Donald Trump Jr. warns of ‘silenced majority’ as RNC speakers say freedom, safety on the line in November

President Trump’s oldest son praised his father as “the man who represents a bright and beautiful future for all” and tore into Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden as the “Loch Ness Monster of the Swamp” during the opening night of the Republican National Convention.

Giving one of the major concluding addresses on Monday night, Donald Trump Jr. also charged that "the other party is attacking the very principles on which our nation was founded.”

“Joe Biden and the radical left are also now coming for our freedom of speech and want to bully us into submission.  If they get their way, it will no longer be the ‘silent majority, it will be the ‘silenced majority,’” he warned.

Coming off a week during which Democrats used their quadrennial confab to hammer the president’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and warn that another four years of Trump in the White House would threaten the nation’s democratic foundations, the president's son and other speakers returned fire, railing against socialism, cancel culture, and warning of chaos if Biden is elected.

And Trump used part of his speech to praise his father’s record combating the coronavirus, pushing back against repeated charges from Biden and other Democrats that the president had initially downplayed the severity of the crisis and then botched the federal response to the pandemic.

“As the virus began to spread, the president acted quickly and ensured ventilators got to hospitals that needed them most. He delivered PPE to our brave frontline workers. And he rallied the mighty American private sector, to tackle this new challenge,” the younger Trump emphasized. “There is more work to do, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.”

And pointing to an economy that was nearly flattened by the coronavirus, Trump – who has become a top Republican fundraiser and his father’s most-requested campaign surrogate as he excites the party’s populist base -- spotlighted that “job gains are outpacing what the so-called experts expected.”

Taking aim at the former vice president – who continues to lead the president in national polling and in many of the key general election battleground states – Trump charged that “Biden’s radical leftwing policies would stop our economic recovery cold. He’s already talking about shutting the country down -- again. It’s madness.”

Referencing the national unrest this spring and summer sparked by the death of George Floyd, a Black man in Minnesota who died while in police custody, the younger Trump stressed that “we must put an end to racism, and we must ensure that any police officer who abuses their power is held accountable. What happened to George Floyd is a disgrace. And if you know a police officer, you know they agree with that, too.”

But pushing back by calls by some activists to defund police departments, Trump argued that “we cannot lose sight of the fact that our police are American heroes. They deserve our deepest appreciation. Because no matter what the Democrats say, you and I both know when we dial 911, we don’t want it going to voicemail. So “defunding” the police is not an option.”

“Anarchists have been flooding our streets and Democrat mayors are ordering the police to stand down,” Trump argued. “Small businesses across America—many of them minority owned—are being torched by mobs. The Democrat mayors pretend it’s not happening. They actually called it ‘a summer of love.’”

Following Monday night's speakers, Biden deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield fired back.

“If you tuned into the Republican convention tonight looking for some indication from President Trump that he has a strategy to contain the coronavirus, you’re still waiting," she emphasized. "What you heard tonight was a parade of dark and divisive fear-mongering designed to distract from the fact that Donald Trump does not have an affirmative case to make to the American people about why he should be re-elected."

Trump’s warning about personal freedoms being on the line in November’s general election were echoed throughout the evening by other speakers, including some everyday Americans who were featured on the first night of the convention.

Patricia and Mark McCloskey, the St. Louis couple who made headlines this summer as they aimed their firearms at a group of protesters advocating police reforms who were walking along their neighborhood’s private streets, warned that “no matter where you live, your family will not be safe in the radical Democrats’ America.”

Mark McCloskey has maintained that he was scared for his life and brandished a weapon to protect his home and wife, and the White House has defended the couple's actions on multiple occasions, as they face felony charges. He charged that “the radicals are not content just marching in the streets. They want to walk the halls of Congress. They want power. This is Joe Biden’s party. These are the people who will be in charge of your future and future of your children.”

Republican National Committee (RNC) chairwoman Ronna McDaniel also warned about a Democratic Party that’s pushing polices that were “unthinkable a decade ago.” And she claimed that Biden cares “more about countries like China and Iran than the United States of America."

The president made two brief recorded appearances in the prime time programming – hosting at the White House six Americans held hostage in Iran, Syria, and Venezuela who were freed during his presidency, and a discussion with frontline workers in the battle against the coronavirus.

Trump – who’s not expected to stray far from the spotlight during the 4-day confab -- didn’t wait until the Republican convention’s kick off prime time session to stoke the flames.

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Earlier Monday, the president – speaking to Republican Party officials and delegates gathered in Charlotte, North Carolina to formally re-nominate Trump and Vice President Mike Pence – used his nearly hour long speech to raise doubts about the integrity of November’s general election. And he peppered his defiant and incendiary comments with blasts against efforts to increase voting my mail during the coronavirus pandemic and accusations that the Democrats are “using COVID to steal our election.”

The president, who took to the stage amid chants of “four more years” from his supporters, immediately began stirring the pot by saying “if you want to really drive them crazy, you say 12 more years.”

While the first evening of the convention spotlighted the president’s oldest son, it shift to first lady Melania Trump on Tuesday. She’s scheduled to give the crowning address. Earlier in the evening, two of the president’s children, Eric and Tiffany, have speaking slots.

Also speaking during the second day of the confab – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky – both of whom may have national aspirations in 2024. Pompeo’s expected to deliver his address from an “undisclosed location” in Israel, as American’s top diplomat is on a Mideast peace swing. Despite assurances from the State Department that Pompeo will be speaking in his personal capacity, he and Republican Party officials are facing a chorus of criticism that the secretary of state’s breaking decades of precedence in not using the office for partisan purposes.

Nicholas Sandmann, the Trump supporter and MAGA cap wearing teen from Covington, Kentucky will also be in the convention spotlight. Sandmann made national headlines last year after being falsely accused of harassing a Native American demonstrator as he and fellow classmates protested against abortion rights at the Lincoln Memorial in the nation’s capital.

And the governor and lt. governor of two general election battleground states crucial to a Trump victory in November also get speaking slots on Tuesday. They are Gov. Kim Keynolds of Iowa and Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez.