CLEVELAND — Donald Trump cast himself Thursday night as the protector of ordinary Americans, and promised to shield them from terrorism and self-serving elites who run the government corruptly in defiance of the public good.
Accepting the Republican presidential nomination, Trump vowed: “To every parent who dreams for their child, and every child who dreams for their future, I say these words to you tonight: I’m with you, and I will fight for you, and I will win for you.”
He spoke directly to “the forgotten men and women of our country,” saying to rousing applause, “I am your voice.”
He also appealed explicitly for votes from left-wing Democrats who backed Bernie Sanders, promising to eliminate the “rigged” political system he claimed is championed by Hillary Clinton.
“Big business, elite media and major donors are lining up behind the campaign of my opponent because they know she will keep our rigged system in place. She is their puppet. And they pull the strings,” he declared.
It was a speech that marked out deep battlelines between the underdogs whom Trump claimed to represent and a ruling class that disdains them.
Trump predicted that Sanders’ supporters would also join his “movement because we will fix his biggest issue: trade.”
Trade, immigration and national security dominated much of Trump’s speech, which depicted America in decline in a dark and dangerous world. To fix it, he offered, as he has throughout his campaign, proposals that flout conservative orthodoxy and have ignited horrified opposition within the Republican establishment.
“We are going to enforce all trade violations, including through the use of taxes and tariffs, against any country that cheats,” Trump said, tapping into widespread concern that American jobs are being destroyed by unfair trade deals.
And, expanding on the theme that he would protect America from dangers that beset it, Trump turned his attention to Islamic terrorism. He repeated but also refined an immigration reform that has caused more outrage than almost any other of his promises, saying, “We must immediately suspend immigration from any nation that has been compromised by terrorism until such time as proven vetting mechanisms have been put in place.”
At one point, Trump paused to soak in the applause he’d received for vowing to protect the LGBT community, which was targeted in the Orlando shooting that occurred in June.
“I have to say, as a Republican, it is so nice to hear you cheering for what I just said,” he said to the entire GOP delegation.
Trump repeatedly told viewers he is a “law and order” candidate running against a career politician who has escaped “facing justice for her terrible crimes.”
“I am not able to look the other way,” he said, “when innocent people suffer because our political system lacks the will, or the courage, or the basic decency to enforce our laws.”
Beyond characterizing Clinton as dishonest, Trump ripped his Democratic opponent for vowing to embrace, and in some cases expand, policies of the Obama administration. Clinton’s “bad instincts and bad judgment” during her tenure at the State Department placed America’s national security in jeopardy, he said.
“America is far less safe – and the world is far less stable – than when Obama made the decision to put Hillary Clinton in charge of America’s foreign policy. I am certain it is a decision he truly regrets,” Trump told the crowd, claiming that “ISIS was not even on the map, Libya was cooperating, Egypt was peaceful, Iraq was seeing a reduction in violence, Iran was being choked by sanctions [and] Syria was under control” before Clinton became Secretary of State.
“This is the legacy of Hillary Clinton: death, destruction, terrorism and weakness,” he said.
The candidate’s prime-time address concluded a raucous convention that was supposed to mend a fractured Republican party and set the stage for a unified battle against Clinton in the upcoming election. Though the convention saw its fair share of hiccups – the four-day confab kicked off with a group of anti-Trump delegates pushing for a floor fight and neared its end with Ted Cruz encouraging Republicans to “vote [their] conscience” – Trump delivered his acceptance speech free of any major interruptions. Chants of “USA! USA!” immediately drowned out a lone demonstrator who attempted to disrupt the candidate about a quarter of the way through his remarks.
Trump’s eldest daughter, Ivanka, helped warm the crowd shortly before he took the stage. She described her father as tenderhearted and a man who can be counted on to “fight for you all the way, all the time, every time.”
“Maybe it’s the developer in him, but Donald Trump cannot stand to see empty main streets and boarded-up factories. He can’t comprehend the injustice of college graduates who are crippled by student debt and mothers who can’t afford the cost of the childcare required to return to work to better the lives of their families,” she said. “Other politicians see these hardships, see the unfairness of it all, and say, ‘I feel for you.’ Only my father says, ‘I’ll fight for you.'”
The 2,000-plus Republican delegation roared with applause as their nominee inched closer to uttering his trademark “Make America Great Again” slogan and exiting the stage amid a sea of red, white and blue balloons.
“History is watching us now. It’s waiting to see if we will rise to the occasion, and if we will show the whole world that America is still free and independent and strong,” Trump said.
Taking one last dig at Clinton before they meet on the debate stage, Trump told the men and women who will help decide his political fate: “My opponent asks her supporters to recite a three-word loyalty pledge. It reads: ‘I’m With Her.’ I choose to recite a different pledge. My pledge reads: ‘I’m with you – the American people.'”
