‘Humble and grateful’ Donald Trump accepts GOP nomination for US president
In lengthy address, billionaire blames Clinton for Mideast turmoil, says her legacy is ‘death, destruction, terrorism and weakness,’ vows to put ‘America First’
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CLEVELAND, Ohio — New York billionaire Donald Trump on Thursday formally accepted the Republican Party nomination for president, vowing to defeat Hillary Clinton in November and claim victory in the US general election.
“I humbly and gratefully accept your nomination for the presidency of the United States,” he said to a standing ovation and chants at the Republican National Convention.
“Together, we will lead our party back to the White House,” he told the giant sports arena in Cleveland, vowing to get tough faced with the recent shootings and attacks that have rocked the country.
Between defining chants of “U-S-A” and “Trump, Trump, Trump,” the mogul-turned-TV-star-turned-politico cast himself as the “law and order candidate” and vowed to champion “people who work hard but no longer have a voice.
“I am your voice,” he declared pointing into the cameras, promising a return to more secure times with “millions of new jobs and trillions in new wealth.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5uO9_aw_Zg
But Trump also showed why he is one of the most controversial US politicians in living memory.
Speaking for over an hour, he repeated many of the hard right themes from a bruising primary campaign.
Foreigners from terror-linked countries would be banned, a wall will be built on the Mexican border and trade deals would be ripped up and renegotiated.
“Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it,” he said.
Trump: “I alone can fix this.”
Is this guy running for president or dictator? #RNCwithBernie— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) July 22, 2016
Former Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders took umbrage.
“Trump: ‘I alone can fix this.’ Is this guy running for president or dictator?'” he tweeted.
But the Republican Party rank-and-file lapped it up, rising to its feet in standing ovation after standing ovation and displaying none of the divisions that have plagued the four-day convention.
“I think Donald is very real, and I like that about him,” said Dayna Dent, 69, retired, a delegate from Washington state.
This, a Trump top aide remarked, is now the “party of Trump.” Many of the Republican old guard had stayed away.
The Mideast matters
The builder-turned-politician lamented US intervention in the Middle East and blamed Clinton for making America — and the world — “less safe.”
“After fifteen years of wars in the Middle East, after trillions of dollars spent and thousands of lives lost, the situation is worse than it has ever been before,” Trump said. “This is the legacy of Hillary Clinton: death, destruction, terrorism and weakness.”
“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,” he said. “I am certain it is a decision he truly regrets. Her bad instincts and her bad judgment — something pointed out by Bernie Sanders — are what caused so many of the disasters unfolding today.”
When the crowd began chanting “Lock her up!” — a chant heard during previous nights at the convention — Trump waved his hands in a motion to discourage the refrain. Then he said: “Let’s defeat her in November.”
We are better than this.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) July 22, 2016
Clinton fired off an icy rebuke on Twitter, telling him: “We are better than this.”
Speakers this week have lined up to denounce the presumptive Democratic nominee, accusing her of responsibility for the deaths of their loved ones, of carrying out questionable foreign policies and of putting national security at risk by using a private email server for sensitive government information.
Clinton will formally accept the Democratic nomination at her own convention next week. Polls show she is still winning in a head-to-head race against Trump, but also indicate a recent downturn in what was once a comfortable lead.
Trump also lambasted the Iran nuclear deal, which he said “gave us absolutely nothing” and “will go down in history as one of the worst deals ever negotiated.”
While he mentioned Israel only in passing, the candidate did note briefly that the US ought to work with the Jewish state to combat terrorism.
“We must work with all of our allies who share our goal of destroying ISIS and stamping out Islamic terrorism and doing it now, doing it quickly… This includes working with our greatest ally in the region, the State of Israel,” he said to applause.
The address also stressed the campaign theme of “America First” — a slogan that has caused consternation among the American Jewish community over its echoes of Charles Lindbergh’s 1940 presidential campaign and America First Committee. Lindbergh was an isolationist and Nazi sympathizer whose rhetoric was infused with anti-Semitism.
When Trump first introduced his adoption of the slogan, the Anti-Defamation League urged him to drop it. But Trump dismissed the watchdog’s criticism.
“The most important difference between our plan and that of our opponents is that our plan will put America First. Americanism, not globalism, will be our credo,” he said Thursday night. “As long as we are led by politicians who will not put America First, then we can be assured that other nations will not treat America with respect. This will all change in 2017.”
Trump was introduced at the convention by his daughter Ivanka, who sought to present a softer side to her famously abrasive father.
In her speech, Ivanka — who is Jewish — vouched for her father on issues relating to women and minorities — two groups Donald Trump has struggled to win over.
Trump’s oldest daughter said her father is “color blind and gender neutral.” She said “he hires the best person for the job, period.” The younger Trump noted she’s worked with her father for more than a decade and seen him hire people from “all walks of life.”
Ivanka Trump also promised that Donald Trump will fight for equal pay for women and affordable child care. She said her father will “focus on making quality childcare affordable and accessible for all” if elected.
Trump hasn’t addressed child care costs or the gender pay gap so far in his 2016 presidential bid.
It remains unclear if his message will be enough to unite a Republican Party riven with doubts over his candidature.
On Wednesday those doubts were laid bare when Trump’s primary rival and conservative flag-bearer Ted Cruz pointedly refused to endorse him.
“Vote your conscience,” Cruz told the convention to a chorus of boos.
The Times of Israel Community.