Donald Trump Jr. will take the fight to Joe Biden during his Republican convention speech on Monday night, criticizing the Democratic nominee for a far-left platform that he says will hurt American workers.
It is understood that the president’s son had not recorded his contribution by Monday morning, suggesting he might be planning to deliver it live from the Mellon Auditorium, which is serving as the hub for the week’s proceedings in Washington, D.C.
That is one of a number of measures that organizers hope will offer a more authentic message to voters after Democrats conducted a slick, largely prerecorded vision last week.
It also puts President Trump’s eldest son at the heart of a key project: defining Biden and shifting the election from a referendum on the president’s performance to a choice between a Republican or a Democratic view of America.
A source familiar with Trump Jr.’s speech said, “Expect him to contrast his father’s positive policy vision for America with Biden’s far-left policy vision, which he will argue is designed to crush the working men and women of our country.”
It marks a bit of a departure for a man known for his bombastic approach to campaigning, delighting in poking ridicule at the most “woke” fringes of the Democratic Party. He turned his critique into a bestselling book, Triggered, which was thin on positive policy prescriptions but heavy on red meat for the base.
Typical triggering moments for the president’s son this year have included posing for a photograph with a gun decorated with an image of Hillary Clinton behind bars and dismissing Democratic hopeful Michael Bloomberg as a “jerk.”
His popularity and energy mean he has also served as a warm-up man for his father at rallies.
Although he will be speaking on a night that features some of Trump’s most pugilistic public supporters and deployers of memes, including his girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle, Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk, and Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida and Jim Jordan of Ohio, his speech is expected to tackle Biden on policy, criticizing the former vice president’s record in Washington and outlining how a President Biden would sell out working men and women.
That chimes with what many Republican strategists want to see, with a more focused attempt to draw Biden into the debate.
And it follows public promises that the week would offer a more positive image of America and its future than on display last week.
For his part, Trump told Fox News in an interview broadcast on Sunday evening: “I think we’re going to see something that is going to be very uplifting and positive. That’s what I’d like it to be.”
