Immigration and foreign policy dominated the third day of the Republican National Convention, with Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance highlighting his roots as he accepted President Donald Trump’s nomination for vice president.
The third day of the Republican National Convention culminated with remarks from Vance that drew a furious response from a raucous crowd. Though he has built a reputation as an aggressive figure, the senator focused on his record, his vision for the country and the need for Trump to be re-elected.
Here are five lessons learned from the events of that night.
Vance steps into the spotlight
Vance made his debut as Trump’s running mate with a speech that highlighted his rural background and Appalachian upbringing, pitching himself as an approachable running mate to the man he once called “the American Hitler.”
“I never imagined I’d be standing here tonight,” Vance said after formally accepting his appointment.
“I grew up in Middletown, Ohio, a small town where people spoke their minds, built their own businesses, and truly loved God, family, community and country. But it was also a place that had been abandoned and forgotten by America’s ruling class in Washington,” he said, pitching the Trump-Vance duo as the region’s champions.
He touched on his time in the Marines and his first term in the Senate, but focused on inspirational stories, including that of his “very tough” grandmother and his single mother’s struggle with drug addiction.
Vance also used the opportunity to praise Trump, highlighting the moment the former president pumped his fist at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania where he nearly lost his life in an assassination attempt over the weekend.
“Just look at that picture of him with his fist raised and his defiant attitude. When Donald Trump stood up on that field in Pennsylvania, the whole of America stood behind him,” Vance said of Trump’s narrow escape, as the former president looked on from the stands, his ear bandaged after being grazed by a bullet.
“Even in our most dangerous moments, he had us in his thoughts,” Vance said. “His instincts called him to lead us to greater heights.”
Split screen is brutal for Democrats
The convention comes at a particularly good time for Republicans but a particularly awkward time for Democrats.
While Republicans try to come together and support Biden after his candidate’s near assassination, turmoil within the party has resurfaced as Democrats grow increasingly vocal in calling for President Biden to step down.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the Democratic candidate for the California Senate, has become one of the leading lawmakers in his party to call on Biden to drop his reelection bid, saying he has “serious concerns” about whether the incumbent can beat Trump in this fall’s presidential election.
This came on the same day an Associated Press poll showed widespread dissatisfaction with Biden, with two in three Democrats saying the president should step down and nearly half saying they weren’t sure he has the mental capacity to be an effective president.
A new memo from a Democratic-funded polling group also suggests that if four prominent Democrats were to replace Biden at the top of the list, they would likely outperform him in key battleground states.
All of this highlighted the ongoing divisions within the Democratic Party over who should lead it as Election Day looms. Meanwhile, Republicans have consistently emphasized party unity in their speeches at the Republican National Convention, but the scathing attacks on Democrats undermined their message of national unity.
“We love our country and we are united to win,” Vance said in a message to Republicans that seemed to neatly sum up his previous Republican National Convention speeches.
While Vance was speaking, CNN report Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., privately told Biden he wouldn’t win and that could jeopardize Democrats’ chances of taking back the House, the report said. report Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., also reportedly told Biden that dropping out would be his best course of action, suggesting doubts about whether Biden should continue in the race may be circulating even at the highest levels of the party. (A spokesman for Schumer called the reports about him “unfounded speculation.”)
“Everyday” speaker criticizes Biden’s foreign policy
Among the most effective speakers of the night were not politicians but, in fact, “ordinary Americans” who harshly criticized Biden on foreign policy.
In between appearances by prominent Republicans, “everyday” speakers spoke about how Biden’s foreign policy has caused them painful personal losses.
Arizona ranchers Jim and Sue Chilton, whose land borders more than five miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, raised the alarm about drug smuggling and human trafficking.
“It looks like an invasion, it feels like an invasion – and it is an invasion,” Jim Chilton said of the border crossing he observed through a camera on his ranch.
“We know firsthand that Biden’s open borders are the biggest national security threat to our country,” he said.
Orna and Ronen Neutra, parents of an American hostage in Gaza, questioned “where is the anger” after their son Omer and several other Americans were held captive by Hamas following the Israeli attack on Oct. 7. They said the attack was directed at Americans as well as Israel, and appeared to imply that the Biden administration should take further steps to free them.
And in one of the night’s most heartbreaking moments, families of 13 U.S. soldiers killed in a 2021 bombing at Kabul’s airport during the withdrawal from Afghanistan spoke out about their own personal losses, stymieing Biden on one of his most sensitive issues.
Speakers try to humanize Trump
One recurring theme among the non-political speakers was an attempt to humanize Trump as a father, grandfather and caring person.
The most notable speaker was Kai Madison Trump, daughter and granddaughter of Donald Trump Jr., who called her grandfather an “inspiration” and a “regular grandpa.”
“When our parents aren’t looking, my dad gives us candy and soda,” she said, as Trump smiled. “He always wants to know how we’re doing in school.”
Several speakers who have experienced personal hardships also expressed gratitude for the sensitivity shown by Trump during his speech.
Gold Star families who spoke about Afghanistan praised Trump for showing them sympathy. Christy Shamblin, whose daughter-in-law was killed, said Trump spent six hours with her family.
“He allowed us to grieve. He allowed us to remember our heroes. Donald Trump knew all our children’s names,” she said.
Meanwhile, they criticized Biden’s “silence” about his administration’s “failures” that allowed the incident to happen.
Trent Conaway, the mayor of East Palestine, Ohio, also pointed to Trump’s quick visit to his city last year after a train derailment caused a release of toxic chemicals and forced some residents to evacuate. He said Biden’s visit was “scripted,” but Trump’s was the real deal.
“[Trump] “He listened to our stories, shared meals with the volunteers and was a genuine presence,” Conaway said.
Navarro wowed the crowd.
Peter Navarro, President Trump’s former trade adviser, wowed the crowd when he took to the stage at the Republican National Convention just hours after being released from prison.
Navarro, who was serving a four-month sentence for failing to comply with a congressional subpoena in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, entered the convention hall to a standing ovation and more than a minute of applause.
“Indeed, I just got out of a federal prison in Miami this morning,” Navarro said, to fresh cheers.
“I’m Peter Navarro, and I went to prison so you wouldn’t have to go to prison.”
Navarro took to the microphone to blast Democrats for their “legal war” against conservatives and deliver an ominous warning to his audience that Democrats “are going to come at you.”
“If we don’t control all three branches of government, their government will put some of us in jail, like me and Steve Bannon, and control the rest of us,” he said.
The comments underscored the Republican Party’s broader message that it is entering a politically motivated war. Trump has said he would “absolutely” rehire his former advisers if he is re-elected in November.
“In Trump’s America, you don’t have to worry about going to jail for speaking out against the government,” Navarro said. “I went to jail so you don’t have to. I’m a wake-up call for you.”
