Donald Trump has accepted the Republican presidential nomination with a speech which swung between a list of his “achievements” and an attack on what he called the “radicalism” of Joe Biden.
During his 70 minute long speech on the White House lawn, he said the upcoming election would “decide whether we save the American Dream, or whether we allow a socialist agenda to demolish our cherished destiny.
“It will decide whether we rapidly create millions of high paying jobs, or whether we crush our industries and send millions of these jobs overseas, as has foolishly been done for many decades.
Choice between radicalism and the American dream
“Your vote will decide whether we protect law abiding Americans, or whether we give free reign 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.”
The speech was designed to paint a picture of Republican respect for law and order and country where there is “violence and danger in the streets of many Democrat-run cities”.
He said “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”.
Kenosha is the place where black man Jacob Blake was shot seven times by police last weekend, while George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis, after a police officer lent on his neck with his knee. Both incidents triggered protests – some of which did turn violent.
He said he would never allow “mob rule” and made a point of supporting the police insisting that “we have to give law enforcement, our police, back their power”.
‘I’ve done more for African Americans than any president since Lincoln’
He described Joe Biden as a “Trojan horse for socialism”, while promising to create millions of jobs, cut taxes and hire more police.
Mr Trump repeatedly attacked his Democrat challenger, in an attempt to mark him as a dangerous threat to the American people.
The president claimed that he had “done more in three years for the black community than Joe Biden has done in 47 years”, in his address, adding he had done more to help the black community than any other president since Abraham Lincoln.
It was a bold claim, given that Black Lives Matters protesters marched across Washington DC against Mr Trump during his speech.
However it was not just Joe Biden that Mr Trump took to task, with China, cancel culture and immigration all forming part of his appeal to voters.
Trump accepts Republican presidential nomination
He reaffirmed that the blame for the coronavirus outbreak laid with China, while saying that the US has had one of the best responses in the world to the pandemic, despite having the highest death toll in the world.
The coronavirus pandemic has slashed support for Mr Trump, but he sought to improve his chances in his speech, by declaring there will be a vaccine before the end of 2020 – despite virulent disagreement from epidemiologists.
Appeasing his wide supporter base, he rallied against “the left’s repressive mandates”, saying that Democrats want to control what people say with a list of “approved words and phrases”.
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“The goal of cancel culture is to make decent Americans live in fear of being fired, expelled, shamed, humiliated, and driven from society as we know it,” he said.
“The far-left wants to coerce you into saying what you know to be false, and scare you out of saying what you know to be true.”
He later added he wanted to defend free speech on university campuses.
Setting out his next term in office, he included commitments on lowering health care costs, creating 10 million jobs, reaffirming the right to life and winning the race on 5G.