Trump caps Republican convention with pitch for a second White House
term
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[August 27, 2020]
By Jeff Mason
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald
Trump will make a crucial pitch for a second term in the White House on
Thursday with a keynote address at the Republican National Convention
highlighting his record in office and charting a path for the next four
years.
The former New York businessman's speech on the White House South Lawn,
an unusual location for a partisan event, will cap a four-day convention
that has portrayed him as a leader who can restore order after months of
protests over racial injustice and revive an economy ravaged by the
coronavirus pandemic.
Trump is seeking to turn around a re-election campaign that has been
overshadowed by the pandemic, which has killed more than 178,000 people
in the United States and put millions of Americans out of work.
With just over two months before the Nov. 3 vote, Democrat Joe Biden is
leading in opinion polls in part because of public discontent with
Trump's handling of the health crisis.
Trump, a former reality television host, and his advisers have set up
his speech with a producer's eye. He will address the nation with the
White House as his backdrop, irking critics who say he is flouting
conventional norms by hosting a political event on such historic
grounds.
The president, who faced criticism earlier this year for not
articulating a clear vision for a second term, will be sharing his
policy plans on Thursday and in upcoming speeches on the campaign trail,
a campaign official said.
Fireworks are expected over Washington's nearby monuments at the
conclusion of Trump's speech accepting his party's presidential
nomination. He will address a large crowd on the lawn despite warnings
against such gatherings because of the pandemic, which has forced both
political parties to scale back their conventions and turn events mostly
virtual.
Trump's campaign says precautions against the coronavirus will be taken.
The president often boasts about his crowd sizes; his campaign has
largely done away with his signature rallies because of the virus.
'NOT GROUNDED IN REALITY'
Also on Thursday, in a bit of counter-programming, Democratic vice
presidential nominee Kamala Harris plans to deliver a speech in
Washington characterizing the Republican convention as a dishonest
distraction from the White House’s pandemic response.
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President Donald Trump holds a news conference about the latest
coronavirus disease (COVID-19) developments, in the Brady Press
Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, U.S. August 23,
2020. REUTERS/Erin Scott
“Part of what I will be talking about is that they're dealing in
lies but also they are not grounded in reality,” Harris said during
a fundraising event on Wednesday. “People are grieving. They're
grieving the loss of lives and the people they've loved. They're
grieving the loss of jobs. They're grieving the loss of normalcy and
consistency."
Democrats have criticized Trump's aggressive response to
demonstrations after the police killing of George Floyd, an unarmed
Black man in Minneapolis.
On Wednesday Trump said he was sending federal law enforcement and
the National Guard to Kenosha, Wisconsin, after violent protests
there in the wake of the latest shooting of a Black man, Jacob
Blake, by police. Republicans at the convention have embraced his
"law and order" approach and falsely accused Biden of trying to
"defund the police."
Republican officials had promised an uplifting and hopeful
convention this week, though many speakers have used their time to
paint dire portraits of chaos and the advent of socialism in the
United States if Democrats win the White House.
Trump kicked off the week on Monday by accusing Democrats of seeking
to steal the election by advocating for mail-in voting. His previous
high profile speeches have also emphasized grim themes, including
his inaugural address in January 2017 that described "American
carnage."
Other speakers scheduled for Thursday include Republican Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell; Secretary of Housing and Urban
Development Ben Carson; attorney Rudy Giuliani, a fierce critic of
the Bidens, and religious leader Franklin Graham.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason, Editing by Soyoung Kim and Howard Goller)
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