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

Donald Trump portrays Biden as threat to America in RNC speech packed with falsehoods – as it happened

Key takeaways from the final night of the Republican convention

That’s it from us tonight. Here are the key takeaways from the final night of the Republican convention:

  • Trump repeatedly exaggerated and misrepresented his presidential record as he accepted the nomination. Several of the president’s falsehoods focused on coronavirus, as Trump sought to downplay the ongoing pandemic. The rosy picture painted by the president ignored the US coronavirus death toll of 180,000, which is far higher than that of any other country in the world. Despite Trump’s implications that the nation is past the worst of the pandemic, about 1,000 Americans are still dying of the virus each day.
  • Trump’s White House setting for his speech obliterated the line separating the official business of governing and the partisan politics of campaigning. Large screens displaying the Trump-Pence campaign logo were planted on either side of the White House portico, and more than 1,500 supporters, including Trump’s family and cabinet members, attended the event, which did not enforce social distancing or mask-wearing. Democrats and ethics experts decried the move, but Trump relished the moment. Veering off script briefly during his speech, he turned and gestured to the White House. “The fact is, we’re here and they’re not,” he said of the Democrats.
  • The convention continued its focus on “law and order” while largely ignoring the recent nationwide protests against racism and police brutality. Housing and urban development secretary Ben Carson was the only speaker on Thursday to mention Jacob Blake, an African American father of six who was repeatedly shot in the back by police officers in Kenosha, Wisconsin. A number of other speakers, including the president, instead used their remarks to condemn the “violent anarchists” marching against racism, even though the recent protests have been mostly peaceful.
  • Average Americans delivered some of the most emotional and effective moments of the night. Ann Dorn captured the hearts of many viewers when she described how her husband, retired police captain David Dorn, was fatally shot amid unrest in St Louis, Missouri, earlier this year. The parents of Kayla Mueller, who was killed by Isis in 2015, delivered some of the most scathing criticism of the Obama-Biden administration. “If Donald Trump had been president when Kayla was captured, she would be here today,” Carl Mueller said.
  • America’s culture wars were once again front and center. In appeals that seemed aimed at suburban women and Christian conservatives, speaker after speaker warned of rising crime in cities run by Democrats. Trump also positioned himself as a warrior against “cancel culture”, which he described as a “far-left” phenomenon that means “decent Americans live in fear of being fired, expelled, shamed, humiliated, and driven from society as we know it”. But as president, Trump has routinely called for the firing of his critics or the boycott of companies and institutions that he disapproves of.
  • More of the president’s advisers and family members described his behind-the-scenes compassion, but they struggled to provide examples of such behavior. “President Trump is a kind and decent man,” Dan Scavino, one of Trump’s advisers said. “I wish you could be at his side with me to see his endless kindness to everyone he meets.” But Scavino then pivoted to attacking the media without elaborating about the president’s “kind and decent” character.

Thanks for following along with our convention coverage for the past two weeks. Next up: the debates.

Updated

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reportedly plans to resign due to his health.

The Japanese outlet NHK reports:

Abe Shinzo is scheduled to hold a news conference later in the day to explain his decision.

Abe has visited a hospital twice over the past two weeks, fuelling speculation that his health has deteriorated.

This is the second time that Abe is to leave the post over a medical issue – stepping down in 2007, because of his inflammatory bowel disease, after only serving a year in office.

The news may be disappointing to Trump, who has grown fond of the Japanese leader due to Abe’s repeated efforts to court the US president.

Updated

A White House official, in response to a question from CNN’s Jim Acosta about concerns that the RNC gathering at the White House would amount to a coronavirus “super spreader” event, reportedly said: “Everybody is going to catch this thing eventually.”

The crowds gathered to hear Trump speak were not socially distanced, and many weren’t wearing face masks to slow the spread of Covid-19.

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

At tonight’s RNC, Ben Carson was the only speaker to mention Jacob Blake, the 29-year-old Black man who was shot multiple times by a Wisconsin police officer.

While the convention carried on, Blake’s family revealed that he had been handcuffed to the hospital bed, even as he recovers from surgery. “I hate it that he was laying in that bed with the handcuff on to the bed,” his father said today. “He can’t go anywhere. Why do you have him cuffed to the bed?”

“This is an insult to injury,” Blake’s uncle told CNN. “He is paralyzed and can’t walk and they have him cuffed to the bed. Why?”

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

Earlier today, four Latino advocacy groups circulated an “indictment” of the Republican party. “With Donald Trump’s election in 2016 and the near-total capitulation of Congressional Republicans to his party takeover, today’s Republican Party is the party of white nationalists,” the statement reads.

UnidosUS Action Fund, Voto Latino, League of United Latin American Citizens (Lulac) and Mi Familia Vota asked Republicans “who still believe in a bigger tent, an inclusive and unified society” to “reject blind obedience” to Trumpism.

“The Latino community is hurting because of the horrible mismanagement of this pandemic by Trump, his administration, and those in the Republican party who enable them,” added Hector Sanchez Barba, the CEO of Mi Familia Vota, in a statement. “We must say Basta Trump this election cycle.”

While the RNC did make a pitch to Latino voters this week, speakers ignored the unequal toll of the coronavirus pandemic on Latino Americans.

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

One of the most striking moments tonight was Trump’s wistful retelling of colonization:

Our American ancestors sailed across the perilous ocean to build a new life on a new continent. They braved the freezing winters, crossed the raging rivers, scaled the rocky peaks, trekked the dangerous forests, and worked from dawn till dusk. These pioneers didn’t have money, they didn’t have fame – but they had each other. They loved their families, they loved their country, and they loved their God!

When opportunity beckoned, they picked up their Bibles, packed up their belongings, climbed into covered wagons, and set out west for the next adventure. Ranchers and miners, cowboys and sheriffs, farmers and settlers – they pressed on past the Mississippi to stake a claim in the wild frontier.

Legends were born – Wyatt Earp, Annie Oakley, Davy Crockett, and Buffalo Bill.

Americans built their beautiful homesteads on the open range. Soon they had churches and communities, then towns, and with time, great centers of industry and commerce. That is who they were. Americans build the future, we don’t tear down the past!

The “ranchers and miners, cowboys and sheriffs, farmers and settlers” staked a claim on Native American land and “built their beautiful homesteads” on stolen land.

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

As fireworks erupted over the White House after Trump’s speech, protesters outside messaged with illuminated letters: “Trump failed, 180,000+ died.”

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

One moment of whiplash that stuck with me tonight: Just moments after Ja’Ron Smith made a direct pitch to Black voters, Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, made the case against statehood for Washington, DC – where about 45% of residents are Black.

McConnell listed a series of liberal reforms and said they’d be codified into law if DC was able to send “two more liberal senators” to the capitol.

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

The Biden campaign’s response to the RNC: “Since the beginning of the Republican convention, at least 3,525 Americans have lost their lives to the coronavirus.”

Once again, Biden for President deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield attacked the president’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Her statement continued:

Over those four days — and for the last eight months — the American people have waited in exasperation for a plan to finally take control of the pandemic that has cost us 180,000 lives, infected almost six million, and thrown working families and our middle class into dire financial straits, but nothing came.

– Maanvi Singh

Trump’s speech tonight clocked in at 71 minutes, making it a few minutes shorter than the president’s 2016 convention speech.

But the speech was the longest nomination acceptance speech ever delivered by a presidential incumbent, beating out Bill Clinton’s 1996 speech by three minutes.

Updated

Some of the most dissonant, contradictory messages at the RNC this week were about criminal justice and policing – and Trump’s speech exemplified that.

Trump sought to highlight Joe Biden’s involvement in the infamous Crime Bill, and cast him as part of a “radical left” that wants to defund the police (he does not). The president touted his own record on criminal justice and prison reform and riled the crowd up by championing “10 years in prison” for activists who tear down Confederate statues.

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

FACT CHECK

“Biden has promised to abolish the production of American oil, coal, shale, and natural gas,” Trump said. “These same policies led to crippling power outages in California just last week.”

Biden wants to ban new fracking permits, not all fracking. The electrical outages in California were the result of residents pumping up their ACs all at once amid a searing heatwave, the state’s largest electrical grid manager said.

But energy experts said the outages may have been unnecessary. And regardless, while California has invested in wind and solar power, it’s also still one of the nation’s top oil-producing states.

Read my explainer here:

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

The impressive fireworks show at the Washington Monument included a display of “Trump” and “2020”.

The display felt familiar to one Washington Post journalist who wrote a book about North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Updated

Two Fox News anchors said they were underwhelmed with Trump’s convention speech tonight.

Anchor Chris Wallace said the speech was “surprisingly flat” and lacked “the bite” that Trump’s remarks usually have.

One of Wallace’s colleagues, Brit Hume, agreed that the 70-minute speech was “very long”.

The comments were even more noteworthy given that Wallace praised Joe Biden’s speech last week as “enormously effective”.

Updated

Ethics expert Norm Eisen described Trump’s convention speech at the White House as “the greatest mass Hatch Act transgression in US history”.

The Hatch Act prohibits federal employees from participating in certain political activities. The president and the vice-president are exempt from the Hatch Act, but every other administration official who participated in tonight’s events at the White House is not exempt.

Updated

Melania Trump’s bright green dress has proven to be a versatile choice of attire for the evening – serving up a stylish look for the convention, but also a green screen for people up to no good on Twitter:

Updated

Republican convention comes to an end

With the president’s speech concluded, the Republican convention has now come to an end.

The blog will have more reactions and analysis coming up, so stay tuned.

FACT CHECK

“Remember this: they spied on my campaign and they got caught,” Trump said.

Trump often likes to claim that Barack Obama spied on his campaign. There has been no evidence that Obama was involved in or initiated an FBI investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

Trump concludes convention speech

After speaking for more than an hour, Trump concluded his overall dark speech on a more optimistic note, saying, “Together, we are unstoppable. Together, we are unbeatable.”

The president did not echo Mike Pence’s call to “make America great again, again”.

Instead, Trump said, “We will make America greater than ever before.”

After Trump wrapped up, the RNC began a fireworks show over the Washington Monument.

Updated

The president made two space-related promises in his convention speech tonight.

“America will land the first woman on the moon, and the United States will be the first nation to plant its beautiful flag on Mars,” Trump said.

FACT CHECK

Joe Biden “promised to give away your healthcare dollars to illegal immigrants”, Trump said.

Biden’s healthcare plan would allow undocumented immigrants to buy into the Affordable Care Act’s public option at an unsubsidized rate. Undocumented immigrants can already receive emergency healthcare from federally funded health centers.

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

Trump is still speaking. He took the convention stage at 10.24pm ET, so he has now been speaking for more than an hour.

In comparison, Joe Biden’s convention speech last week wrapped up in about 25 minutes.

Updated

Trump has started veering away from his prepared remarks more as his convention speech goes on.

For example, the president just said of the Obama administration, “Remember this: they spied on my campaign, and they got caught. Let’s see what happens.” That line was not in his prepared remarks.

There is no evidence that the Obama administration conducted illegal surveillance of Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Trump made his first reference to the unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, as protests continue over the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

But the president did not mention the name of Blake, who was repeatedly shot in the back by Kenosha police officers.

Instead, like other convention speakers this week, Trump condemned “the rioting, looting, arson and violence we have seen in Democrat-run cities”.

Updated

FACT CHECK

“During the Democrat convention, the words ‘under God’ were removed from the Pledge of Allegiance – not once, but twice,” Trump said. “The fact is, this is where they are coming from.”

The fact is, that is a bit misleading.

During the DNC, several caucuses were organized alongside the main convention.

At the LGBTQ Caucus Meeting and at the Muslim Delegates and Allies Assembly, the words “under God” were omitted.

But during the primetime DNC broadcasts, the full Pledge of Allegiance was recited with the word God.

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

Ann Dorn, the widow of officer David Dorn who addressed the convention earlier tonight, is in the audience for Trump’s speech at the White House.

The president recounted how Dorn was fatally shot during unrest in St Louis earlier this year.

“To each of you: we will never forget the heroic legacy of Captain David Dorn,” Trump said.

FACT CHECK

“Days after taking office,” Trump said, his administration “ended the unfair and very costly Paris climate accord.”

That is not what happened.

Trump served notice that the US would withdraw from the Paris climate accord in 2019, not the day after he took office in 2017. Due to the accord’s rule of withdrawal, the US will not officially exit the agreement until 4 November this year.

Read the Guardian’s Climate Countdown series, which spotlights what the withdrawal will mean for the US:

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

Repeating a line from one of his campaign commercials, Trump said, “No one will be safe in Biden’s America.”

Amid nationwide protests against racism and police brutality, the president added, “My administration will always stand with the men and women of law enforcement.”

Mike Pence delivered a similar line in his convention speech last night, and Biden responded to the vice-president in a statement today.

“Did Mike Pence forget Donald Trump is president? Is Donald Trump even aware he’s president?” Biden said in the statement.

“These are not images from some imagined ‘Joe Biden’s America’ in the future. These are images from Donald Trump’s America today. The violence we’re witnessing is happening under Donald Trump.”

Updated

Trump blamed Joe Biden and the Democratic party for the recent power outages in California amid an intense heatwave.

“How can Joe Biden claim to be an ally of the light when his own party can’t even keep the lights on?” Trump said, prompting laughter from the crowd gathered on the South Lawn.

Updated

Trump promised that a coronavirus vaccine would be developed by the end of this year.

“We will have a safe and effective vaccine this year, and together we will crush the virus,” the president said.

There are multiple vaccine candidates that are currently being developed, and Dr Anthony Fauci has previously said he is cautiously optimistic a coronavirus vaccine will be approved by the end of this year or early next year.

FACT CHECK

Here’s what Trump said on economic relief for Americans affected by the coronavirus crisis:

We enacted the largest package of financial relief in American history. Thanks to our Paycheck Protection Program, we have saved or supported more than 50 million American jobs. As a result, we have seen the smallest economic contraction of any major western nation, and we are recovering much faster. Over the past three months, we have gained over 9 million jobs, a new record.

A bit of context here:

  • The PPP program expired, and the Trump administration and Republicans couldn’t make a deal with congressional Democrats to extend the program.
  • The US gained 9m jobs, after losing 22m as the pandemic hit.

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

FACT CHECK

“We are focusing on the science, the facts and the data” on coronavirus, Trump said.

Trump has not been doing that. The Trump administration has continuously undermined science and facts in its response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Here’s my explainer from a while back:

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

After Democrats spent a week highlighting Joe Biden’s empathy and compassion, Trump used his convention speech to dismiss the importance of such character traits.

“The laid off workers in Michigan, Ohio, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and many other states didn’t want Joe Biden’s hollow words of empathy, they wanted their jobs back,” Trump said.

Over the past four nights, a number of Trump’s advisers and family members have tried to paint him as a compassionate president, although those comments generally lacked examples of such behavior.

FACT CHECK

Trump said he “passed VA Accountability and VA Choice”. He did not.

President Barack Obama signed the Veterans Choice Act in 2014. Trump expanded it, under a 2018 law called the Mission Act.

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

Trump continued his attacks against Joe Biden, painting the Democrat’s long career in government as a string of failures.

“Biden’s record is a shameful roll call of the most catastrophic betrayals and blunders in our lifetime,” Trump said. “He has spent his entire career on the wrong side of history.”

The president has already mentioned Biden’s name dozens of times in his convention speech, which is noteworthy given Biden never once said Trump’s name in his speech last week.

FACT CHECK

Donald Trump said this is the first time in 20 years that Nato members have increased spending. The president likes to repeat this false claim. But he’s still wrong: Nato Europe and Canada increased defense spending in 2015 and 2016, before Trump took office.

Trump touted the southern border wall, saying that 300 miles were built. That more or less true, if embellished – there’s new wall across about 245 miles of the border – but only thirty miles of wall has been erected where there was no barrier before.

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

Trump repeated his outlandish claim that he has done more for the African American community than any president since Abraham Lincoln.

He added, “I have done more in three years for the black community than Joe Biden has done in 47 years.”

Trump apparently believes his accomplishments for African Americans exceed those of, for example, the Democratic president Lyndon Johnson, who signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Updated

Trump praised his own record on a wide range of issues, exaggerating his accomplishments and spewing a number of falsehoods.

On immigration, Trump said, “The wall will soon be complete and it’s working beyond our wildest expectations.”

That is not true. The border wall is nowhere near complete, and Trump has built very few new miles of the wall.

Updated

Speaking at the White House, behind a podium emblazoned with the presidential seal, Donald Trump is breaking longstanding norms to separate official duties from political campaigning.

There’s been a lot of discussion of what parts of the RNC, which was hosted partly at the White House, run afoul of the Hatch Act. But the image of Trump right now clashes not only with images of previous conventions but also with images of Joe Biden accepting his nomination last week, when Biden spoke to a largely empty room.

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

Trump attacked Joe Biden as a “destroyer of America’s jobs”, even though the country’s unemployment rate is currently at 10.2% under the president’s leadership.

“For 47 years, Joe Biden took the donations of blue-collar workers, gave them hugs and even kisses,” Trump said.

The line, an apparent reference to accusations of inappropriate touching against Biden, was met with laughter from the audience gathered on the South Lawn.

It should be noted that Trump has been accused of sexual misconduct by 20 women.

Updated

Trump's speech continues dark tone of Republican convention

Echoing many of the Republican convention speakers so far, Trump painted a dark picture about the dangers of electing Joe Biden as president.

“This election will decide whether we save the American dream, or whether we allow a socialist agenda to demolish our cherished destiny,” Trump said.

“Your vote will decide whether we protect law-abiding Americans, or whether we give free rein to violent anarchists, agitators, and criminals who threaten our citizens.”

Once again, Biden is not a socialist, and the recent anti-racism protests have been mostly peaceful.

Updated

Members of Trump’s cabinet are lining the front row of tonight’s speech, and only one of them seems to be wearing a mask – health secretary Alex Azar.

Trump said in his speech that he “profoundly” accepted the Republican presidential nomination.

That appears to have been an unfortunate verbal slip. His prepared remarks read, “My fellow Americans, tonight, with a heart full of gratitude and boundless optimism, I proudly accept this nomination for president of the United States.”

Updated

Trump accepts Republican presidential nomination

Addressing a crowd of more than 1,000 at the White House, Trump officially accepted the Republican presidential nomination.

“My fellow Americans, tonight, with a heart full of gratitude and boundless optimism, I profoundly accept this nomination for president of the United States,” Trump said.

Trump opened his convention speech by expressing warm wishes for those affected by Hurricane Laura.

“Our thoughts are with the wonderful people who have just come through the wrath of Hurricane Laura,” the president said.

Trump said his administration was working closely with local officials to help those impacted by the storm, and he said he would go to the Gulf region to inspect the damage this weekend.

Updated

Ivanka Trump lauded her father as “the people’s president”.

Donald Trump lost the popular vote in the 2016 election, trailing Hillary Clinton by about 2.9m votes.

– Maanvi Singh

Trump takes the stage to accept Republican nomination

Trump has now taken the stage on the South Lawn to once again accept the Republican presidential nomination.

The president walked down to the stage alongside first lady Melania Trump, while the song God Bless the USA played from the speakers.

Updated

Early in her speech, Ivanka Trump praised her father’s compassion, noting how he still shows off a Lego version of the White House that his grandson made for him.

But the president’s daughter previously told a similar story about how she built a Lego replica of Trump Tower as a child, and it was ... not true:

“I sat with him in the Oval Office as he stopped travel to Europe,” Ivanka Trump said.

He did not ban travel to Europe.

He issued travel restrictions, which limited travel from Europe. American citizens and other groups were exempt – and still able to enter the US after the restrictions went into effect.

Travel restrictions that Trump issued after the coronavirus already appeared to be circulating within the US were ineffective and inadequate as a response to the pandemic, health experts told me.

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

Alice Marie Johnson, whose life sentence was coommuted by Trump after Kim Kardashian advocated for her, has become a key surrogate for the president. She appeared in a SuperBowl ad for Trump, and tonight delivered her powerful personal story.

After she was released from prison, “I remembered the promise I had made to the men and women I left behind — that I would never stop fighting for them,” said Johnson. “And I haven’t. I’m using my voice to tell their stories. And I pray that my face reminds you of those forgotten faces.” The prison reformer vouced for Trump’s compassion.

But her words jarr against messaging at the RNC tonight that stoked fears about cities overrun with vioolence, touted tough-on-crime measures.

– Maanvi Singh

Echoing first lady Melania Trump’s speech earlier this week, Ivanka Trump offered condolences to Americans who had lost loved ones to coronavirus.

“As our nation endures this grave trial, I pray for the families who are mourning the loss of a loved one, for all those who are battling Covid-19,” Trump said.

America’s coronavirus death toll has now surpassed 180,000, far more than any other country in the world, but other Republican convention speakers have been eager to talk about the pandemic as if it is over. In reality, about 1,000 Americans are still dying from coronavirus every day.

Ivanka Trump introduces her father at convention

Ivanka Trump, the president’s eldest daughter and senior adviser, introduced her father before he accepted the Republican presidential nomination.

After walking out to Elton John’s I’m Still Standing, Trump opened her speech by offering prayers to those affected by Hurricane Laura, which has already caused six deaths in Louisiana.

Trump praised her father as “the people’s president” and an effective leader.

“I recognize that my dad’s communication style is not to everyone’s taste,” Trump said. “And I know his tweets can feel a bit unfiltered. But the results – the results speak for themselves.”

Multiple speakers have used similar framing to paper over the president’s divisive tweets. In terms of his accomplishments, the president has broken about half the promises he had made to the American people, according to Politifact.

Updated

Carl and Marsha Mueller, whose daughter Kayla was killed by Isis in 2015, criticized the Obama administration for not doing enough to help their family.

“The Obama administration hid behind policy so much that we felt hopeless when they kept us from negotiating to save Kayla’s life,” Carl said.

The Muellers applauded Trump, saying they wished he had been president when Kayla was captured.

“Let me just say this: Kayla should be here,” Carl said. “If Donald Trump had been president when Kayla was captured, she would be here today.”

Updated

Alice Johnson praises Trump for her commutation

Alice Johnson, whose life sentence in prison was commuted by Trump in 2018, addressed the Republican convention and thanked the president for helping her.

“When President Trump heard about me – about the injustice of my story – he saw me as a person,” Johnson said. “He had compassion. And he acted.”

Updated

The general consensus, especially among Republicans, is that Ann Dorn has provided one of the emotional highlights of the convention. Ann is the widow of David Dorn, a retired St Louis police captain who was fatally shot by people looting a pawn shop amid nationwide protests in June. She delivered a moving speech, condemning the violence and livestreaming of her husband’s death.

Updated

Republican Senator Tom Cotton used his convention speech to lambaste Joe Biden’s long record on foreign policy.

“Joe Biden aided and abetted China’s rise for 50 years with terrible trade deals that closed our factories and laid off our workers,” Cotton said. “President Trump stands up to China’s cheating, and stealing, and lying.”

It’s worth noting that, on the issue of coronavirus, Trump repeatedly claimed Chinese president Xi Jinping had the virus under control. As coronavirus spread across the US, Trump pivoted to blaming Beijing for the pandemic.

“Joe Biden won’t stand up for America,” Cotton said. “Donald Trump will. So this November, let’s stand with the president and vote to keep America great.”

Cotton’s use of the phrase “keep America great” was interesting given it comes amid a global pandemic that has claimed more than 180,000 American lives. In his speech last night, Vice-President Mike Pence instead pledged to “make America great again, again”.

Updated

Spotted among the audience at the White House were the QAnon-linked congressional candidates Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert.

Boebert, a QAnon sympathizer, won a surprise victory in a Colorado Republican congressional primary, and Marjorie Taylor Greene, a full-fledged QAnon supporter with a history of racist and antisemitic rhetoric, won the Republican nomination for Georgia’s congressional district.

Here’s an explainer about the QAnon conspiracy theory, courtesy of my colleague Julia Carrie Wong:

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

Giuliani falsely accuses BLM of having 'hijacked peaceful protests'

Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has served as one of Trump’s lawyers, delivered a falsehood-ridden speech about the alleged dangers of electing Democrats.

Giuliani said of the recent anti-racism protests, “Black Lives Matter and antifa sprang into action and in a flash hijacked the protests into vicious, brutal riots.” That is not true. The recent protests have been mostly peaceful.

Giuliani then painted an apocalyptic picture of what the country would look like under Democratic leadership. “Mr President, make our nation safe again,” Giuliani said.

Updated

Housing and urban development secretary Ben Carson, who ran against Trump in the 2016 Republican primary, addressed the convention.

Carson opened his remarks by offering prayers for the family of Jacob Blake, the African American man who was repeatedly shot in the back by police officers in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Carson’s reference to Blake was noteworthy considering most of the Republican speakers this week have avoided mentioning Blake’s name, instead choosing to denounce “violent mobs” overrunning American cities, even though the recent anti-racism protests have been mostly peaceful.

Carson went on to applaud Trump’s leadership style. “He is transparent, and we certainly know what he’s thinking,” Carson said, offering a rather generous description of the president’s divisive tweets.

Carson also surprisingly added, “President Trump does not dabble in identity politics.” That comment seemed outlandish, considering much of the convention so far has focused on inflaming culture wars.

The Trump campaign’s decision to hold tonight’s big speech on the White House lawn has incensed Democrats and many commentators. And not just because of the coronavirus risks of such a gathering, but its violation of the Hatch Act too.

Updated

Ann Dorn, the widow of David Dorn – a retired St Louis police captain who was killed in June when he interrupted a looting amid protests – made a pitch for Trump: “Violence and destruction are not legitimate forms of protest. They do not safeguard black lives. They destroy them. President Trump understands this and has offered federal help to restore order in our communities.”

But the daughters of David Dorn have said that they wish his father’s widow wouldn’t politicize his death.

“We know his wife is a Trump supporter, but he was not,” his daughter Debra White told the St Louis American. “He frequently said they were not able to talk about politics, because they were at the opposite ends of the spectrum. I know he would not want his legacy to be for his death to be used to further Trump’s law-and-order agenda.”

“Our father did not agree with many policies and actions of this president that are aimed at disenfranchising many Black and Brown people,” Lisa Dorn told the publication. “Our father was a registered Democrat. He thought Trump is doing many things to ruin our country.”

Read more here.

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

Ann Dorn, whose husband, officer David Dorn, was fatally shot amid unrest in St Louis earlier this year, addressed the Republican convention.

“I re-live that horror in my mind every single day,” Dorn said. “My hope is that having you re-live it with me now will help shake this country from the nightmare we are witnessing in our cities and bring about positive, peaceful change.”

Updated

Protesters gather outside White House on last night of RNC

As the RNC carries on, hundreds of protesters have gathered outside the White House at the recently renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza. Demonstrators have been playing music, dancing, and chanting “Trump/Pence out now!”

Activists covered a portion of the street a sign that reads: “Trump lies all the time”.

Protesters gathered on the final night of the Republican National Convention which is set to nominate Trump as the Republican candidate for a second term as U.S. President.
Protesters gather at Black Lives Matter Plaza, near the White House. Photograph: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Reporters on the ground have spotted some tense interactions between the protesters and Trump supporters and police officers.

Protesters gathered as the Republican National Convention on its final night was set to nominate Trump for a second term.
Protesters in Washington. Photograph: Michael M Santiago/Getty Images

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

UFC president Dana White also applauded Trump for having “actually done everything he said he’d do” as president.

That is not true. According to Politifact, Trump has broken about half the promises he has made to the American people.

For example, Trump has not repealed the Affordable Care Act, and he has not made Mexico pay for the border wall, as he pledged to do during his 2016 campaign.

And the next speaker at the Republican convention is ... Dana White, the president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

White said of the coronavirus pandemic: “No one person and no one place could have anticipated the challenges that Covid would bring.” He went on to praise Trump for having “faced all these obstacles head on”.

In reality, the president consistently downplayed the effects of the pandemic for weeks, as the country’s coronavirus death toll continued to climb.

As of today, more than 180,000 Americans have died of the virus, far more than any other country in the world. Another 1,000 Americans are currently dying from the virus each day.

Meanwhile, the president is holding a large event at the White House with little physical distancing and few face masks.

Updated

Political advisor Ja’Ron Smith was the latest speaker at the RNC to tout Trump’s empathy and kindness – without any meaningful, concrete examples.

“In the wake of the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and LeGend Taliferro – a moment of national racial consciousness – I have seen his true conscience,” Smith said. “I just wish every American could see the deep empathy he showed to families whose loved ones were killed in senseless violence.

Over the past few days, Mike Pence, various members of Trump’s family, his supporters and advisers have all told Americans that the president is deeply empathetic. The White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, was possibly the only one with evidence: she said Trump called her while she was in hospital.

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell delivered a fear-mongering convention speech from his home state of Kentucky.

“Today’s Democrat party doesn’t want to improve life for middle America,” the Republican leader said.

McConnell claimed Democrats want to control everything in Americans’ lives, even “how many hamburgers you can eat”. (This is not true.)

“They want to defund the police and take away your second amendment rights,” McConnell said.

In reality, Democratic nominee Joe Biden does not support defunding the police, and while Biden has called for stricter gun control laws such as an assault weapons ban, he has not proposed repealing the second amendment.

Updated

White House adviser Dan Scavino echoed other comments about Trump being “kind” and “decent”, although the speakers have not cited many examples of this behavior.

“President Trump is a kind and decent man,” Scavino said. “I wish you could be at his side with me to see his endless kindness to everyone he meets.”

Other speakers have similarly praised Trump’s compassionate behavior behind closed doors, but they have largely asked convention viewers to take them at their word rather than sharing stories of such moments.

Updated

Congressman Jeff Van Drew, who switched his party affiliation from Democratic to Republican during the impeachment inquiry, addressed the convention.

Van Drew said he had moved away from the Democratic party because its leaders supported radical policies like “open borders”. In reality, Democratic congressional leaders and Democratic nominee Joe Biden do not support open borders.

Updated

DNC to counter Trump with footage from 2016 Republican convention

An ad the Democrats plan on airing during the RNC tonight begins with footage of Donald Trump at the 2016 RNC, saying, “The most basic duty of government is to defend the lives of its own citizens, any government that fails to do so is unworthy to lead.”

The ad then cuts to footage of militarized law enforcement terrorizing protestors in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of police. It shows Trump posing for a photo in front of a Washington DC church after officers cleared the area with pepper spray.

The RNC this week has projected messaging showing Trump and the Republicans as empathetic to victims of police violence, and it included an effective speech from Tim Scott, who led the Republican policing reform effort. But Republicans also invited a couple who threatened peaceful protesters with guns to speak the the convention. Mike Pence, in his speech yesterday, railed against protesters and misleadingly implied that Black Lives Matter demonstrators in Oakland, California, were somehow implicated in the death of a federal officer – when in reality, a white nationalist has been charged with the murder.

– Maanvi Singh

Updated

White House adviser Ja’Ron Smith was one of the few convention speakers to name African Americans who have recently been killed by police, including George Floyd.

Smith, one of the few black White House advisers, said he wished more Americans could see the “deep empathy [Trump] shows to families whose loved ones have been lost to violence”.

Other speakers have similarly tried to paint Trump as a compassionate leader, even though the president is better known for his frequent attacks on his opponents.

Updated

House minority leader Kevin McCarthy addressed the convention in a prerecorded video.

Echoing other speakers, McCarthy promised that Trump would rebuild a strong economy, as the country’s unemployment rate is currently 10.2%.

“Joe Biden and Kamala Harris think this election is about the government,” McCarthy said. “They’re wrong. It’s about your family and your future.”

McCarthy also painted the election as a stark choice between “forward and freedom or backward and socialism”, even though Biden is not a socialist.

Updated

The Rev Franklin Graham, the son of the late evangelical leader Billy Graham, delivered the opening prayer for the final night of the Republican convention.

He offered prayers for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic and by Hurricane Laura, which has already caused at least four deaths in Louisiana.

Updated

Final night of the Republican convention starts

The final night of the Republican convention, which will end with Trump’s nomination acceptance speech, has now started.

The blog will have updates and analysis as the night unfolds, so stay tuned.

Hours before Trump was scheduled to accept the Republican nomination, Joe Biden announced he intended to return to the campaign trail next month.

The Democratic nominee made the announcement during a virtual fundraiser today with Illinois donors.

“I’m going to be traveling throughout the country where I can do it consistent with the state rules about how many people can be assembled,” Biden said.

The Democrat named Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Arizona as potential battleground states he might travel to in the next several weeks.

“I’m a tactile politician,” Biden said. “I really miss being able to, you know, grab hands, shake hands, you can’t do that now. But I can in fact appear beyond virtually, in person, in many of these places.”

The Democratic presidential ticket offered a prebuttal to Trump’s convention speech earlier today.

Speaking in Washington, vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris delivered a searing indictment of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Donald Trump has failed at the most basic and important job of a president of the United States,” Harris said. “He failed to protect the American people.”

The Democratic senator also noted that many of America’s foreign allies have not suffered from coronavirus as severely as the US has.

“The tragedy in all of this is, it didn’t have to be this bad,” Harris said. “Just look around. It’s not like this in the rest of the world. All we needed was a competent president.”

Updated

White House convention site raises coronavirus concerns

Trump will deliver his nomination acceptance speech on the White House’s South Lawn to a crowd of more than 1,000 people.

Reporters at the White House noted audience members’ chairs were close together with little physical distance, and few attendees wore masks, raising concerns about the spread of coronavirus. (Although the event is outdoors, which will likely help to limit transmission of the virus.)

According to the Washington Post, most of those attending Trump’s speech tonight will not be tested for coronavirus.

Other reporters expressed alarm at the White House being transformed into a political convention site, with some journalists saying the South Lawn felt like a Trump campaign rally.

Updated

Trump to accept presidential nomination amid unrest in Kenosha

Hello, live blog readers, and welcome to the final night of the Republican national convention.

The three previous nights have led up to tonight’s main event, when Donald Trump will once again accept the Republican presidential nomination.

Donald Trump checks out the stage where he will deliver his acceptance speech.
Donald Trump checks out the stage where he will deliver his acceptance speech. Photograph: Carlos Barría/Reuters

Despite promises from Republican party leaders that the convention would offer an optimistic vision for America’s future, speakers so far have instead focused on dark warnings about the dangers of electing Joe Biden as president, and Trump is expected to continue that theme.

According to excerpts of Trump’s speech obtained by news outlets, the president will say, “At no time before have voters faced a clearer choice between two parties, two visions, two philosophies, or two agendas.” Trump will add, “We have spent the last four years reversing the damage Joe Biden inflicted over the last 47 years.”

The president’s speech comes as protests continue in Kenosha, Wisconsin, over the police shooting of Jacob Blake, an African American father of six who was repeatedly shot in the back as three of his children looked on in a nearby car.

Republicans have rarely mentioned Blake over the past three nights, instead choosing to denounce the “violent mobs” supposedly overrunning American cities, even though the recent anti-racism protests have been mostly peaceful.

Trump appears prepared to continue those angry calls for “law and order” in his speech tonight. The convention will kick off in about half an hour, so stay tuned.

Updated

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