Washington, Aug 23: Republicans will aim to recast the story of Donald Trump’s presidency when they hold their national convention, featuring speakers drawn from everyday life as well as cable news and the White House while drawing a stark contrast with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
Trump is looking to shift his campaign away from being a referendum on a presidency ravaged by a pandemic and economic collapse and toward a choice between vastly different visions of America’s future. Reshaping the national conversation around the race has taken on greater urgency for Trump, who trails in public and private surveys as the coronavirus continues to ravage the nation’s economy and his reelection chances.
The four-day event is themed “Honoring the Great American Story,” according to four Trump campaign officials involved with the planning process but not authorized to discuss it by name. The convention will feature prominently a number of well-known Trump supporters, including members of the Trump family, but also those whom the GOP say are members of the “silent majority” of Americans who have been aided by Trump’s policies. Some have been “silenced” by a “cancel culture” pushed by Democrats, the campaign officials said.
Where Democrats highlighted Republicans who crossed party lines to back Biden as an indictment of Trump’s leadership, the GOP lineup will feature figures on the conservative media circuit with the hope that they can deliver red meat for the president’s loyal supporters.
Planners insist they will put forward a more “positive” convention than Democrats’ roasting of Trump. Yet the president also appears intent on trying to seize on the nation’s cultural divides, particularly around issues of racial injustice and policing, drawing on grievances to motivate his base.
The officials outlined the campaign plans to The Associates Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss the emerging schedule.
The opening night Monday will highlight the “Land of Promise,” aiming to show how Trump helped renew the American dream. Featured speakers include South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who will deliver the coveted closing speech of the televised prime-time block; former Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley; presidential son Donald Trump, Jr.; staunch congressional defenders Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida and Jim Jordan of Ohio; and Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.
Tanya Weinreis, a Montana coffee shop owner who received federal loans to pay her employees during the coronavirus, will also speak, as will Andrew Pollack, whose daughter Meadow was among those killed in the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida.
Tuesday’s theme is “Land of Opportunity,” which is expected to cast Biden’s plans as “socialist” and “radical left.” Speakers will highlight Trump’s actions on trade, abortion and the nation’s opioid crisis. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will address Trump’s foreign policy record, an unusual foray into domestic politics by the nation’s top diplomat, and Trump children Eric and Tiffany Trump will also speak.
Another speaker will be Nicholas Sandmann, who as a student at a Catholic high school in Kentucky gained national attention last year for his interaction with a Native American man during demonstrations in Washington. Media commentary in the aftermath of the viral video from the interaction depicted the students as racially insensitive. Sandmann and the Native American man, Nathan Phillips, later said they were both trying to defuse tensions among conflicting groups that converted at the Lincoln Memorial.
First lady Melania Trump will deliver the marquee address of the night from a newly renovated White House Rose Garden.
Wednesday, themed “Land of Heroes,” will feature a raft of conservative personalities including South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York and presidential daughter-in-law Lara Trump.
Clarence Henderson, a civil rights figure from the 1960s, is also on deck to address the “true meaning of peaceful protest,” planners said, as Trump plans to highlight police officers amid a nationwide call for policing reform after the May death of George Floyd in police custody.
Vice President Mike Pence will deliver the keynote Wednesday from Baltimore’s Fort McHenry, which inspired “The Star-Spangled Banner” in 1814, to highlight Trump’s opposition to professional athletes who protest racial injustice by kneeling during the national anthem.
Speakers on the final night, themed “Land of Greatness, will include Alice Johnson, the criminal justice advocate whose sentence on drug crimes was commuted by Trump at the urging of celebrity Kim Kardashian; Carl and Marsha Mueller, the parents of human rights activist Kayla Mueller, who died while being held by the Islamic State group in Syria; and evangelist Rev. Franklin Graham. (AGENCIES)
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