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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
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Joan E Greve in Washington DC and Maanvi Singh

Trump's allies and family rally to his defense on first night of Republican convention – as it happened

Donald Trump Jr speaks during the first day of the convention.
Donald Trump Jr speaks during the first day of the convention. Photograph: REX/Shutterstock

Key takeaways from the first night of the Republican convention

That’s it from us tonight. The Guardian team will be back tomorrow with more coverage of the Republican National Convention.

Here are the key takeaways from the night:

  • Republicans delivered a dark, Trumpian message centered on the alleged dangers of electing Joe Biden as president. Despite party leaders’ promises to paint an optimistic vision about the future of the country, Republicans instead attempted to scare voters into supporting Trump by pushing baseless claims that Democrats would “disarm you, empty the prisons, lock you in your home, and invite MS-13 to live next door”, as Florida congressman Matt Gaetz said.
  • The convention kept fact-checkers busy as the RNC peddled falsehoods about the coronavirus pandemic. Republicans praised Trump’s response to the pandemic and accused Democrats and the media of failing to recognize the threat posed by coronavirus, even though the president has said as recently as this month that the virus “will go away”. Health experts dismissed Republicans’ presentation as “all propaganda”.
  • Trump made multiple appearances at the convention through pre-taped videos, ensuring he will remain the star of the event. Despite the president’s criticism of Democrats for including many pre-taped videos in their convention last week, Trump appeared in two such segments tonight. Considering Republicans did not craft a party platform for the convention, the president’s repeated appearances underscored that this week is certain to become “the Trump Show”.
  • Nikki Haley tried to walk the line between embracing Trump and promoting her own vision for the future. The former UN ambassador began her speech by celebrating Trump’s foreign policy agenda and accusing the Obama administration of disastrous inaction. But Haley, who previously served as the South Carolina governor, then pivoted to calling for a more inclusive America. Haley praised her home state for removing the Confederate flag from the state capitol in 2015, which seemed to be at odds with Trump’s repeated criticisms of Nascar for banning the Confederate flag from races.
  • Republicans copied elements of the Democratic convention. Certain segments and speakers of Monday’s programming appeared to be a direct response to the Democrats’ convention last week. A Democratic state legislator explained why he was supporting Trump, an obvious attempt to counter prominent Republicans’ endorsements of Biden last week. A father who lost his daughter in the Parkland shooting also addressed the convention on Monday, a week after another Parkland father spoke at the Democratic convention.
  • Kimberly Guilfoyle was mocked by critics for her loud and enthusiastic speech, which was delivered to an empty room. Guilfoyle, who serves as a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, shouted much of her speech, prompting comparisons to a “North Korean propaganda lady” and a SoulCycle instructor.
  • Senator Tim Scott attracted praise for his hopeful speech, which clashed with the overall dark tone of the evening. Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, explained his belief in the American dream, noting that his own grandfather was forced to leave school in the third grade to pick cotton. “Our family went from cotton to Congress in one lifetime,” Scott said. “And that’s why I believe the next American century can be better than the last.”

Thanks for following along with our convention coverage and remember to return tomorrow, as the RNC continues.

Updated

The Biden campaign’s Latino Media Director Jennifer Molina offered this rebuke of the RNC: “Congratulations to the Trump campaign on finding the small handful of Latino voters still supporting him after a disastrous four years for the Latino community.”

The DNC also drew criticism for not involving more Latino speakers, and for excluding Julián Castro, the former Housing and Urban Development secretary under Obama and the only Latino Democratic presidential candidate in 2020.

This year, there are 32m Latino eligible voters, per the Pew Research Center.

Molina noted: “Under Trump’s watch, Latinos have been devastated by COVID, a crumbling economy, anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies that have separated families and needlessly divided Americans. Tonight’s program was thin on solutions for the challenges facing Latinos.”

– Maanvi Singh

In some non-convention news, Jacob Blake is reportedly in stable condition after being shot multiple times by police officers in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who is representing the Blake family, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the father of six remains in stable condition.

“At this point, we’re still waiting for the facts to be confirmed,” Crump said. “But we know what we saw in that video, and it was clearly an excessive use of force that was shocking and outrageous and devastating and nobody’s more devastated than his three sons.”

A video of the shooting appears to show Kenosha police repeatedly shooting Blake while his back is turned.

More fact checks from tonight...

Donald Trump: “I didn’t back down from my promises, and I’ve kept every single one.”

Fact check: Per a Politifact tally, Trump has kept 24% of his promises.

Donald Trump: “We’re taking good care of our postal workers. We’re not getting rid of any of our postal workers, you know ... If anyone does it’s the Democrats, not the Republicans.”

Fact check: The USPS under Trump donor Louis DeJoy, earlier this month announced planning to seek early retirements of non-union employees. It only suspended an initiative to cut work hours for postal workers after public scrutiny.

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

Notably, tonight, the Republicans offered few specific platforms of their own, choosing instead to keep the focus on bashing Democrats policies.

While the DNC adopted an official party platform last week, the RNC won’t be doing the same. This year, the RNC has resolved that it “enthusiastically supports President Trump and continues to reject the policy positions of the Obama-Biden Administration” and “will adjourn without adopting a new platform until the 2024 Republican National Convention”.

– Maanvi Singh

Here’s a side-by-side comparison of Fox News – Trump’s darling network – and other news channels during tonight’s RNC.

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

A few quickfire fact checks from tonight:

Nikki Haley: “They want to ban fracking.”

Fact check: Biden and Harris’ climate plan would not ban fracking, though it would end new leases for fracking on federal land.

Donald Trump Jr: “Courtesy of the Chinese Communist Party, the virus struck.”

Fact check: Though the virus first flared up in China, genome evidence suggests that most people in New York caught the virus from travelers from Europe.

Steve Scalise: “Joe Biden has embraced the left’s insane mission to defund [police].”

Fact check: He has not and it is not a part of Biden’s platform.

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

Biden’s campaign attacked the Republicans for failing to provide any plans to contain the coronavirus crisis during tonight’s convention.

Kate Bedingfield, the campaign’s deputy manager, said:

If you tuned into the Republican convention tonight looking for some indication from President Trump that he has a strategy to contain the coronavirus, you’re still waiting. Instead, what you heard tonight was a parade of dark and divisive fear-mongering designed to distract from the fact that Donald Trump does not have an affirmative case to make to the American people about why he should be re-elected.

The truth is that his failed leadership has needlessly cost over 177,000 Americans their lives, tens of millions of Americans their jobs, and left the United States the hardest hit country by the pandemic in the whole world. Yet six months into this crisis, he still doesn’t have what Joe Biden proposed months ago: a plan to get us out.

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

Today’s roster of speakers included two rising stars of the Republican party – Nikki Haley and Tim Scott.

Haley, who was initially critical of Trump (she said in 2015, when she was governor of South Carolina, that he represents “everything a governor doesn’t want in a president”) has come a long way in delivering a full-throated endorsement today. She also used the opportunity to set herself up as a 2024 presidential candidate – providing a personal biography and outlining her vision for the country’s future.

– Maanvi Singh

In the lead up to the RNC, Republicans struggled to pin down an attack against the Biden/Harris ticket, alternatively painting them as radicals, and socialists who want to defund the police (they are not and do not) but also as candidates too tough on crime.

That waffling continued tonight.

Vernon Jones, a Georgia state representative, lauded Trump for delivering a “historic criminal justice reform” and decried Democrats’ reform efforts in the same speech.

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

Senator Tim Scott received some praise for his convention speech, with many fellow Republicans saying he offered an uplifting message about America’s future.

Reflecting on how his grandfather was forced to leave school after third grade to pick cotton, Scott said, “Our family went from cotton to Congress in one lifetime. And that’s why I believe the next American century can be better than the last.”

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said Scott’s speech was “authentic” and “the most effective” of the night.

Updated

The conservative-leaning website Drudge Report summarized the first night of the Republican convention with the headline: Trump or doom.

Heading into the convention, Republicans promised to offer a promising vision for the future of the country, but the night was dominated by dark warnings about the alleged dangers of electing Joe Biden president.

Updated

“Do we want a society that breeds success, or a culture that cancels everything it even slightly disagrees with?” asked Tim Scott, posing a rhetorical that was meant as an endorsement of Donald Trump.

Nikki Haley, also asserted that Trump “knows that political correctness and ‘cancel culture’ are dangerous and just plain wrong”.

Trump has tried to cancel many people and companies he disagrees with, including but not limited to: Paul Krugman, Goodyear tires, NFL players who kneel during the national anthem, CNN, Univision, social media companies that fact-checked him, journalists who’ve been critical of him...

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

Cori Bush, a nurse and Black Lives Matter activist who recently beat a 20-year incumbent in a Missouri primary race, was targeted earlier by Mark and Patricia McCloskey (the couple who waved guns at protesters outside their giant St Louis home). While Mark didn’t mention Bush’s name, he did call her a “Marxist revolutionary”, among other things:

Bush has now responded, expressing a small amount of confusion:

Update: Bush has now tweeted a longer response to the McCloskey’s attack.

Updated

First night of Republican convention concludes

The first night of the Republican convention has now concluded. The blog will have more reactions and analysis coming up, so stay tuned.

Senator Tim Scott criticized Joe Biden for some of his past comments about African Americans and his work crafting the 1994 crime bill.

“Joe Biden said if a black man didn’t vote for him, he wasn’t truly black,” Scott said. “Joe Biden said black people are a monolithic community.”

Scott did not reference some of Trump’s most controversial comments on race, such as the president telling congresswomen of color to “go back” where they came from.

Republican Senator Tim Scott argued that America had made strides toward equality during Trump’s first term in office.

“I believe in the goodness of America – the promise that all men, and all women are created equal,” Scott said. “Over the past four years, we have made tremendous progress towards that promise.”

Scott cited jobs gains for Americans of color before the pandemic hit, but it’s important to note that Americans of color have been disproportionately affected by coronavirus.

Multiple speakers tonight have tried to highlight the pre-pandemic economy to promote Trump’s policies, even though the unemployment rate is currently at 10.2%.

Updated

Tim Scott says the election is 'about the promise of America'

Republican Senator Tim Scott is now addressing the convention, arguing the election is not just about choosing between Trump and Joe Biden.

“It’s about the promise of America. It’s about you and me … our challenges and heartbreaks, hopes and dreams,” the South Carolina senator said.

Scott, the only African American Republican in the Senate, then pivoted to discussing his own biography, describing launching a small business and serving in local government.

“I know where I stand, because you see, I am living my mother’s American dream,” Scott said.

In his convention speech, Donald Trump Jr recognized the death of George Floyd, an African American man who was killed by a white police officer.

“What happened to George Floyd is a disgrace. And if you know a police officer, you know they agree with that, too,” Trump said.

However, the president’s son then added, “But we cannot lose sight of the fact that our police are American heroes. They deserve our deepest appreciation.”

Democrats have called for police reform in the months since Floyd’s death, while some progressive activists have called for defunding police departments.

Haley's 'America is not racist' claim sparks strong online reactions

Former UN ambassador Nikki Haley claimed that “America is not a racist country” in her keynote RNC speech tonight. Amid all of the misleading claims peddled by speakers tonight, it’s attracted some of the strongest reactions online:

Updated

Nikki Haley’s speech, delivered with conviction and emotion, also contained within it some odd contradictions.

Here’s one example: Haley touted her state’s removal of the Confederate flag from the state capitol following the Charleston Church massacre when 9 Black worshippers were killed by a white supremecist. While she was governor of South Carolina, her state “removed a divisive symbol” Haley said.

But the comments jarr against Trump and Republicans’ protests against the takedown of confederate symbols and monuments in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests. Trump criticized NASCAR for banning the Confederate flag from events, argued against renaming military bases named after Confederate generals and said in a Fox News interview that “When people proudly have their Confederate flags, they’re not talking about racism... It represents the South.”

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

Donald Trump Jr defends Trump's economic record

The president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, is now addressing the Republican convention.

Trump defended his father’s record on the economy, even though US unemployment is currently 10.2%.

Echoing his father, Trump tried to wind back the clock, reminding voters of the country’s economic gains before the coronavirus pandemic struck.

“So if you’re looking for hope, look to the man who did what the failed Obama-Biden administration never could do and built the greatest economy our country had ever seen--and President Trump will do it again,” Trump said.

Many Democrats have argued the president is trying to take credit for the economy that Barack Obama built.

Haley: 'America is not a racist country'

Former UN ambassador Nikki Haley is now addressing the Republican convention.

Haley embraced Trump’s vision for the future and denounced Democrats’ positions on foreign policy.

“Obama and Biden let North Korea threaten America,” Haley said. “President Trump rejected that weakness, and we passed the toughest sanctions on North Korea in history.”

That comment seemed odd, considering Trump repeatedly reached out to Kim Jong Un and met with him in person.

Shifting to a cultural critique, Haley also said, “In much of the Democratic Party, it’s now fashionable to say that America is racist. That is a lie. America is not a racist country.”

“To me, President Erdogan was very good,” Trump told pastor Andrew Brunson, who was detained in Turkey.

Brunson was imprisoned in Turkey for two years on sham espionage charges. Trump said Erdogan was “very good” for eventually releasing him.

My colleague Bethan McKernan in Istanbul wrote about claims in former security adviser John Bolton’s book that Trump solicited favors from dictators:

In excerpts of the memoir seen by US media, Bolton said Trump appeared to “give personal favours to dictators he liked”, that should have been included in the impeachment inquiry focussing on Trump’s dealings in Ukraine.

Bolton claimed that during a 2018 phone call Erdoğan sent Trump a memo insisting that the scandal-hit Halkbank was innocent. “Trump then told Erdoğan he would take care of things, explaining that the [New York] southern district prosecutors were not his people but were Obama people, a problem that would be fixed when they were replaced by his people,” Bolton wrote.

Bloomberg has reported that in April 2019, Trump instructed Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin and Attorney General William Barr to address Erdoğan’s request that Halkbank avoid charges.

Halkbank, one of Turkey’s largest banks, has been under investigation by US prosecutors since a Turkish inquiry in 2013 found it was used to launder up to $20bn in a scheme to evade US sanctions on Iran. High-ranking Turkish officials allegedly exported gold to Tehran via the UAE in return for Iranian oil and gas.

– Maanvi Singh

Maximo Alvarez just addressed the convention and made the argument that Trump would protect the country from socialism.

“I may be Cuban born, but I am 100 percent American. This is the greatest country in the world,” Alvarez said. “It is up to us to decide our fate and to choose freedom over oppression.”

It’s worth noting that Democratic nominee Joe Biden does not identify as a socialist.

Trump appears in an RNC video with former hostages

Trump has made his second convention appearance of the night, starring in a video with former hostages who were released in the time since he took office.

The video, which appeared to have been previously taped at the White House, included the hostages thanking Trump for working to get them released.

The video was quickly met with criticism from journalist Jason Rezaian, who was held hostage in Iran for a year and a half.

“Bringing hostages home safely is always a reason for great joy. But using us for political gain is disgusting,” Rezaian said in a tweet.

Kimberly Guilfoyle, a top Trump campaign official and Donald Trump Jr’s girlfriend, has given a full-throated speech tonight in support of the president, and a very loud one at that.

You can see (and hear) it for yourself here:

Here’s how some commentators have been responding online:

Here’s a bit more about the palazzo where Mark and Patricia McCloskey live, courtesy of St. Louis Magazine:

The sitting room is also where you’ll see the console for the Aeolian house organ, one of only a handful, including one in the Cartier Mansion on Fifth Avenue, left in the country. The 38-foot-long vox humana pipes run throughout the walls. “If you go downstairs,” Patty says, “there are rooms that are just organ pipes.”

The dining room is a re-creation of a residence chamber in the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, constructed in 1458 by Luca Pitti, though its more famous residents included the Medicis and Napoleon Bonaparte

Echoing Donald Trump’s racist fear-mongering about low-income housing, the McDaniels warned that “low quality apartments” were “coming to a neighborhood near you”.

– Maanvi Singh

Like other speakers tonight, House minority whip Steve Scalise sought to paint a picture of a compassionate president in his convention speech.

Scalise recalled Trump visiting him in the hospital shortly after he was shot at a congressional baseball practice in 2017.

“They were there for my family in my darkest hours,” Scalise said of the president and the first lady. “That’s the kind of person he is.”

The Republicans seem to be trying to counter Democratic messaging about Joe Biden’s character, which was emphasized during last week’s convention.

Guilfoyle lashes out against Biden and his 'socialist comrades'

Kimberly Guilfoyle, a senior Trump campaign adviser, gave a very ... spirited speech at the Republican convention.

Speaking loudly to an empty room, Guilfoyle warned that Joe Biden and his “socialist comrades” would ruin the country.

Directly lifting a line from Biden’s stump speech, Guilfoyle said, “This election is a battle for the soul of America. Your choice is clear.”

Guilfoyle, who used to be married to California Governor Gavin Newsom, also attacked her former state of residence.

“If you want to see the socialist Biden/Harris future for our country, just take a look at California,” Guilfoyle said. “Democrats turned it into a land of discarded heroin needles in parks, riots in streets and blackouts in homes.”

Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the St Louis couple who pointed guns at Black Lives Matter protesters, spoke at the Republican convention.

The couple baselessly accused Democrats of “protecting criminals from honest citizens” and trying to “abolish the suburbs.”

“These are the policies that are coming to a neighborhood near you,” Patricia said. “So make no mistake: No matter where you live, your family will not be safe in the radical Democrats’ America.”

The short speech continued the dark, ominous theme of tonight’s convention, despite Republicans’ promises to paint a positive vision for how they wanted to lead the country.

My colleague Lois Beckett wrote about Mark and Patricia McCloskey, who just spoke at the RNC, back in July, when they pointed guns at peaceful protestors:

Video on social media showed the armed couple standing outside their home in the Central West End neighborhood, shouting at protesters. People in the march moved the crowd forward, urging participants to ignore them.

According to a statement, Mark McCloskey confronted protesters with a semi-automatic rifle, screamed at them and pointed the weapon at them. The statement said Patricia McCloskey then emerged with a semi-automatic handgun, yelling at protesters to “go” and pointing the gun at them. Protesters feared “being injured due to Patricia McCloskey’s finger being on the trigger, coupled with her excited demeanor”, the statement said.

Photographs and the video of the incident immediately went viral, and the St Louis police department initially said that they were investigating the incident, but that it viewed the McCloskeys as the victims, not the perpetrators, of an incident of “trespassing” and “intimidation”.

The city’s top prosecutor, who is black, made a different announcement, saying she was “alarmed” to see an incident “where peaceful protesters were met by guns and a violent assault”, and that her office was also investigating.

Gardner is the first African American circuit attorney in St Louis history. Lois wrote:

Gardner said she has received death threats in the wake of the comments about her by Republican lawmakers, and compared the attacks against her to violent threats by the Ku Klux Klan in an interview with the Washington Post last week.

“This is a modern-day night ride, and everybody knows it,” Gardner told the Washington Post, referring to the Ku Klux Klan’s tactics of intimidation towards Black Americans. “And for a president to participate in it, in the larger context of racism and cronyism, is scary.”

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

Andrew Pollack, whose daughter Meadow was killed in the Parkland shooting, spoke at the Republican convention.

Pollack praised Trump’s response to the shooting and mocked Joe Biden for mistakenly saying he was vice president when the 2018 attack happened.

“Mr. Biden may not know when my daughter was murdered. But I do—February 14, 2018,” Pollack said.

Pollack’s speech came a week after another Parkland father, Fred Guttenberg, addressed the Democratic National Convention.

Tonight’s attacks on Democrats for downplaying coronavirus have caused some to do a double-take, as Donald Trump has been consistently dismissing it for months, and doing very little to stop its spread. MSNBC even had to cut away at one point, and have a doctor provide a fact-check of one segment:

Vernon Jones, a Democratic state legislator from Georgia, addressed the Republican convention and explained why he was voting for Trump.

“The Democratic party does not want Black people to leave the mental plantation they’ve had us on for decades,” Jones said.

Jones’ speech appeared to be an effort to offer a counterexample to the dozens of prominent Republicans, including former secretary of state Colin Powell, who endorsed Joe Biden last week.

The Biden campaign released a longer list of Republican endorsers today, which included former Republican Senator Jeff Flake, a frequent Trump critic.

RNC promotes a revisionist history of coronavirus pandemic

So far, the Republicans have presented a revisionist history of the Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Accusing the Democrats of initially downplaying the severity of the crisis, the RNC omitted the many times that Trump denied how bad things were. In Februaru, Trump famously said that 15 recorded cases “within a couple days is going to be down close to zero”. In March, he compared number of deaths caused by coronavirus and flu – nooting that more died of the latter – and told Americans, “Just stay calm. It will go away.”

Trump did not “ban” travel from China and Europe, as he and his supporters have often claimed. Tens of thousands flew into the US from China even after his travel restrictions were put in place.

Speaking with supporters at the RNC, Trump also reprised his unscientific promotion of hydroxychloroquine, saying “it’s a shame what they’ve done”. Studies have found that the anti-malarial drug doesn’t seem to be effective in treating Covid-19 patients.

Here’s an explainer a did a while back:

– Maanvi Singh

In his convention speech, Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan tried to paint a softer picture of a president known for his personal insults of his opponents.

“I love the president’s intensity and his willingness to fight,” Jordan said. “But what I also appreciate is something most Americans never see: how much he truly cares about people.”

Jordan recounted how Trump called him to offer his condolences after his nephew was killed in a car accident two years ago.

“That’s the president I know,” Jordan said.

The story seemed to be an effort to counter the Democrats’ consistent messaging last week about Joe Biden’s character and compassion.

Updated

Trump praises 'that whole, beautiful post office system' in RNC video

In a pre-taped video filmed at the White House, Trump thanked frontline workers for their service to the country amid the coronavirus pandemic.

When one of the workers noted she worked for the US Postal Service, the president said, “Thank you everybody in that whole, beautiful post office system.”

The comment was noteworthy considering the Trump administration has been criticized for recent delays in mail delivery, prompting accusations that the president is trying to hamper voting by mail before November’s presidential election.

Rebecca Friedrichs, the teacher who just spoke out in support of Trump, also used her time to bash teachers unions, saying they’re “subverting our republic”. Friedrichs has fought against unions throughout her career, and even baselessly claimed in July that they were “grooming” children via online lessons and teaching them how to sext and view pornography.

This has won her a fair few critics, who have been responding to her speech tonight:

While CNN and ABC have been streaming the RNC largely uninterrupted, Fox News is not. And it’s miffed some prominent Republicans. Sean Hannity, on Fox, provided his own commentary on the convention and interviewed Carl Rove about how the RNC has compared to the DNC so far. With a mind-boggling lack of self-awareness, Hannity claimed that other media “won’t be showing large parts of the convention”.

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

The Republican convention played a video claiming Trump has kept “every single” promise he had made since becoming president.

As CNN’s chief fact-checker Daniel Dale noted, that is not even close to being true. According to Politifact, Trump has broken about half of the promises he had made to the American people.

Trump was formally nominated with a roll call vote in Charlotte, North Carolina, earlier today.

But tonight, the convention played a video apparently meant to recreate the well-received virtual roll call vote that Democrats conducted last week.

However, while the Democratic roll call showed delegates casting their votes for Joe Biden from their home states and featured a wide array of colorful backdrops, much of the Republican video appeared to be filmed inside offices.

Utah Senator Mike Lee, for example, filmed his portion of the video in front of a blank wall.

The 26-year-old Republican youth activist Charlie Kirk kicked off the RNC with some pretty bold claims, such as as calling Trump the “bodyguard of western civilization”.

Like many Trump associates, Kirk isn’t a stranger to scrutiny about his financial dealing.

In July the organization he founded, Turning Points USA, was the subject of a ProPublica investigation, which found that it had made questionable deals and misleading assertions about its finances. You can read the full report here.

Some cheeky counterprogramming from the Democrats...

As of 9 July, Donald Trump had made 20,000 false or misleading claims while in office, per the Washington Post’s Fact Checker column.

– Maanvi Singh

Gaetz warns Democrats will turn America into a 'horror movie'

Continuing the dark tone of the Republican convention so far, Congressman Matt Gaetz painted a chilling picture about what a Democratic administration would do to America.

“They’ll disarm you, empty the prisons, lock you in your home, and invite MS-13 to live next door,” the Florida Republican said. “And the defunded police aren’t on their way.”

Some fact-checking here: Democratic nominee Joe Biden has not called for confiscating legally owned firearms. Biden also does not support defunding the police, despite Trump’s claims to the contrary.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York who offered the opening prayer at the RNC, prayed for “immigrants and refugees”.

The moment jarred in light of the Trump administration’s policies on immigrants and refugees. Last year, the administration set its lowest cap on the number of refugees it would admit into the country since the US began its refugee program in 1980.

The policy, enacted through an executive order, was in line with Trump’s goal of all but ending the US refugee program.

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

Charlie Kirk praises Trump as 'the bodyguard of western civilization'

Charlie Kirk, the controversial founder of the conservative student group Turning Point USA, was one of the first speakers at the convention tonight.

Kirk kicked things off on a characteristically divisive note, saying, “Trump is the bodyguard of western civilization. ... President Trump was elected to defend and strengthen the American way of life.”

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, opened the RNC with a prayer for those suffering from coronavirus and frontline workers, among others.

Dolan weathered criticism for agreeing to deliver the convention’s opening prayer, but he has defended his decision, saying his acceptance of the invitation was not meant to convey a political endorsement.

The RNC opened with a video narrated by Jon Voight, praising Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

“While others criticized without solutions, President Trump’s swift action saved lives,” Voight said.

Coronavirus has claimed the lives of at least 177,215 Americans, representing about a fifth of all coronavirus deaths worldwide, even though the US only accounts for about 4% of the global population.

First night of Republican conventions starts

The first night of the Republican National Convention is officially underway.

Michael Cohen appears in Democratic ad

Here’s a headline Trump will hate: Michael Cohen, the president’s former lawyer and fixer, appears in a new ad from the Democratic group American Bridge.

The ad, released less than two hours before the start of the Republican convention, includes Cohen warning Americans against placing their trust in Trump.

“For more than a decade, I was President Trump’s right-hand man, fixer and confidant. I was complicit in helping conceal the real Donald Trump,” Cohen says in the ad.

“I’m here to tell you he can’t be trusted -- and you shouldn’t believe a word he utters. So, when you watch the president this week, remember this: If he says something is huge, it’s probably small. If he says something will work, it probably won’t. And if he says he cares about you and your family, he certainly does not.”

Cohen acknowledges that Americans may be hesitant to believe him, considering he pleaded guilty to charges of tax evasion and campaign finance violations in 2018.

In the ad, Cohen says, “You don’t have to like me. But please, listen to me.”

Stay tuned to see if Trump weighs in on the ad over Twitter tonight, during the first night of the convention.

Breaking with precedent, Trump intends to address the convention during each of the four nights of programming.

Tonight, the president reportedly plans to appear alongside six former hostages who have been released since Trump took office.

Republican convention kicks off after Trump formally receives nomination

Hello, live blog readers, and welcome to the first night of the Republican National Convention.

More than 300 delegates gathered in Charlotte, North Carolina, earlier today to formally renominate Donald Trump for president.

Addressing delegates in Charlotte shortly after receiving the nomination, Trump peddled false claims about voting by mail and pushed the baseless theory that Democrats were “using Covid to steal an election.”

That message seemed sharply at odds with Republicans’ promises that this week’s convention would focus on sharing “an aspirational vision toward the next four years.”

Trump’s comments likely foreshadow a convention designed to stoke discord. Case in point: the St Louis couple who pointed guns at Black Lives Matter protesters will address the convention tonight.

Some of tonight’s other speakers include the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott.

That will all start in about 20 minutes, so stay tuned.

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The Times of India
Why Taylor Swift May Be 'Forced' to Invite Ex Harry Styles to Her Wedding With Travis Kelce
Rumours swirl over Taylor Swift's wedding guest list, including a possible invite to ex Harry Styles, as fresh legal troubles add pressure to an already watched romance.
International Business Times UK
International Business Times UK
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