Rep. Stefanik: RNC a smashing success for Republicans and the Trump campaign
New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik weighs in on success of the RNC, issues with DNC speeches.
Night three of the Republican National Convention saw Vice President Mike Pence formally accept his nomination for November's election and included warnings against what the U.S. might be like under a Democratic administration and celebrations of America's heroes.
Here are five key moments from Wednesday night.
Vice President Pence warns that Americans "won't be safe" if Biden wins
While accepting the Republican vice-presidential nomination, Mike Pence painted a dark picture of what the nation would look like if he and President Trump lose November's general election, warning that “you won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America.”
Pence noted that Biden "didn't say one word" last week at the Democratic National Convention about the violence in American cities and then declared: “We will have law and order on the streets of this country."
The vice president emphasized that he and Trump “know the men and women that put on the uniform of law enforcement are the best of us" and said “the American people know we don't have to choose between supporting law enforcement and standing with African American neighbors to improve the quality of life in our cities and towns.”
Pence also addressed the economic crisis that has hit the country along with the coronavirus pandemic and said only Trump can be trusted to bring the country out of it.
Pence urged voters to “ask yourself: Who do you trust to rebuild this economy? A career politician who presided over the slowest economic recovery since the Great Depression? Or a proven leader who created the greatest economy in the world?”
"We will make America great again -- again," Pence said.
Rep. Dan Crenshaw says America "is a country of heroes"
Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, focused on the heroes of America during his RNC speech, saying they are what sets the U.S. apart. Crenshaw, himself a U.S. military veteran, lost his right eye from an explosion while serving his country in Afghanistan.
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“Here’s the truth about America: We are a country of heroes,” he said. “We are a people with a common set of ideals conceived in liberty. People that have sacrificed time and again for our freedom and the freedom of others. That’s something no other country ever anywhere can claim.”
The congressman said that "America’s heroism isn’t relegated to the battlefield," pointing to everyday people who serve their communities and their families.
"It’s the nurse who volunteers for back-to-back shifts to care for COVID patients because she feels that’s her duty," he said. "It’s the parent who will relearn algebra because there’s no way they’re letting their kid fall behind while schools are closed. And it’s the cop that gets spit on one day and will save a child’s life the next.”
Crenshaw then spoke of heroism in the context of calling out characteristics associated with the far-left, cancel culture, violent protests and calls for removing statues of America's founding fathers.
“We need to remind ourselves what heroism really is," he said. "Heroism is self-sacrifice. It’s not moralizing and lecturing over others when they disagree. Heroism is grace, not perpetual outrage. Heroism is rebuilding our communities, not destroying them. Heroism is renewing faith in the symbols that unite us, not tearing them down.”
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He concluded by saying that Americans must be the heroes they admire and that America’s future “will be protected by you.”
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem slams Democrats over violence, divisiveness
In her convention address, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem praised Republican ideals of supporting individual rights and freedoms while accusing Democrats and the far left of threatening the foundation of the country.
"It took 244 years to build this great nation -- flaws and all -- but we stand to lose it in a tiny fraction of that time if we continue down the path taken by the Democrats and their radical supporters," Noem said.
"From Seattle and Portland to Washington and New York, Democrat-run cities across this country are being overrun by violent mobs," she continued. "The violence is rampant. There’s looting, chaos, destruction and murder. People that can afford to flee have fled. But the people that can’t -- good, hard-working Americans -- are left to fend for themselves."
To counter this, she claimed that the GOP's "commitment to individual rights and self-government is as necessary today as it was in 1860 when we won our first presidential election."
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Noem said Republicans treat people as individuals instead of playing identity politics to lump people together by their backgrounds or ideologies.
"Our party respects individuals based on who they are. We don't divide people based on their beliefs or their root," she said. "We don't shun people who think for themselves. We respect everyone equally under the Constitution and we treat them as Martin Luther King Jr. wished, according to the content of their character, not the color of their skin."
Kayleigh McEnany recalls how President Trump supported her in a difficult time
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany shard an emotional, personal story in her convention speech.
"When I was 21 years old, I got a call that changed my life. It was my doctor informing me that I had tested positive for the BRCAII genetic mutation," she said. "A mutation that put my chances of breast cancer at 84%. It was the same mutation that my mom had, compelling her to get a preventative double mastectomy, removing her breast tissue but protecting her from a disease that has taken far too many of our mothers, our sisters, our friends."
She said that in May 2018 she followed in her mother’s footsteps.
“I was scared. The night before I fought back tears, as I prepared to lose a piece of myself,” she recalled.
“During one of my most difficult times, I expected to have the support of my family, but I had more support than I knew," she said.
“Days later, as I recovered, my phone rang. It was President Trump, calling to check on me,” McEnany said. “I was blown away. Here was the leader of the free world caring about me.”
She added: “Though I didn’t personally know the president at the time, I know him well now and I can tell you that this president loves the American people, stands by Americans with preexisting conditions and supports working moms.”
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McEnany went on to describe how the president supported her and her family ever since she became pregnant with her daughter.
“When I started working for President Trump, my husband and I became pregnant with our first child, I would see President Trump at rallies. He would routinely ask me how my baby was doing,” she said. “The same way President Trump has supported me, he supports you.”
Richard Grenell praises Trump for tough foreign policy
Former Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell began his speech by lauding Trump’s foreign policy of opposing lengthy wars and getting other countries to pay their fair share in international agreements.
Grenell, who was once the U.S. ambassador to Germany, praised Trump for standing up to foreign leaders on behalf of the American taxpayers.
“I’ve watched President Trump charm the chancellor of Germany while insisting that Germany pay its NATO obligations. I was proud to witness President Trump say to foreign leaders, ‘I don’t blame you for wanting America to pay for your security; I actually respect you for out-negotiating the presidents before me, but it stops with me.’”
Grenell then turned his attention to Democratic nominee Biden. He noted that Biden was first elected to the Senate back in 1972.
“Every time Joe Biden offers a new idea, you should ask yourself, ‘Why didn’t he try that over the last 48 years?’”
He then slammed the Obama-Biden administration for “secretly” launching a “surveillance operation” on the Trump campaign in 2016.
Earlier this year, while serving as acting DNI, Grenell declassified a slew of documents related to the Russia investigation — and he shared his experience with voters on the third night of the GOP convention.
“As acting director of national intelligence, I saw the Democrats’ entire case for Russia collusion, and what I saw made me sick to my stomach,” Grenell said.
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“The Obama-Biden administration secretly launched a surveillance operation on the Trump campaign, and silenced the many brave intelligence officials who spoke up against it,” Grenell continued. “They presented bogus information as facts. They lied to judges. Then they classified anything that undermined their case.”
Grenell claimed that when Trump won the election in 2016, instead of continuing “the American tradition of helping the president-elect transition into the White House,” the Obama-Biden administration “tried instead to undercut him even more.”
Fox News' Paul Steinhauser and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
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