and delivered a speech that sought to assure voters that despite more than 180,000 COVID-19 deaths and a badly damaged U.S.

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Trump's GOP Nomination Acceptance Speech

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Trump's GOP Nomination Acceptance Speech

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Trump's speech seemed to be largely based around the democratic party, and what will happen if Biden is elected. One point I found especially interesting was Trump's warning of Biden's plans to defund the police, this plan is something that actracts many leftists to Biden but Trump used it as a warning to the people of America as to why not support him. I thought this statement further separates the parties and these two candidates which makes it me think that Trump is more focused on keeping is strong supporters which in the end could cost him swing states. The lack of versatile appeal he has is one of his weakest point and what I think will lose him a second term in office.

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President Donald Trump accepted the Republican Party's nomination for president on Thursday night, using an elaborate set on the South Lawn of the White House to warn of a radical takeover of America if Democrat Joe Biden is elected.

The event, a critical mixing of partisan politics and government on the lawn of the People's House, was the culmination of a Republican National Convention held in the shadow of a pandemic - though few of the 1,500 people in attendance wore masks and sat and cheered Trump with no social distancing.

For Trump, the convention's conclusion was an attempt to make his case for reelection and to "make America great again" in a post-pandemic world while warning that if elected, the former vice president would be "the destroyer of American greatness."

"When reelected, the best is yet to come," Trump said.

Against a backdrop of the coronavirus, a hurricane that battered the Texas-Louisiana coast and civil strife over the issues of law enforcement's role amid a push for racial and social justice, Trump restated his commitment for strong policing while warning of the threat of anarchy under Democrats.

"Your vote will decide whether we protect law abiding Americans or whether we give free rein to violent anarchists, agitators and criminals who threaten our citizens. And this election will decide whether we will defend the American way of life or whether we allow a radical movement to completely dismantle and destroy it," Trump said.

Trump assailed Biden and Democrats at the previous week's party convention for having "repeatedly assailed America as a land of racial, economic and social injustice."

"I ask you a very simple question: How can the Democrat Party ask to lead our country when it spends so much time tearing down our country," he said.

Trump's comments were the exclamation point of a truncated Republican convention that focused on a theme of law and order, coinciding with civil unrest and later deadly violence following the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by a white Kenosha police officer on Sunday. A 17-year-old alleged vigilante from Antioch, Kyle Rittenhouse, was charged with murder Thursday in the killing of two protesters and attempted murder for wounding a third during a subsequent protest.

Echoing a theme of seeking to appeal to voters in suburbs who have been shifting from Republican to Democrat, Trump warned, "If the left gains power, they will demolish the suburbs, confiscate your guns and appoint justices who will wipe away your Second Amendment constitutional freedoms.

"Make no mistake, if you give power to Joe Biden, the radical left will defund police departments all across America," Trump said. "They will pass federal legislation to reduce law enforcement nationwide. They will make every city look like Democrat-run Portland, Oregon. No one will be safe in Biden's America."

In contrast, Trump said, "My administration will always stand with the men and women of law enforcement."

Republicans have maintained the civil unrest and violence that erupted in Kenosha and, before that in Chicago and other cities following the death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis in May, is due to Democratic governors and mayors.

Republicans looked at the developments in Wisconsin and other cities as a call to restore law and order, chastising Democrats for supporting lawlessness. Democrats have sought to draw a line between peaceful protest and violent unrest and looting, contending Trump has failed to condemn extremism and promoted division and racial strife.

"We must remember that the overwhelming majority of police officers in this country are noble, courageous and honorable. We have to give law enforcement, our police, back their power. They are afraid to act. They are afraid to lose their pension. They are afraid to lose their jobs. And by being afraid, they are not able to do their jobs. And those who suffer most are the great people who they want so desperately to protect," Trump said.

"When there is police misconduct, the justice system must hold wrongdoers fully and completely accountable, and it will. But what we can never have in America -and must never allow - is mob rule," he said. "In the strongest possible terms, the Republican Party condemns the rioting, looting, arson and violence we have seen in Democrat-run cities like Kenosha, Minneapolis, Portland, Chicago and New York."

Trump contended there was "violence and danger in the streets of many Democrat-run cities throughout America" that could be "easily fixed" by federal intervention.

"We must always have law and order," the president said. "As long as I am president, I will defend the absolute right of every American citizen to live in security, dignity and peace."

Trump said if the Democratic Party wants to "stand with anarchists, agitators, rioters, looters, and flag-burners, that is up to them. But I, as your president, will not be a part of it. The Republican Party will remain the voice of the patriotic heroes who keep America safe."

The final night of the convention featured an interesting juxtaposition of messaging over civil unrest.

Ben Carson, Trump's Housing and Urban Development secretary said, "Our hearts go out to the Blake family and the other families that have been impacted by the tragic events in Kenosha." Carson said, "History reminds us that necessary change comes through hope and love, not senseless and destructive violence."

But Carson's measured message was followed by attacks on Democrats by the head of the largest union in the New York Police Department and former New York Mayor Rudi Giuliani, an attorney for Trump.

"The Democrats have walked away from us," said Pat Lynch, head of the New York City Police Benevolent Association. "They have walked away from police officers and they have walked away from the innocent people we protect. Democratic politicians have surrendered our streets and our institutions."

Giuliani accused "Black Lives Matter and antifa" of hijacking peaceful protests and turning them into "vicious brutal riots."

"Soon protests turned into riots in many other American cities, almost all Democrat. Businesses were burned and crushed. People were beaten, shot and killed. Police officers were routinely assaulted, badly beaten and occasionally murdered. And the police handcuffed by progressive Democrat mayors from doing anything," Giuliani said.

Trump also contended that killings of African Americans in Democratic-run cities are ignored by Biden and the left. "I never will," he said.

"Just imagine if the so-called peaceful demonstrators in the streets were in charge of every lever of power in the U.S. government," he said.

Earlier in the day, speaking at a briefing on Hurricane Laura, Trump restated his call for Democratic leaders to request the National Guard and other federal assistance.

"And we will put out the fire. We will put out the flame. We will put out the vandalism, because the vandalism and the looting is ridiculous to allow this to happen. I don't know how they can possibly do it and why they do it. I don't understand, because all they have to do is call," Trump said.

But Biden contended it was Trump fueling the racial strife.

"The part that bothers me the most is the idea of just pouring gasoline on the racial flames that are burning now," Biden said on MSNBC. "That does not justify any of the looting, any of the burning any of the ... damage being done by protesters. But the people have a right to be angry, people have a right to protest."

Biden said he didn't believe the divisions in Kenosha were about whether "all folks in that community agree with white supremacists, or blacks in the community agree with some of those folks who are looting."

"I don't think that's what Kenosha is about. I don't think that's what Black and white America is about. But that's what's being seen now and it has to stop," he said.

Prior to the start of the convention, Biden spent a half-hour speaking at a virtual fundraiser hosted by the Illinois Trial Lawyers' Association in which he repeated many of his comments from earlier in the day.

Larry Rogers Jr., a partner with Power Rogers LLP and president of the trial lawyers' group, said Biden was needed "because of the lawless, self-serving conduct and destruction we're seeing with the current president and administration."

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President Trump accepts GOP nomination for second term during White House RNC speech, says Biden will be 'destroyer of American greatness'

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President Donald Trump accepted the Republican Party's nomination for president on Thursday night, using an elaborate set on the South Lawn of the White House to warn of a radical takeover of America if Democrat Joe Biden is elected.

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I'm very excited with Biden's VP choice. I think she has a good grasp on what the youth want, as well as what the lower and middle class need in America. I'm moved by her efforts to transform this country into a more equitable and society. As a biracial woman, she represents a lot of the demographics that in the past, haven't been represented in government.

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5 things to know about Kamala Harris, Joe Biden's running mate

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Joe Biden made history when he chose Kamala Harris as his running mate.

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I think his speech is a great example of the fear-mongering tactics he's used to pursuade voters to support him. A big take away for me after reading this article was that he referred to leftists as "violent anarchists, agitators and criminals who threaten our citizens". This demonstrates that he's been able to weaponize a party for his political gain by misconstruing the ideals of leftists.

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President Donald Trump accepted the Republican Party's nomination for president on Thursday night, using an elaborate set on the South Lawn of the White House to warn of a radical takeover of America if Democrat Joe Biden is elected.

The event, a critical mixing of partisan politics and government on the lawn of the People's House, was the culmination of a Republican National Convention held in the shadow of a pandemic - though few of the 1,500 people in attendance wore masks and sat and cheered Trump with no social distancing.

For Trump, the convention's conclusion was an attempt to make his case for reelection and to "make America great again" in a post-pandemic world while warning that if elected, the former vice president would be "the destroyer of American greatness."

"When reelected, the best is yet to come," Trump said.

Against a backdrop of the coronavirus, a hurricane that battered the Texas-Louisiana coast and civil strife over the issues of law enforcement's role amid a push for racial and social justice, Trump restated his commitment for strong policing while warning of the threat of anarchy under Democrats.

"Your vote will decide whether we protect law abiding Americans or whether we give free rein to violent anarchists, agitators and criminals who threaten our citizens. And this election will decide whether we will defend the American way of life or whether we allow a radical movement to completely dismantle and destroy it," Trump said.

Trump assailed Biden and Democrats at the previous week's party convention for having "repeatedly assailed America as a land of racial, economic and social injustice."

"I ask you a very simple question: How can the Democrat Party ask to lead our country when it spends so much time tearing down our country," he said.

Trump's comments were the exclamation point of a truncated Republican convention that focused on a theme of law and order, coinciding with civil unrest and later deadly violence following the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by a white Kenosha police officer on Sunday. A 17-year-old alleged vigilante from Antioch, Kyle Rittenhouse, was charged with murder Thursday in the killing of two protesters and attempted murder for wounding a third during a subsequent protest.

Echoing a theme of seeking to appeal to voters in suburbs who have been shifting from Republican to Democrat, Trump warned, "If the left gains power, they will demolish the suburbs, confiscate your guns and appoint justices who will wipe away your Second Amendment constitutional freedoms.

"Make no mistake, if you give power to Joe Biden, the radical left will defund police departments all across America," Trump said. "They will pass federal legislation to reduce law enforcement nationwide. They will make every city look like Democrat-run Portland, Oregon. No one will be safe in Biden's America."

In contrast, Trump said, "My administration will always stand with the men and women of law enforcement."

Republicans have maintained the civil unrest and violence that erupted in Kenosha and, before that in Chicago and other cities following the death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis in May, is due to Democratic governors and mayors.

Republicans looked at the developments in Wisconsin and other cities as a call to restore law and order, chastising Democrats for supporting lawlessness. Democrats have sought to draw a line between peaceful protest and violent unrest and looting, contending Trump has failed to condemn extremism and promoted division and racial strife.

"We must remember that the overwhelming majority of police officers in this country are noble, courageous and honorable. We have to give law enforcement, our police, back their power. They are afraid to act. They are afraid to lose their pension. They are afraid to lose their jobs. And by being afraid, they are not able to do their jobs. And those who suffer most are the great people who they want so desperately to protect," Trump said.

"When there is police misconduct, the justice system must hold wrongdoers fully and completely accountable, and it will. But what we can never have in America -and must never allow - is mob rule," he said. "In the strongest possible terms, the Republican Party condemns the rioting, looting, arson and violence we have seen in Democrat-run cities like Kenosha, Minneapolis, Portland, Chicago and New York."

Trump contended there was "violence and danger in the streets of many Democrat-run cities throughout America" that could be "easily fixed" by federal intervention.

"We must always have law and order," the president said. "As long as I am president, I will defend the absolute right of every American citizen to live in security, dignity and peace."

Trump said if the Democratic Party wants to "stand with anarchists, agitators, rioters, looters, and flag-burners, that is up to them. But I, as your president, will not be a part of it. The Republican Party will remain the voice of the patriotic heroes who keep America safe."

The final night of the convention featured an interesting juxtaposition of messaging over civil unrest.

Ben Carson, Trump's Housing and Urban Development secretary said, "Our hearts go out to the Blake family and the other families that have been impacted by the tragic events in Kenosha." Carson said, "History reminds us that necessary change comes through hope and love, not senseless and destructive violence."

But Carson's measured message was followed by attacks on Democrats by the head of the largest union in the New York Police Department and former New York Mayor Rudi Giuliani, an attorney for Trump.

"The Democrats have walked away from us," said Pat Lynch, head of the New York City Police Benevolent Association. "They have walked away from police officers and they have walked away from the innocent people we protect. Democratic politicians have surrendered our streets and our institutions."

Giuliani accused "Black Lives Matter and antifa" of hijacking peaceful protests and turning them into "vicious brutal riots."

"Soon protests turned into riots in many other American cities, almost all Democrat. Businesses were burned and crushed. People were beaten, shot and killed. Police officers were routinely assaulted, badly beaten and occasionally murdered. And the police handcuffed by progressive Democrat mayors from doing anything," Giuliani said.

Trump also contended that killings of African Americans in Democratic-run cities are ignored by Biden and the left. "I never will," he said.

"Just imagine if the so-called peaceful demonstrators in the streets were in charge of every lever of power in the U.S. government," he said.

Earlier in the day, speaking at a briefing on Hurricane Laura, Trump restated his call for Democratic leaders to request the National Guard and other federal assistance.

"And we will put out the fire. We will put out the flame. We will put out the vandalism, because the vandalism and the looting is ridiculous to allow this to happen. I don't know how they can possibly do it and why they do it. I don't understand, because all they have to do is call," Trump said.

But Biden contended it was Trump fueling the racial strife.

"The part that bothers me the most is the idea of just pouring gasoline on the racial flames that are burning now," Biden said on MSNBC. "That does not justify any of the looting, any of the burning any of the ... damage being done by protesters. But the people have a right to be angry, people have a right to protest."

Biden said he didn't believe the divisions in Kenosha were about whether "all folks in that community agree with white supremacists, or blacks in the community agree with some of those folks who are looting."

"I don't think that's what Kenosha is about. I don't think that's what Black and white America is about. But that's what's being seen now and it has to stop," he said.

Prior to the start of the convention, Biden spent a half-hour speaking at a virtual fundraiser hosted by the Illinois Trial Lawyers' Association in which he repeated many of his comments from earlier in the day.

Larry Rogers Jr., a partner with Power Rogers LLP and president of the trial lawyers' group, said Biden was needed "because of the lawless, self-serving conduct and destruction we're seeing with the current president and administration."

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President Trump accepts GOP nomination for second term during White House RNC speech, says Biden will be 'destroyer of American greatness'

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President Donald Trump accepted the Republican Party's nomination for president on Thursday night, using an elaborate set on the South Lawn of the White House to warn of a radical takeover of America if Democrat Joe Biden is elected.

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In the RNCs final night Trump talked about his agenda for his second term as president. Trump also talked about how he will "make America great again" even with the events of the corona virus. He also took time bashing on Joe Biden.

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Kasich being a republican and speaking at the DNC is a very significant event. Kasich going against his own party shows how greatly people want Trump out of office. Kasich stresses on how Trump is dividing instead of unifying. Kasich wants someone who can unify and bring the people together.

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Militia Group Incites Violence Via Facebook

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Militia Group Incites Violence Via Facebook

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Kevin Mathewson, a former alderman, posted a call to arms on Facebook which asked for willing people to take to the streets of the Kenosha protests to defend the city from "evil thugs" by using firearms. This post is ridiculous and shows a tremendous lack of judgement on Mathewson's behalf. It is not up to these "vigilantes" to enforce the law and it is incredibly dangerous for them to attempt in doing so. It's safe to assume most, if not all of them lack sufficient training in how to properly deescalate a violent situation without immediately turning to deadly force. Even a trained cop in Jacob Blake's case failed to subdue the suspect without using deadly force. So what makes any civilian think that they possibly could? Mathewson should've known before making this post that this could reach the wrong people who would gladly go out and there and kill people for the sake of the Facebook post. This further endangers the lives of all those involved with the protests. Let the police do their job and don't interfere should have been the message of this ignorant Facebook post.

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After two straight nights of violent unrest, former alderman Kevin Mathewson posted a call to arms on the Facebook page of his fledgling militia group Kenosha Guard.

Formed in the days after George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis, the page boasted only 87 likes. But Mathewson got a wide response with his Tuesday post asking for "patriots willing to take up arms and defend (Kenosha) from the evil thugs."

Within about four hours, some 1,000 people responded they were "going" to the Kenosha event. Another 4,000 said they were "interested."

There's no evidence that a 17-year-old suspect taken into custody was led to Kenosha by the Facebook post. Mathewson said he does not know the suspect, Kyle Rittenhouse of Antioch, and knows of no communication with his group.

But city and law enforcement officials have blamed the armed vigilantes who showed up Tuesday night for worsening tensions and sparking unnecessary confrontations. Mathewson says he was only trying to protect his city.

"In my view, when the government can't protect us, that's when we rely on the Second Amendment, which is in place just for these circumstances," he said Thursday. "Our city was under siege, we were under attack and the government could not ensure our safety."

That's not how Facebook sees it. The social media giant has taken down the Kenosha Guard's page for violating its "dangerous organizations policy." Rittenhouse, who is facing murder charges in connection with the Tuesday night shootings, had his Facebook and Instagram accounts taken down and the company will temporarily prohibit anyone from starting a new account in his name.

Brian Fishman, who oversees Facebook's dangerous organizations department, also posted a thread to Twitter about the situation, saying: "None of the shooter's accounts were reported by users prior to the shooting."

Mathewson's personal account was also removed without notice and he was effectively banned from Facebook for life in connection with the policy, which prohibits organizations or individuals that declare a violent mission or are engaged in violence.

"He will not have been warned and (we) will not allow people who are banned under our dangerous orgs policy to have a profile," a spokeswoman for Facebook said in an email.

Facebook also looked into any obvious links between Mathewson's post and the arrival of Rittenhouse in Kenosha.

"At this time, we have not found evidence on Facebook that suggests the (suspect) followed the Kenosha Guard page or that he was invited on the Event Page they organized," the Facebook spokeswoman said. "However, the Kenosha Guard Page and their Event Page violated our new policy addressing militia organizations and have been removed on that basis."

The policy was announced Aug. 19 and comes after a summer of vigilante clashes during protests following Floyd's killing at the end of May.

"We've had too many tragedies like those in Kenosha. Companies like Facebook owe it to everyone to closely examine the influence of online content on such violence--and to take action to stop it," Fishman wrote.

Militia-style groups patrolled the streets of Minneapolis in the weeks after Floyd died. In Albuquerque, a person was shot and seriously wounded in June during a clash between protesters and a group called the New Mexico Civil Guard.

After the shootings in Kenosha, hundreds of people made clear they would like to see Mathewson face a much harsher punishment than losing his Facebook page. A petition circulating online demanding that Mathewson be charged as an accessory to murder had 1,650 signatures as of 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

Mathewson, a private investigator, said he has also been the target of death threats.

In an interview Thursday, Mathewson said he wouldn't go so far as saying he regretted that so many people came from outside his community to guard it, saying it wasn't his intention for the response to grow so large.

He said the posting was written up by the alt-right website Infowars run by Alex Jones, known for his conspiracy theories. Mathewson, in turn, said he promoted the Infowars article on the Kenosha Guard page, as a way to note the "event" was getting national media attention.

Soon, he started getting hundreds of messages of support from all over the world, as far away as Australia and New Zealand.

On Thursday, Mathewson said promoting the Infowars article was a mistake. "It certainly wasn't my intention to attract people from outside the community, let alone the state," he said.

He also acknowledged that the Infowars site is "not very credible."

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Mathewson said he made the post an "event" on Facebook but he hadn't planned logistics for something so large. He said he didn't have walkie-talkies or issue assignments or coordinate the turnout, other than suggesting people "go to the courthouse."

Before returning to his neighborhood, where he spent much of the night posted at a subdivision entrance with a small group, Mathewson himself was there, standing with other openly armed men in a park as curfew neared. At the time, Mathewson told a reporter he was there to "lend support to the good guys."

Kenosha Police Chief Dan Miskinis appeared to agree, saying Mathewson and the others were out to protect property and "exercise their constitutional right."

Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian disagreed, saying such groups only make the situation worse. "No, I don't need more guns on the street in the community," he said at a news conference the day after the shootings.

But Mathewson responded that the mayor had failed to protect the city. "If I was an officer getting Molotov cocktails and rocks thrown at me, I would be scared out of my mind," he said. "For them to say, 'We can handle it,' is disingenuous and reckless. It's putting politics ahead of safety and common sense, in my opinion.

"Here in Kenosha, I can smell burning rubber and I can see the building in front of me, the probation and parole building in a big pile of ash and debris," he continued. "We're at war, we're being invaded."

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Fledgling militia group put out call to arms in Kenosha and 5,000 people responded. Now it's banned from Facebook after fatal shootings during protests.

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After two straight nights of violent unrest, former alderman Kevin Mathewson posted a call to arms on the Facebook page of his fledgling militia group Kenosha Guard. Formed in the days after George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis, the page boasted only 87 likes.

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The RNC raised some questions about if it was violating the Hatch Act (which in short, prevents federal employees from engaging in political activities while they are working in an official capacity). There were many events from the RNC that were problematic and likely a violation of the Hatch Act (the naturalization ceremony being one). The crazy thing is that most likely, nothing will be done. It seems that this administration is able to get away with anything because people have become so numb to all of the illegal things that his administration has done.

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Even before the Republican National Convention began, government ethics experts warned that hosting campaign events from the White House South Lawn and the Rose Garden could violate federal ethics law.

But in the convention's first two days, Trump has gone even further - wielding the powers of his office and the federal government to promote his reelection campaign.

As part of Tuesday night's prime-time convention programming, Trump granted a presidential pardon from the White House. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appeared from Jerusalem, where he was on official state business, to make a campaign speech with the Old City as backdrop. First lady Melania Trump delivered a speech from the White House Rose Garden. And acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf performed a naturalization ceremony on television as Trump looked on.

The Hatch Act prohibits federal employees from engaging in most political activity inside federal buildings or while on duty. Though the president and vice president are exempt from the civil provisions of the Hatch Act, federal employees like Pompeo, Wolf and any executive branch employees who helped stage the events are not.

Ethics watchdogs harshly criticized Trump's merging of official and campaign acts during the Tuesday night telecast.

"The Hatch Act was the wall standing between the government's might and candidates. Tonight a candidate tore down that wall and wielded power for his own campaign," tweeted Walter Shaub, the former head of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. Shaub left the office in 2017 after clashing with the Trump administration over the president's failure to divest from his businesses.

The Hatch Act was the wall standing between the government's might and candidates. Tonight a candidate tore down that wall and wielded power for his own campaign. Citizen Trump is no longer presenting himself as a candidate. Now your government is telling you who should rule you.
- Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) August 26, 2020

This summer, Pompeo and top State Department officials sent memos to employees reminding them they must be careful to adhere to the Hatch Act. Another memo said, "Senate-confirmed Presidential appointees may not even attend a political party convention or convention-related event." That description also applies to Pompeo.

Richard Haass, the longtime president of the Council on Foreign Relations who has served in several Republican administrations, said it's inappropriate for a secretary of state to appear at a political convention while serving as the nation's top diplomat.

"A presumption of continuity in US foreign policy is essential if allies are to trust us & adversaries respect us," he wrote on Twitter. "Politicizing foreign policy increases the chance of wild swings & undermining bipartisan support. @SecPompeo decision to speak at #RNC2020 ill-advised and then some."

A presumption of continuity in US foreign policy is essential if allies are to trust us & adversaries respect us. Politicizing foreign policy increases the chance of wild swings & undermining bipartisan support. @SecPompeo decision to speak at #RNC2020 ill-advised and then some.
- Richard N. Haass (@RichardHaass) August 25, 2020

On Tuesday, House Democrats opened an investigation ahead of Pompeo's speech, but it's unlikely that any Trump administration officials will face reprimand for using their office to promote the president's reelection.

The Office of Special Counsel can investigate allegations of Hatch Act violations and weigh in on them, but in many cases, it's up to the employee's supervisor to act on the advice.

"Ultimately, officials and employees choose whether to comply with the law," special counsel Henry J. Kerner wrote in a statement Wednesday. "Once they make that choice, it is OSC's statutory role to receive complaints, investigate alleged Hatch Act violations, and determine which ones warrant prosecution."

Last year, White House special adviser Kellyanne Conway was cited by the special counsel for Hatch Act violations and recommended she be fired. She remained in the job.

"Blah, blah, blah," she told reporters. "If you're trying to silence me through the Hatch Act, it's not going to work. Let me know when the jail sentence starts."

There are also criminal provisions of the Hatch Act, one of which bars intimidating, threatening or coercing federal employees to participate in political activity. Another provision prohibits federal employees from using their official authority for "the purpose of interfering with, or affecting" the election of the president and vice president, among other offices.

The president and vice president are bound by the criminal provisions, which the Department of Justice is charged with enforcing.

Delaney Marsco, legal counsel at the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center, says the Trump administration has frequently skirted ethics rules with the hope that they will avoid any repercussions, whether it's the Hatch Act or evading congressional oversight or inspectors general.

"It's really troubling," she said. "We give these people an insane amount of power and authority and they're supposed to use it to serve the public, and when things are politicized like this, it undermines that trust and flies in the face of the principles of what public office is supposed to be. It should be upsetting to every American."

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows brushed off criticism that the administration was flouting the law.

"Nobody outside of the Beltway really cares," he told Politico. "They expect that Donald Trump is going to promote Republican values and they would expect that Barack Obama, when he was in office, that he would do the same for Democrats. So listen, this is a lot of hoopla that's being made about things, mainly because the convention has been so unbelievably successful."

Cabinet members have spoken at conventions before. Several Obama administration officials addressed the Democratic National Convention in 2012, for example. But that convention was held in a sports arena, not in the White House, and did not feature Cabinet members conducting official business for the cameras.

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Trump Shatters Ethics Norms By Making Official Acts Part Of GOP Convention

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Even before the Republican National Convention began, government ethics experts warned that hosting campaign events from the White House South Lawn and the Rose Garden could violate federal ethics law. But in the convention's first two days, Trump has gone even further - wielding the powers of his office and the federal government to promote his reelection campaign.

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One of the main focuses in Trump's acceptance speech was fear-mongering. He went on and on about how if he is defeated Biden will destroy America's "greatness." Essentially, Trump's main strategy was to scare his voters into believing that the other side is evil (which he's been doing for his entire presidency, really). He really focused on law and order as well, trying to stir up fear by using the recent protests as an example of what could happen if Biden is elected (which I find personally to be completely BS as this is all happening under his regime).

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On Thursday night, Donald Trump stood on the South Lawn of the White House and spoke for more than an hour. Nominally, this was the final speech of the Republican National Convention, during which Trump accepted the Party's nomination for a second term as President. (He mangled this procedural line, saying that he accepted the nomination "profoundly," rather than "proudly," as his script indicated.) But Trump looked less like a candidate than like a king standing in front of his castle, flanked by members of his dynasty, warning of an insurgency at the gate. The entire four-day spectacle of the Convention seemed designed to assert the existence not of a government, which begins and ends with elections, but of a Trump regime, born of a revolution and challenged by what Trump called "anarchists, agitators, rioters, looters, and flag-burners."

Trump's use of the White House, where he appeared every day of the Convention; the Washington Monument, illuminated by fireworks at the Convention's finale; Fort McHenry, where Vice-President Mike Pence delivered his speech on Wednesday; and the U.S. government-owned Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, where most of the Convention speeches were delivered, is, on the face of it, a violation of the Hatch Act, which bans the use of federal property for campaign purposes. It is also an assertion of impunity: violations of the Hatch Act are punishable by removal from office, but Trump shows that he can get away with this just as he gets away with using the Presidency for personal profit and rejecting congressional authority during impeachment proceedings. It is also a territorial claim. Toward the end of his speech, Trump went on an apparently unscripted riff about the White House: "The fact is, I'm here. What's the name of that building? But I'll say it differently, the fact is, we're here, and they're not. To me, one of the most beautiful buildings anywhere in the world, and it's not a building, it's a home, as far as I'm concerned. It's not even a house, it is a home." It is his home, he seemed to say, and the "socialists," as Democrats were repeatedly-and inaccurately-branded throughout the Convention, are trying to divest him of his property.

The Trump regime represents a break with the past. Unlike at the Democratic National Convention, no past Presidents spoke at the Republicans' gathering; every night was anchored by Trump's family members. The Republican Party dispensed with a platform this year, and its entire agenda could be summed up on a single sheet of paper: the Party supports Trump. Most speakers at the Convention talked of Trump as having wrought revolutionary change, ushering in a new political era-indicating, again, that Trumpism is not merely the governing philosophy of another Republican Administration. It is a new system entirely.

Trump's regime broadcast an image of itself as solid, established. Speakers appeared framed by the imperial architecture of Washington, D.C. The Democratic National Convention, pulled together from dozens of prerecorded clips and live streams, had an out-of-space, out-of-time quality to it. Like many of us these days, D.N.C. speakers seemed to inhabit spaces that are nowhere and everywhere at the same time, rooms that consist only of what is in front of a laptop camera. One got the sense that the Democrats' cameras were angled so no one could see the bed (or the child or the mess) behind the speaker. The Republicans' camera, on the other hand, showed the pillars and grand vault of the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, where speakers made grand stage entrances even though, apparently, they addressed an empty room; most of them were in one place: Washington, D.C. On the last night, at the White House, the cameras showed a bank of American flags and, during the finale, lingered on the raised platforms, a red-carpeted arrangement that Trump apparently favors for the grandest of his grand appearances. (After he spoke from a similar structure during the militarized festivities on July 4, 2019, he incessantly tweeted aerial shots of it.)

To call things what they are, the Republicans adopted a fascist aesthetic for this year's Convention. It was in the pillars and the flags; the military-style outfit that Melania Trump wore to deliver her speech, on the second night; the screaming fervor with which many of the speeches were delivered; the repeated references to "law and order"; and phrases like "weakness is provocative," which the Republican senator Tom Cotton offered on the final evening. The aesthetic-and the rhetoric-held out the carrot of greatness, of what Hannah Arendt, explaining the appeal of totalitarian movements, called "victory and success as such," the prize of being on the winning side, whatever that side is. The seduction of greatness may grow proportionately to anxiety: the more scared one is-of losing one's job or health insurance, or of the coronavirus, of the world never going back to normal, among other worries-the more reassuring it is to say (better yet, to scream) that one lives in the greatest country on earth. One looks at people shouting triumphantly-none of them social distancing, only a few wearing masks-and one feels somehow uplifted by the fantasy of being one of them.

The Republicans offered greatness; the Democrats, in contrast, proposed goodness. The theme of the D.N.C. was, in effect, that Joe Biden is a good guy: a compassionate man, a man who has experienced great tragedy, a great father, husband, grandfather, friend. (It is remarkable that, while every adult member of Trump's immediate family spoke at the R.N.C., including his oldest son's girlfriend, none of them even attempted to make the President sound relatable in a similar way.) The D.N.C.'s singular message is that Americans ought to choose to live in a country run by good people rather than callous liars. It is a modest proposal. To reject greatness in favor of goodness is a particularly difficult choice to make in an anxious state.

In its own way, the D.N.C. was revolutionary in its understated aesthetic and its humble message. Its homespun, scrappy feel might be fitting for an insurgent party. Democrats, however, continued to insist that they are the true establishment. The Party has adopted "Build back better" as its campaign slogan-a vague and misleading phrase. It tells us nothing about what it would be like to live in a country whose guiding principles are mutual care, empathy, and goodness. Americans have not, in fact, lived in such a country before. It may be that voters have such deep reserves of both decency and confidence that they will reject the siren call of greatness in favor of the amorphous promise of goodness. But, whatever the polls may say now, it would be foolhardy to count on such an outcome.

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Trump's Republican National Convention Was a Spectacle Fit for a Would-Be King

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On Thursday night, Donald Trump stood on the South Lawn of the White House and spoke for more than an hour. Nominally, this was the final speech of the Republican National Convention, during which Trump accepted the Party's nomination for a second term as President.

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The shooting of Jacob Blake hit very close to home for us in Evanston. It has also been a very present political topic. Trump says that the looting and riots are Biden's fault but really who does he have to blame but himself. He is the current  leader of the county and he is the one refusing to do anything about it.

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KENOSHA, Wis. (WLS) -- A Black man who was shot several times by Kenosha police Sunday evening remains hospitalized with serious injuries.

Jacob Blake, 29, was shot in the back in front of his young children after breaking up a fight in the neighborhood, his family said.

Video of the shooting was posted on social media, sparking protests and violence. People set cars on fire, smashed windows and clashed with officers in riot gear Sunday evening.

In video that appeared to show the shooting from across a street, three officers could be seen shouting and pointing their weapons at Blake as he walked around the front of a parked SUV. As Blake opened the driver's side door and leaned inside, one officer grabbed his shirt from behind and then fired into the vehicle.

"He was shot seven times in his back while his children sitting in the damn car," said Justin Blake, Jacob Blake's uncle.

Seven shots could be heard on the video, though it was unclear if more than one officer fired.

WARNING DISTURBING VIDEO | Kenosha police shooting caught on camera

Blake's family said he is now being treated at a Milwaukee hospital, where he is in serious, but stable condition. His children were inside the car at the time of the shooting.

"Livid wouldn't describe how I feel right now," Justin Blake said. "It's crazy and to traumatize some children that were in the vehicle-this is beyond repair," he said.

Blake's fiancée Laquisha Booke said that Blake was unarmed.

"That don't make no sense to treat somebody like that, who is not armed, with the kids in the back screaming," she said.

Blake's family and multiple witnesses told ABC News the 29-year-old security guard had just broken up an argument before he was shot.

"The officers were responding to a fight," said witness La-Ron Franklin."It was some girls fighting. A gentleman was breaking up the fight. When he was turning to get his kids, the officer shot this man seven times."

"He does the same job the police does. He protect people from being hurt and let people enjoy themselves at the same time," said Donnell Lauderdale, Jacob Blake's neighbor and friend. "Why can't the police do the same?"

Lauderdale said Sunday was supposed to be a celebration for their family.

"When I spoke to him he had presents in his hand," Lauderdale said. "He was inviting my 4-year-old son to come to his 6-year-old's birthday party."

Jacob Blake moved to Kenosha from Evanston for 'fresh start'

Blake grew up in Evanston, his family told ABC7. They said he moved to Kenosha from Evanston for a fresh start, only to find himself at the center of the national debate over police-use-of-force and racial justice.

Fifty miles from Jacob Blake's hometown, his name has become a rally cry. Evanston resident Amy Landolt drove to Kenosha to be with protesters.

"It's really just to support his family," she said. "Make sure that they know Evanston supports them and stands with them."

Blake, who relatives say attended Evanston High School, comes from a family synonymous with struggle.

His grandfather, Jacob Blake Sr., was lead pastor at Evanston's Ebenezer AME Church during the 1960s and 70s and fought for years for fair housing. Two senior homes bear his name.

"Because of the family legacy that's here in Evanston, I think it has shaken everyone just to hear this kind of news," Rev. Deborah Y. Scott, Ebenezer AME Church.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot reacted to the shooting on Twitter, saying, "Yesterday in Wisconsin, a police officer shot Jacob Blake, an unarmed Black man, a father, 7 times in the back. I am deeply disturbed by the video capturing part of the incident. I urge civil & criminal authorities to pursue an immediate & thorough investigation of the shooting.

"We pray that Mr. Blake survives. And we pray for his children, and for peace and justice in Kenosha."

Superintendent Brown said the video was "godawful" to watch.

"I have seen the video and it's godawful to watch. It is. We don't want to make any kind of assumptions based on a preliminary investigation that has just started but again, the video looks godawful."

Several protesters have drawn parallels between Blake's grandfather's fight for fair housing, and today's protests, some calling to this sort of full circle moment in the fight for social justice.

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Jacob Blake police shooting: Black man shot in front of 3 sons after he broke up fight, family says

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KENOSHA, Wis. (WLS) -- A Black man who was shot several times by Kenosha police Sunday evening remains hospitalized with serious injuries. Jacob Blake, 29, was shot in the back in front of his young children after breaking up a fight in the neighborhood, his family said.

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Trump's GOP Nomination Acceptance Speech

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Trump's GOP Nomination Acceptance Speech

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Trump's speech sought to further polarize the choice between voting Democrat versus voting Republican by warning that if Biden wins the upcoming election, cities across the country will fall into destruction at the hands of violent anarchists. Trump went on to claim that if Biden wins, "No one will be safe in Biden's America." Trump is taking advantage of the vast unrest in our country by inducing further fear into our voters in an attempt to win him more votes. He even went as far as claiming that the suburbs would be "demolished" in the event of a Biden victory. However, I do agree with Trump's central theme in his speech being law and order. Protesters have a right to be angry and it is patriotic of them to go out and protest peacefully for what they believe in. But when radical groups like ANTIFA use these protests for violence and looting, that's where the line must be drawn which both parties have done and that is positive. A 17 year old teen shouldn't be allowed to carry an AR-15 in public and small businesses don't deserve to be destroyed by looters. I agree with Trump in that Federal resources must be utilized to keep these warranted protests peaceful so voices can be heard the right way. But fear mongering should be avoided and Trump needs to do a better job at not fanning these racial flames as Democrats need to also.

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President Donald Trump accepted the Republican Party's nomination for president on Thursday night, using an elaborate set on the South Lawn of the White House to warn of a radical takeover of America if Democrat Joe Biden is elected.

The event, a critical mixing of partisan politics and government on the lawn of the People's House, was the culmination of a Republican National Convention held in the shadow of a pandemic - though few of the 1,500 people in attendance wore masks and sat and cheered Trump with no social distancing.

For Trump, the convention's conclusion was an attempt to make his case for reelection and to "make America great again" in a post-pandemic world while warning that if elected, the former vice president would be "the destroyer of American greatness."

"When reelected, the best is yet to come," Trump said.

Against a backdrop of the coronavirus, a hurricane that battered the Texas-Louisiana coast and civil strife over the issues of law enforcement's role amid a push for racial and social justice, Trump restated his commitment for strong policing while warning of the threat of anarchy under Democrats.

"Your vote will decide whether we protect law abiding Americans or whether we give free rein to violent anarchists, agitators and criminals who threaten our citizens. And this election will decide whether we will defend the American way of life or whether we allow a radical movement to completely dismantle and destroy it," Trump said.

Trump assailed Biden and Democrats at the previous week's party convention for having "repeatedly assailed America as a land of racial, economic and social injustice."

"I ask you a very simple question: How can the Democrat Party ask to lead our country when it spends so much time tearing down our country," he said.

Trump's comments were the exclamation point of a truncated Republican convention that focused on a theme of law and order, coinciding with civil unrest and later deadly violence following the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by a white Kenosha police officer on Sunday. A 17-year-old alleged vigilante from Antioch, Kyle Rittenhouse, was charged with murder Thursday in the killing of two protesters and attempted murder for wounding a third during a subsequent protest.

Echoing a theme of seeking to appeal to voters in suburbs who have been shifting from Republican to Democrat, Trump warned, "If the left gains power, they will demolish the suburbs, confiscate your guns and appoint justices who will wipe away your Second Amendment constitutional freedoms.

"Make no mistake, if you give power to Joe Biden, the radical left will defund police departments all across America," Trump said. "They will pass federal legislation to reduce law enforcement nationwide. They will make every city look like Democrat-run Portland, Oregon. No one will be safe in Biden's America."

In contrast, Trump said, "My administration will always stand with the men and women of law enforcement."

Republicans have maintained the civil unrest and violence that erupted in Kenosha and, before that in Chicago and other cities following the death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis in May, is due to Democratic governors and mayors.

Republicans looked at the developments in Wisconsin and other cities as a call to restore law and order, chastising Democrats for supporting lawlessness. Democrats have sought to draw a line between peaceful protest and violent unrest and looting, contending Trump has failed to condemn extremism and promoted division and racial strife.

"We must remember that the overwhelming majority of police officers in this country are noble, courageous and honorable. We have to give law enforcement, our police, back their power. They are afraid to act. They are afraid to lose their pension. They are afraid to lose their jobs. And by being afraid, they are not able to do their jobs. And those who suffer most are the great people who they want so desperately to protect," Trump said.

"When there is police misconduct, the justice system must hold wrongdoers fully and completely accountable, and it will. But what we can never have in America -and must never allow - is mob rule," he said. "In the strongest possible terms, the Republican Party condemns the rioting, looting, arson and violence we have seen in Democrat-run cities like Kenosha, Minneapolis, Portland, Chicago and New York."

Trump contended there was "violence and danger in the streets of many Democrat-run cities throughout America" that could be "easily fixed" by federal intervention.

"We must always have law and order," the president said. "As long as I am president, I will defend the absolute right of every American citizen to live in security, dignity and peace."

Trump said if the Democratic Party wants to "stand with anarchists, agitators, rioters, looters, and flag-burners, that is up to them. But I, as your president, will not be a part of it. The Republican Party will remain the voice of the patriotic heroes who keep America safe."

The final night of the convention featured an interesting juxtaposition of messaging over civil unrest.

Ben Carson, Trump's Housing and Urban Development secretary said, "Our hearts go out to the Blake family and the other families that have been impacted by the tragic events in Kenosha." Carson said, "History reminds us that necessary change comes through hope and love, not senseless and destructive violence."

But Carson's measured message was followed by attacks on Democrats by the head of the largest union in the New York Police Department and former New York Mayor Rudi Giuliani, an attorney for Trump.

"The Democrats have walked away from us," said Pat Lynch, head of the New York City Police Benevolent Association. "They have walked away from police officers and they have walked away from the innocent people we protect. Democratic politicians have surrendered our streets and our institutions."

Giuliani accused "Black Lives Matter and antifa" of hijacking peaceful protests and turning them into "vicious brutal riots."

"Soon protests turned into riots in many other American cities, almost all Democrat. Businesses were burned and crushed. People were beaten, shot and killed. Police officers were routinely assaulted, badly beaten and occasionally murdered. And the police handcuffed by progressive Democrat mayors from doing anything," Giuliani said.

Trump also contended that killings of African Americans in Democratic-run cities are ignored by Biden and the left. "I never will," he said.

"Just imagine if the so-called peaceful demonstrators in the streets were in charge of every lever of power in the U.S. government," he said.

Earlier in the day, speaking at a briefing on Hurricane Laura, Trump restated his call for Democratic leaders to request the National Guard and other federal assistance.

"And we will put out the fire. We will put out the flame. We will put out the vandalism, because the vandalism and the looting is ridiculous to allow this to happen. I don't know how they can possibly do it and why they do it. I don't understand, because all they have to do is call," Trump said.

But Biden contended it was Trump fueling the racial strife.

"The part that bothers me the most is the idea of just pouring gasoline on the racial flames that are burning now," Biden said on MSNBC. "That does not justify any of the looting, any of the burning any of the ... damage being done by protesters. But the people have a right to be angry, people have a right to protest."

Biden said he didn't believe the divisions in Kenosha were about whether "all folks in that community agree with white supremacists, or blacks in the community agree with some of those folks who are looting."

"I don't think that's what Kenosha is about. I don't think that's what Black and white America is about. But that's what's being seen now and it has to stop," he said.

Prior to the start of the convention, Biden spent a half-hour speaking at a virtual fundraiser hosted by the Illinois Trial Lawyers' Association in which he repeated many of his comments from earlier in the day.

Larry Rogers Jr., a partner with Power Rogers LLP and president of the trial lawyers' group, said Biden was needed "because of the lawless, self-serving conduct and destruction we're seeing with the current president and administration."

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President Trump accepts GOP nomination for second term during White House RNC speech, says Biden will be 'destroyer of American greatness'

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President Donald Trump accepted the Republican Party's nomination for president on Thursday night, using an elaborate set on the South Lawn of the White House to warn of a radical takeover of America if Democrat Joe Biden is elected.

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Trump focused on law and order in his acceptance speech. He believes there should be more authority facilitating protests because of riots that have broken out. I believe it would be helpful to refrain from these actions. People have the freedom to protest and speak their mind. Law enforcement only increases the chance that protesters feel threatened and unheard.

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President Donald Trump accepted the Republican Party's nomination for president on Thursday night, using an elaborate set on the South Lawn of the White House to warn of a radical takeover of America if Democrat Joe Biden is elected.

The event, a critical mixing of partisan politics and government on the lawn of the People's House, was the culmination of a Republican National Convention held in the shadow of a pandemic - though few of the 1,500 people in attendance wore masks and sat and cheered Trump with no social distancing.

For Trump, the convention's conclusion was an attempt to make his case for reelection and to "make America great again" in a post-pandemic world while warning that if elected, the former vice president would be "the destroyer of American greatness."

"When reelected, the best is yet to come," Trump said.

Against a backdrop of the coronavirus, a hurricane that battered the Texas-Louisiana coast and civil strife over the issues of law enforcement's role amid a push for racial and social justice, Trump restated his commitment for strong policing while warning of the threat of anarchy under Democrats.

"Your vote will decide whether we protect law abiding Americans or whether we give free rein to violent anarchists, agitators and criminals who threaten our citizens. And this election will decide whether we will defend the American way of life or whether we allow a radical movement to completely dismantle and destroy it," Trump said.

Trump assailed Biden and Democrats at the previous week's party convention for having "repeatedly assailed America as a land of racial, economic and social injustice."

"I ask you a very simple question: How can the Democrat Party ask to lead our country when it spends so much time tearing down our country," he said.

Trump's comments were the exclamation point of a truncated Republican convention that focused on a theme of law and order, coinciding with civil unrest and later deadly violence following the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by a white Kenosha police officer on Sunday. A 17-year-old alleged vigilante from Antioch, Kyle Rittenhouse, was charged with murder Thursday in the killing of two protesters and attempted murder for wounding a third during a subsequent protest.

Echoing a theme of seeking to appeal to voters in suburbs who have been shifting from Republican to Democrat, Trump warned, "If the left gains power, they will demolish the suburbs, confiscate your guns and appoint justices who will wipe away your Second Amendment constitutional freedoms.

"Make no mistake, if you give power to Joe Biden, the radical left will defund police departments all across America," Trump said. "They will pass federal legislation to reduce law enforcement nationwide. They will make every city look like Democrat-run Portland, Oregon. No one will be safe in Biden's America."

In contrast, Trump said, "My administration will always stand with the men and women of law enforcement."

Republicans have maintained the civil unrest and violence that erupted in Kenosha and, before that in Chicago and other cities following the death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis in May, is due to Democratic governors and mayors.

Republicans looked at the developments in Wisconsin and other cities as a call to restore law and order, chastising Democrats for supporting lawlessness. Democrats have sought to draw a line between peaceful protest and violent unrest and looting, contending Trump has failed to condemn extremism and promoted division and racial strife.

"We must remember that the overwhelming majority of police officers in this country are noble, courageous and honorable. We have to give law enforcement, our police, back their power. They are afraid to act. They are afraid to lose their pension. They are afraid to lose their jobs. And by being afraid, they are not able to do their jobs. And those who suffer most are the great people who they want so desperately to protect," Trump said.

"When there is police misconduct, the justice system must hold wrongdoers fully and completely accountable, and it will. But what we can never have in America -and must never allow - is mob rule," he said. "In the strongest possible terms, the Republican Party condemns the rioting, looting, arson and violence we have seen in Democrat-run cities like Kenosha, Minneapolis, Portland, Chicago and New York."

Trump contended there was "violence and danger in the streets of many Democrat-run cities throughout America" that could be "easily fixed" by federal intervention.

"We must always have law and order," the president said. "As long as I am president, I will defend the absolute right of every American citizen to live in security, dignity and peace."

Trump said if the Democratic Party wants to "stand with anarchists, agitators, rioters, looters, and flag-burners, that is up to them. But I, as your president, will not be a part of it. The Republican Party will remain the voice of the patriotic heroes who keep America safe."

The final night of the convention featured an interesting juxtaposition of messaging over civil unrest.

Ben Carson, Trump's Housing and Urban Development secretary said, "Our hearts go out to the Blake family and the other families that have been impacted by the tragic events in Kenosha." Carson said, "History reminds us that necessary change comes through hope and love, not senseless and destructive violence."

But Carson's measured message was followed by attacks on Democrats by the head of the largest union in the New York Police Department and former New York Mayor Rudi Giuliani, an attorney for Trump.

"The Democrats have walked away from us," said Pat Lynch, head of the New York City Police Benevolent Association. "They have walked away from police officers and they have walked away from the innocent people we protect. Democratic politicians have surrendered our streets and our institutions."

Giuliani accused "Black Lives Matter and antifa" of hijacking peaceful protests and turning them into "vicious brutal riots."

"Soon protests turned into riots in many other American cities, almost all Democrat. Businesses were burned and crushed. People were beaten, shot and killed. Police officers were routinely assaulted, badly beaten and occasionally murdered. And the police handcuffed by progressive Democrat mayors from doing anything," Giuliani said.

Trump also contended that killings of African Americans in Democratic-run cities are ignored by Biden and the left. "I never will," he said.

"Just imagine if the so-called peaceful demonstrators in the streets were in charge of every lever of power in the U.S. government," he said.

Earlier in the day, speaking at a briefing on Hurricane Laura, Trump restated his call for Democratic leaders to request the National Guard and other federal assistance.

"And we will put out the fire. We will put out the flame. We will put out the vandalism, because the vandalism and the looting is ridiculous to allow this to happen. I don't know how they can possibly do it and why they do it. I don't understand, because all they have to do is call," Trump said.

But Biden contended it was Trump fueling the racial strife.

"The part that bothers me the most is the idea of just pouring gasoline on the racial flames that are burning now," Biden said on MSNBC. "That does not justify any of the looting, any of the burning any of the ... damage being done by protesters. But the people have a right to be angry, people have a right to protest."

Biden said he didn't believe the divisions in Kenosha were about whether "all folks in that community agree with white supremacists, or blacks in the community agree with some of those folks who are looting."

"I don't think that's what Kenosha is about. I don't think that's what Black and white America is about. But that's what's being seen now and it has to stop," he said.

Prior to the start of the convention, Biden spent a half-hour speaking at a virtual fundraiser hosted by the Illinois Trial Lawyers' Association in which he repeated many of his comments from earlier in the day.

Larry Rogers Jr., a partner with Power Rogers LLP and president of the trial lawyers' group, said Biden was needed "because of the lawless, self-serving conduct and destruction we're seeing with the current president and administration."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
President Trump accepts GOP nomination for second term during White House RNC speech, says Biden will be 'destroyer of American greatness'

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
President Donald Trump accepted the Republican Party's nomination for president on Thursday night, using an elaborate set on the South Lawn of the White House to warn of a radical takeover of America if Democrat Joe Biden is elected.