Mike Pence’s speech at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night touted the IN governor’s record on jobs, tax cuts, infrastructure and school funding – all accomplished, he says, while balancing the state’s budget. The evening includes speeches from Donald Trump’s former rivals Texas Sen.
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The Texas senator was finishing his speech at the Republican National Convention Wednesday, without endorsing the Republican nominee, when Trump took the opportunity to enter the convention hall to chants of “we want Trump!” from the audience.
Mr Pence praised Mr Trump’s record as a businessman and said the country had “but one choice” in November. Ted Cruz dramatically declined to endorse the party’s nominee. He named the NY real estate mogul only once in his entire speech, and that was to congratulate Trump for winning the nomination.
In previous Republican conventions, delegate bodies were overwhelmingly white, but the rostrum was filled with prominent GOP minorities – like Haley and Rubio and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Trump’s family will once again step forward to rally the nation to their father’s side. But they left the Republican National Convention late Wednesday night saying they believe Donald J. Trump did well to choose the IN governor as his running mate.
But the most telling phrase Pence used was an attack on Hillary Clinton, casting her as the “Secretary of Status Quo”.
“People are looking to find ways to be supportive”, Roe said.
In a dash of showmanship that emphasized his stature and flair for the dramatic, Trump touched down in Cleveland on his personal airplane earlier Wednesday and then flitted between the city’s skyscrapers on his helicopter.
“In my home state of In we prove every day that you can build a growing economy on balanced budgets, low taxes”, Pence said, addressing the Republican convention.
Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort said that even if Cruz doesn’t actually endorse the party’s nominee, he suspects it will be clear that he supports Trump’s candidacy.
Kevin Moynihan of New Canaan, a late supporter of Trump, said he had known nothing about Pence, other than Malloy’s well-known gibes at him for opposing the relocation of Syrian refugees to IN and signing a religious freedom law that gays and lesbians say discriminatory to the LGBT community.
A resignation was offered, rejected, and the convention moves on.
The campaign had hoped Pence’s address would quiet Republican doubts about Trump.
The campaign recovered somewhat from its rocky start on Tuesday night, after a strong performance by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who fired up the crowd with a mock trial of Hillary Clinton.
Even as the political world was trying to digest the events of Wednesday, Trump detonated yet another controversy during an interview with The New York Times.
That’s where Pence comes in. He then proceeded to ignore the nominee through the rest of his speech, instead encouraging his legion of fans within the party to focus on fighting for their principles. The job, of course, went to Mike Pence, but the former House speaker is still going to bat for Trump.
After Trump and Pence gave brief remarks, they walked along a greeting line and shook hands with supporters who were let into the event on the grounds of the Great Lakes Science Center, which sits near Lake Erie. “I don’t know what’s going to happen”, Cruz told his rowdy supporters, many of them cheering another bid. “It’s time to win in November”.
“That was pretty well orchestrated”, Cruz quipped.
“During the course of the speech, more and more people were coming down closer and closer to Heidi and (Ted Cruz’s father) Rafael …”
He’ll be the keynote speaker Wednesday night.
The differences between Cruz and Trump were based in personality and policy.
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For a third straight night, the crowd repeatedly chanted, “Lock her up”.
