WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump unofficially accepted his party's nomination for reelection Monday by delivering an unscripted, tradition-busting and falsehood-riddled speech, making abundantly clear that his hostile takeover of a party that tried four years ago to thwart him is now utterly complete.
Hours after the four-day Republican National Convention kicked off in Charlotte, North Carolina, the president strode to the podium and interrupted the state roll call vote, unleashing a rambling address that lasted more than an hour and was vintage Trump _ full of boasts, threats and insults.
Despite his campaign's promise that Trump and the GOP would strike an optimistic tone, to contrast with supposed dourness at the Democratic convention last week, the president warned darkly that "your American dream will be dead" if former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee, wins in November.
"They want no guns. They want no oil and gas and they want no God," he said of Democrats. He also suggested, as he has before, that he might stay in office beyond the constitutional two-term limit.
"If you want to really drive 'em crazy, you say 12 more years," Trump said to cheers from the 336 Republican delegates at the heavily scaled-down party gathering in the Charlotte Convention Center.
He accused Democrats of trying to "steal the election" by urging Americans to vote absentee to limit exposure to the coronavirus at polling places. Trump has long sought to sow doubt in the electoral process in case he loses, but doing so at a presidential nominating convention, which normally celebrates the virtues of voting, marked another unprecedented turn.
"Be very careful and watch it very carefully because we have to win," he added, falsely claiming that mail-in voting systems were being used to perpetuate fraud. "It's not fair and it's not right and it's not going to be possible to tabulate, in my opinion."
Polls show widespread disapproval of Trump's management of the pandemic, but on Monday he accused Democrats of taking advantage of COVID-19, which has killed more than 177,000 Americans since February and forced millions out of work.
"They're using COVID to steal an election," he said. "They're using COVID to defraud the American people."
Traditionally, presidential nominees do not speak extensively until the final night of a political convention. Trump plans to speak every day, and then give his formal acceptance speech before an invited crowd on the South Lawn of the White House on Thursday.
Trump's dominance of the convention appeared all but total. He faced no challengers for the nomination, and the GOP said Sunday that it would not update its official platform from 2016, explaining that "the Republican Party has and will continue to support" Trump's earlier agenda.
But in a sign of how toxic Trump remains in much of the country, only 1 of the 6 most vulnerable Republican senators seeking reelection in swing states this fall, Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, is scheduled to take the convention stage this week.
Donald Trump Jr., the scion and heir to some of the most incendiary and divisive aspects of his father's politics, is among those scheduled to speak Monday night. Elected Republican officials, activists and other Trump family members will speak over the next three nights.
Former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who ended his 2016 presidential bid ahead of the first primaries claiming that he sought to unite the GOP field in an effort to stop Trump, offered a lengthy speech praising Trump as he officially nominated Vice President Mike Pence.
Pence, who also spoke in Charlotte, scoffed at Democratic claims last week that "democracy is on the ballot" and offered a rejoinder, reframing the choice for the country.
"I think we all know: The economy is on the ballot. Law and order is on the ballot," Pence said. "Our most cherished ideals of freedom and free markets are on the ballot _ that's why we need four more years of President Donald Trump in the White House."
Unlike the Democratic roll call last week, which presented a country-crossing mosaic highlighting America's diverse population and varied landscapes, the Republican delegates _ nearly all of whom were white _ attended the convention in person and spoke in front of a white backdrop featuring the convention hashtag.
Many of their declarations mimicked the president's hyperbole and mendacity: An Arkansas delegate reveled in Trump's 2016 win over "Crooked Hillary," while one from Louisiana later claimed that Biden was "waiting in the dark, wanting to take the lives of our unborn babies."
It's unclear how much Trump and other speakers plan to address the multiple crises convulsing the country _ the COVID-19 pandemic, deep economic recession and racial unrest.
"This convention is going to highlight how great America has become in less than four years led by President Trump," Tim Murtaugh, the president's campaign communications director, told reporters Monday. "While Democrats attack this country, sow division and hold America back, President Trump has made America great again by putting the American people first."
Democrats spent much of their convention last week contrasting Biden's demonstrated empathy with Trump's outsized ego. Trump showed Monday that he is aggrieved that he doesn't get enough credit.
He claimed that Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Kadhimi thanked him, during a visit to Washington last week, for defeating the militant group Islamic State.
"You're talking about me or the United States?" Trump said he asked. "'You, because when you came into office, it was a mess,'" he claimed the Iraqi leader said. "I said, 'Good so tell that to the media please,'" Trump concluded.
If Democrats repeatedly warned last week that four more years of Trump would threaten democracy and the rule of law, Trump's supporters on Monday described a dystopia if Biden wins the White House.
"We see suppression of free speech, mob rule instead of the rule of law, elected officials putting politics ahead of public safety," Ronna McDaniel, the RNC chairwoman, said as she called the convention to order. "These images are just a preview of what would happen nationwide if Joe Biden and Kamala Harris win this election."
She added, "It does not have to be that way. Donald Trump will always stand for the rule of law. Donald Trump will defend our fundamental freedoms, preserve our American way of life and work day and night to build our economy back to historic levels of growth."
The Biden campaign was quick to fire back that the limited RNC lineup showed the president's dwindling support, even in his own party.
"While nearly half of the speakers you will hear from are members of the Trump family, you aren't going to hear much about the plight of American families," said Kate Bedingfield, a Biden spokeswoman.
She also seized on Trump's attempts to blame recent civil unrest on Democrats, noting that, in his campaign ads, Trump "likes to make this argument about what life will look like in Joe Biden's America while quite literally using footage from Donald Trump's America."
Those scheduled to speak Monday night include some of the president's most zealous supporters on television and in Congress: Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who fiercely defended the president during House impeachment hearings last year, and Charlie Kirk, the 26-year-old internet provocateur and founder of a group called Turning Point USA.
Additionally, Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the white St. Louis couple who brandished weapons from their front lawn at Black Lives Matter protesters this summer, are set to speak about a supposed effort by Democrats and the media to "cancel" them over their behavior. Both were charged with one felony count of unlawful use of a weapon.
Sharing the stage with the McCloskeys will be Kim Klacik, a GOP congressional candidate from Baltimore who claims Democrats take Black voters for granted, and former NFL star Herschel Walker.
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., the only Black Republican in the Senate, will bring Monday's programming to a close. He is expected to highlight administration efforts to expand opportunity zones, which offer tax credits for economic development in depressed areas, and to attack Biden for his past support for policies that he'll argue have hurt Black Americans, including the 1994 crime bill that led to a sharp increase in incarceration rates.
