Good morning. Last night, the Republican National Convention kicked off, as more than 300 delegates gathered in Charlotte to renominate President Trump as their presidential candidate. President Donald Trump aggressively asserted control over the Republican National Convention on Monday, overshadowing the prime-time speakers, as he made clear he wants voters to focus on him.
Trump. Trump. And more Trump.
Never one to shy away from the spotlight, Trump showed he will be omnipresent at the convention, appearing every night and sure to dominate the proceedings.
He made certain he was highly visible Monday with some preliminary appearances and a spasm of tweets.
Traditionally, the presidential nominee — including Democrat Joe Biden last week — makes a fleeting convention appearance or two early in the week but largely stays on the sidelines, building anticipation for the acceptance speech on the final night.
Some Republican operatives have expressed private worry that America is suffering from Trump fatigue.
Diversity counter programming Republicans are not known as the party of diversity. But on Monday, the party showcased two of its stars, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina and the state's former governor, Nikki Haley, to try to tell a different story.
Both argued that the president and his party had done a lot to help minorities across the nation.
Both Scott and Haley, who is Indian-American, blasted Democrats for taking minority voters for granted and for not doing more to stop what they depicted as lawlessness in American cities amid the protests that have swept the nation after George Floyd, a Black man, died under the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer.
Be afraid -- be very afraid Trump complained last week that Democrats “held the darkest and angriest and gloomiest convention in American history.” But on opening night of their convention, Republicans are doing their share, spreading fear of a Biden victory on Nov. 3.
“Make no mistake: No matter where you live, your family will not be safe in the radical Democrats’ America,” Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the St. Louis couple who pointed firearms at Black Lives Matter protesters outside their house in June, were to say.
COVID-19? The lineup and themes of the convention beginning Monday made mentions of the COVID-19 pandemic only in the context of what were portrayed of Trump's successes, with scant attention to the more than 175,000 Americans who have died, or the fact that Americans overwhelmingly give the president low marks for his handling of the crisis.
Trump made an appearance at the White House with everyday Americans, without recommended social distancing and with no one wearing a mask. More convention takes from the AP and NPR.
Tune in for night two coverage tonight live on MPR News.
Hundreds of Minnesotans march in solidarity with Jacob Blake. A day after the Black man was shot in the back by Kenosha, Wis., police, a few hundred Minnesotans held a peaceful rally in downtown Minneapolis, demanding justice for Blake. In Wisconsin on Monday, Gov. Tony Evers called up the National Guard to aid local police. |
