RNC Live: Sen. Rand Paul says people who 'hate war' should vote for Trump
Michael Collins, Ledyard King, Courtney Subramanian and John Fritze USA TODAYRefresh often for updates throughout Day 2 of the RNC.
RNC turns to a more hopeful message
Breaking with the dire messaging of "socialism" and "Loch Ness" monsters that dominated the first night of the RNC, Republicans embraced a softer tone Tuesday -- at least in the early minutes -- ahead of first lady Melania Trump's address.
"He has followed through on his promises," asserted Maine lobsterman Jason Joyce.
"More than any president in my lifetime, he's acknowledged the importance of farmers and agriculture," said dairy farmer Chris Peterson.
In the most notable example of the shift, Trump appeared himself briefly in a taped appearance from the White House and signed a pardon to Jon Ponder, founder of Hope For Prisoners, a Las Vegas-based organization that helps ex-prisoners re-enter society.
The event drew scrutiny from Democrats, some of whom questioned the president's use of an official act at a political convention, but it nevertheless underscored more of a focus on the president's accomplishments rather than on what Republicans see as Biden's failures.
"Today, I’m filled with hope," Ponder said. "I have been given a second chance."
— John Fritze
Fishing for votes
Jason Joyce, an eighth-generation lobsterman from Swan’s Island, Maine, said he didn't support President Donald Trump in 2016 because he expected the president "to flip flop on his campaign promises."
But Joyce strongly supports Trump’s reelection this year because the president listened to fishermen’s views and adopted them. In contrast, Joyce characterized the Obama administration and former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee, as ignoring industry views.
“As long as Trump is president, fishing families like mine will have a voice,” Joyce said. “But if Biden wins, he’ll be controlled by the environmental extremists who want to circumvent longstanding rules and impose radical changes that hurt our coastal communities.”
Trump has promoted Maine lobster since a June 5 roundtable in Bangor. He reversed the Obama administration order that closed off 5,000 square miles of ocean to fishing for what is called the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument.
“This action was deeply unfair to Maine lobstermen,” Trump said.
The monument is about 130 miles southeast of Cape Cod – too far for Mainers to reach. And Obama grandfathered lobster and crab harvesting for seven years in the 2016 order, so those fisheries haven't been affected yet. But the decision still rankled fishermen.
“Although Maine's lobstermen don't fish there, Obama's executive order offended us greatly. It circumvented the fisheries counsels’ input,” Joyce said. “President Trump reversed that decision, reinstating the rules that allow stakeholder input, and he supports a process that seeks and respects fishermen's views.”
Lobster is a valuable seafood market, with 133 million pounds landed in 2017 worth nearly $600 million, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service. Mainers landed more than 80% of the U.S. lobster catch that year.
But trade wars have damaged the industry. The European Union agreed Friday to lift tariffs of 8% on U.S. lobster and 20% on lobster products, which had hurt trade compared to Canadian lobster that faced no tariffs.
China also imposed a tariff on U.S. lobster in 2018 that now stands at least at 35%. Trump asked the Agriculture Department for monthly reports on the China tariff starting Aug. 15.
Joyce said he strongly supported Trump's reelection.
"When he sees something isn't right, he’s fearless in fixing it," Joyce said. "He listens to working people."
— Bart Jansen
Rand Paul: "If you hate war ... support President Trump"
Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican known for his anti-interventionist view of global affairs, praised Trump’s approach to “end war rather than start one," trying to portray a stark contrast between the president and Joe Biden when it comes to making the planet safer.
"I fear Biden will choose war again. He supported the war in Serbia, Syria, Libya. Joe Biden will continue to spill our blood and treasure. President Trump will bring our heroes home," said Paul, who has often joined the president in calling for the wind-down of U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq.
"If you hate war like I hate war…if you want us to quit sending $50 billion every year to Afghanistan to build their roads and bridges instead of building them here at home, you need to support President Trump for another term."
Trump has touted his unconventional strategy on foreign policy, including efforts to build bridges with authoritarian figures such as Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea despot Kim Jong-Un.
He’s also drawn bipartisan fire for trying to undermine the NATO alliance and for pulling troops out of Syria, a move that prompted the resignation of Defense Secretary James Mattis.
Paul, who did not appear at the RNC in 2016, had some unkind words for Trump four years ago when both were running for the White House. He called the billionaire businessman "a delusional narcissist and an orange-faced windbag." Trump in turn criticized Paul's looks and called him "a spoiled brat without a properly functioning brain."
— Ledyard King
Prayers for Jacob Blake during RNC
Norma Urrabazo from the International Church of Las Vegas opened Tuesday’s events with a prayer for “healing and comfort” for Jacob Blake, the Wisconsin man who was shot multiple times in the back by police officers Sunday while he was leaning into an SUV.
“I’m going to invite you to join your faith with mine and let’s prayer in agreement,” Urrabazo said. “Lord, we come before you to ask for your spirit of peace to come over hurting communities in Wisconsin tonight.”
In addition to prayer for Blake and his family, Urrabazo asked for protection for those who have “put their lives in harm’s way, to bring safety and security to our streets.”
- Maureen Groppe
RNC courts Native American vote for Trump
Native Americans will make up a tiny slice of the electorate in November, but they could have an outsized influence on the election where it counts: Several battleground states.
So it was no surprise the RNC opened its second night with Myron Lizer, vice president of the Navajo Nation – a territory that covers portions of Utah, New Mexico and Arizona.
“Our people have never been invited into the American Dream,” said Lizer, who appeared with Trump at an event in Phoenix this year. “We’ve for years fought congressional battles with past congressmen and senators that were part of a broken system that ignored us.
“That is, until President Trump took office,” he said.
Lizer pointed specifically to billions of dollars in economic stimulus to help tribal communities address COVID-19.
Trump has had a complicated relationship with Native Americans. He repeated use of the word “Pocahontas” to mock Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has been offensive to some.
More recently, Trump slammed the decision to change the name of the Washington, D.C., NFL team, a word that is a slur used to describe Native Americans.
According to the 2010 Census, 5.2 million people identified as American Indian and Alaska Native alone, or in combination with at least one other race.
The vast majority vote Democratic, except in states where energy is a large focus of the regional economy, such as Alaska, North Dakota or Oklahoma. Native Americans could also be a factor in Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, and Wisconsin.
— John Fritze and Ledyard King
Trump's surprises: Swearing in new citizens, pardoning a prison activist
President Donald Trump's first "surprise appearance" at Tuesday's convention session was a videotaped pardon ceremony for Jon Ponder, founder of Hope For Prisoners, a Las Vegas-based organization that helps ex-prisoners re-enter society.
"Jon's life is a beautiful testament to the power of redemption," Trump said in the video that was released hours before it played during the convention telecast.
The state of Nevada had already granted clemency to Ponder, a convicted bank robber.
While Trump's praised Ponder's work with ex-prisoners, he did not mention voting rights. The president has opposed restoring voting rights for felons and criticized governors who support the idea.
In thanking Trump for his federal pardon, Ponder said "we live in a nation of second chances."
Richard Beasley, a retired FBI agent who once arrested Ponder but is now a friend, also appeared in the video, saying, "I'm so proud of Jon with his life's turnaround, and for all the lives that he's helped to change."
Trump's second "surprise" appearance later tonight is another previously released video of a naturalization ceremony.
Trump presided over the swearing-in of five new American citizens who were born in Bolivia, Lebanon, India, Ghana and Sudan.
"Congratulations – great going," Trump told the group.
While Trump used the ceremony to tout the virtues of legal immigration, Democrats said his crackdowns at the border are designed to keep out any person of color.
Chad Wolf, the acting director of homeland security, gave the oath to the new citizens from five different counties. Earlier in the day, Trump announced he would nominate Wolf to the DHS job full-time.
Noting that one of the new American citizens has a degree in psychology, Trump said: "In other words, she can figure me out."
— David Jackson
RNC viewership fell 29% from 2016
The first night of the Republican National Convention on Monday averaged 15.9 million television viewers – 29% less than viewership four years ago and 15% less than the first night of last week’s Democratic National Convention.
It closely resembles the 27% nosedive in viewers for night 1 of the DNC convention, which averaged 18.7 million viewers. The opening night of the 2016 RNC convention in Cleveland, Ohio drew about 22.5 million viewers.
The Nielsen figures, reported by Variety and the Los Angeles Times, combine viewership on the three main networks, ABC, CBS and NBC, and leading cable new networks CNN, Fox News and MSNBC.
Fox News set the pace Monday leading with 7.1 million viewers followed by CNN’s 2 million viewers; ABC, nearly 2 million; NBC, 1.7 million; MSNBC, 1,6 million; and CBS, 1.5 million.
Facing challenges of a global pandemic, both conventions ditched arenas and live audiences in favor of many recorded speeches and prepackaged videos. Democrats pieced together four nights of two-hour television shows while several Republican speakers shared the same stage at Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C. while President Donald Trump was featured in multiple videos shot in the White House.
Although last week’s DNC viewership was down significantly, the campaign for Democratic nominee Joe Biden touted a record 10.2 million digital viewers, totaling 28.9 million viewers overall when combined with television viewership.
— Joey Garrison
Melania Trump big draw of RNC's second night
On its second night, the Republican National Convention will get personal.
The virtual lineup for Tuesday includes first lady Melania Trump and two of the president's children – Eric and Tiffany – along with a series of business people, advocates for Republican causes and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Melania Trump, rarely seen campaigning with the president, will be the big draw of the evening. The first lady will speak in prime time from the newly renovated White House Rose Garden, a project she supervised.
President Donald Trump himself is also expected to show up during the online convention Tuesday. He plans to appear every night this week, leading up to his formal acceptance speech on Thursday night, also at the White House.
– David Jackson
Dems push economic counter program during RNC
The battle over who gets credit for the pre-COVID economic recovery has become a defining issue of the conventions as well as this year's presidential election. Not surprisingly, Democrats argued Tuesday that Joe Biden deserves much of the credit.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, speaking as part of the Biden campaign's RNC counter-programming, said it was the Obama-Biden administration that led the country out of the worst economic downturn in generations. Trump, she said, drove that progress into the ground through his trade wars and haphazard pandemic response.
“Donald Trump has severely worsened our country’s economy,” Whitmer said. “Workers and families cannot afford four more of years of that.”
Trump and other Republicans have argued that the recovery under Obama, who signed a major economic stimulus in 2009, was one of the slowest in the nation's history. While unemployment and market indicators were improving under Obama, they note those numbers took off at a faster rate once Trump was in the White House.
The debate is important because both candidates are positioning themselves as best able to help the nation recover from the economic catastrophe caused by COVID-19.
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., cited figures about how 1.5 million fewer jobs were created during the first three years of the Trump administration, compared to the final three years of the Obama administration. Booker also slammed Trump's tax cut bill as benefiting the rich while racking up enormous federal budget deficits.
“We know people all across New Jersey are hurting and need some relief,” Booker said. “Working families know that the president isn’t looking out for them.”
– Bart Jansen and John Fritze
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