2024 Election Latest: With Trump as its official presidential nominee, RNC enters second day

By James On Jul 16, 2024

The Republican National Convention enters its second day, now with Donald Trump officially as a presidential candidate.

Trump galvanized the crowd Monday night by entering the arena with a bandage over his right ear after being wounded in an assassination attempt Saturday. Expect more speakers Tuesday to speak about what they called the former president’s strength and resilience after the shooting at his Pennsylvania rally.

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Here’s the latest news:

The first night of the Republican National Convention Monday kept the official focus on the economy, even after Saturday shooting at a rally in Pennsylvania where former President Donald Trump was injured.

Speakers argued that Trump would solve inflation and restore prosperity simply by returning to the White House as president. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin lamented, “Tonight, America, the land of opportunity, just doesn’t feel that way anymore.”

But Trump has released few hard numbers, no real policy texts or legislative blueprints, and most of Monday’s speakers didn’t go into specifics either. Instead, his campaign is betting that voters care more about attitude than policy details. Trump says he wants tariffs on trading partners and no tip taxes. He’d like to see corporate taxes cut a bit. Republican platform also promises to “beat” inflation and “quickly bring all prices down,” in addition to pumping more oil, natural gas and coal.

The platform would partially crack down on illegal immigration with the “largest deportation program in American history.” And Trump would also scrap President Joe Biden’s policies to develop the electric vehicle and renewable energy market.

Democrats and several leading economists say the math shows Trump’s ideas would fuel skyrocketing inflation, destroy the middle class and — by extending his soon-to-expire tax cuts — add more than $5 trillion to the national debt.

▶ Read more about Trump’s economic agenda

President Joe Biden will speak today at the NAACP convention in Las Vegas, highlighting his administration’s support for black voters, who play a key role in the Democratic coalition, and his personal political support.

He will also participate in an interview with BET. Tomorrow, he will speak at UnidosUS, in an effort to broaden his appeal to Latino voters, another key Democratic-leaning bloc.

Trump chose the US Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio to be his running mate as he returns to the White House. Here are a few things to know about the 39-year-old Republican who is now in his first term in the Senate:

1. Vance rose to fame with his bestselling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” a book about his roots in rural Kentucky and workers ohio.

2. Vance was a “never Trump” Republican in 2016, but by the time Vance met Trump in 2021, he had changed his mind.

3. Vance and Trump have personal chemistry: The two speak regularly on the phone, and Trump has complimented Vance’s beard, saying he “looks like a young Abraham Lincoln.”

▶Read more about JD Vance

Nikki Haley, Trump’s former primary rival, was added to the program at the last minute.

The former ambassador to the United Nations and governor of South Carolina waited two months after I quit in March to say she would vote for him. Then last week she said announced She was going to instruct her congressional delegates to vote for Trump, but she had no plans to attend.

It wasn’t until Sunday, hours after the shooting, that her office reversed its decision and said she would speak.

Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell is arguably responsible for the GOP’s biggest policy achievements, particularly in installing conservative judges at all levels of the judiciary. But that didn’t matter much to the Trump-friendly crowd at the RNC, which greeted the Kentucky Republican with boos — a palpable rejection of someone demonized as an establishment Republican who failed to adequately support the former president.

Shortly after, J.D. Vance received a very different reception. The second-youngest U.S. senator — and the first millennial to appear on a major party ticket — drew loud applause as he first stepped onto the floor of Congress as Trump’s running mate.

The two contrasting moments offered a glimpse into the transformations the GOP has undergone under Trump. They capped an era in which McConnell has gone from one of his party’s most powerful leaders and astute tacticians to someone booed on the floor of Congress by activists from within his own party.

The Republican National Convention enters its second day, now with Donald Trump officially as a presidential candidate.

The Republican National Convention kicked off less than 48 hours after Trump was the subject of a shocking assassination attempt in Pennsylvania. The shooting, which left Trump wounded and one man dead, hung like a dark cloud over the convention, with speakers expressing gratitude for the former president’s survival and resolving to reclaim the White House in November.

Trump greeted his supporters as he left the arena, protected by a noticeably larger security contingent of U.S. Secret Service agents.

Just a week after the AFL-CIO endorsed President Biden, another labor leader came to speak at the Republican Party convention.

Teamsters Union President Sean O’Brien said workers are being taken for granted and sold out to big banks, big tech companies and the corporate elite. O’Brien said the Teamsters are “beholden to no one or any party” and will work with a bipartisan coalition.

“I don’t care if I’m criticized,” O’Brien said, defying longtime Democratic support.

With a large white bandage over his right ear from the assassination attempt on him, President Trump entered the convention hall as delegates cheered. Many held up signs or took photos and videos on their phones.

He was cheered by musician Lee Greenwood, who sang his signature song, “God Bless the USA.”

“Is there any doubt who the next president of the United States will be? Prayer works,” Greenwood said as the former president took the stage.

JD Vance said his 7-year-old son was making a lot of noise in the background when Trump called him to offer him the job of vice president on the Republican ticket.

Vance knew Trump was calling with big news, but he didn’t know if it was good or bad news for him, the first-term Ohio senator told Fox News host Sean Hannity in his first interview since Trump announced his pick.

He said Trump also wanted to speak to his son.

“This guy got shot a couple days ago and he takes the time to talk to my seven-year-old son,” Vance said.

“It’s a moment I’ll never forget.”

He said he and Trump have been close since Trump endorsed him in his 2022 Senate race. He said he wouldn’t have won that race without Trump’s support.