WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump prepared to attack Democratic rival Joe Biden on the Republican National Convention’s final night on Thursday, as the United States struggles to address the coronavirus pandemic and a wave of anti-racism protests.
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump holds a news conference about the latest coronavirus disease (COVID-19) developments, in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, U.S. August 23, 2020. REUTERS/Erin Scott
The Republican incumbent plans to take on his Democratic challenger, who is leading in opinion polls ahead of the Nov. 3 election, in a speech on the White House South Lawn, a controversial location for a partisan event.
“At no time before have voters faced a clearer choice between two parties, two visions, two philosophies, or two agendas,” Trump is expected to say.
“We have spent the last four years reversing the damage Joe Biden inflicted over the last 47 years,” he said, referring to Biden’s career as a senator and vice president.
Biden countered by saying Trump was to blame for the way the pandemic and racial strife have spread across the United States.
“These guys are rooting for violence. That’s what it’s all about,” Biden said on CNN. “To prove the issue ‘be scared of Joe Biden,’ they’re pointing to what’s happening in Donald Trump’s America.”
Excerpts from Trump’s speech were provided by a source on condition of anonymity.
ECHOES OF 2016 CAMPAIGN
Trump’s speech comes as the United States reports more than 180,000 deaths from the coronavirus — more than any other country — and amid a fresh wave of protests against the latest high-profile police shooting of a Black American.
The expected tone echoes his message four years ago, in his first run for public office.
“I have a message for all of you: The crime and violence that today afflicts our nation will soon, and I mean very soon, come to an end,” Trump told the Republican convention in Cleveland in July 2016.
In Kenosha, Wisconsin, relative calm returned on Thursday after three nights of civil strife ending Tuesday - including arson, vandalism and deadly shootings - all sparked by a police shooting that paralyzed a Black man.
Trump, a former New York real estate developer, is seeking to turn around a re-election campaign that has been largely overshadowed by the pandemic, which has put millions of Americans out of work.
While his approval rating among Republican voters remains high, dissent within his own party is mounting. In three open letters being published on Thursday and Friday, Biden won endorsements from more than 160 people who worked for former President George W. Bush or for past Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and John McCain, the New York Times and Politico reported.
Earlier this week, 27 former Republican lawmakers endorsed Biden while the Lincoln Project, among the most prominent Republican-backed groups opposing Trump, said a former Republican Party head had joined it as a senior adviser.
FIREWORKS SPECTACLE
Trump, a former reality television host, and his advisers have set up his speech with a producer’s eye. He will address the nation with the White House as his backdrop, irking critics who say holding a political event there is a potential violation of the law.
The Hatch Act, which limits the use of federal property for political purposes, excludes the president and vice president but not other federal employees, including White House staff.
Fireworks are expected over Washington’s nearby monuments at the conclusion of Trump’s speech. He will address a large crowd on the lawn despite warnings against such gatherings because of the pandemic, which has forced both political parties to scale back their conventions and make events mostly virtual.
Trump’s campaign says coronavirus precautions will be taken.
The Republican convention has attracted fewer television viewers on two of its three nights so far, including on Wednesday, according to early Nielsen Media Research.
A total of 15.7 million people watched the third night of the mostly virtual Republican National Convention across six TV networks, fewer than the 21.4 million viewers who watched the third night of the Democratic National Convention across the same number of networks.
Democrats have criticized Trump’s aggressive response to demonstrations sparked by the May 25 Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd, a Black man.
On Wednesday, Trump said he was sending federal law enforcement and the National Guard to Kenosha, Wisconsin, after violent protests there following the latest shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake, by police.
Trump kicked off the week on Monday by accusing Democrats of seeking to steal the election by advocating for mail-in voting. His previous high-profile speeches have also emphasized grim themes, including his inaugural address in January 2017 that described “American carnage.”
Other speakers scheduled for Thursday include Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell; Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson; attorney Rudy Giuliani, a fierce critic of Biden and his son Hunter, and religious leader Franklin Graham.
Reporting by Jeff Mason; Additional reporting by Jason Lange, Joseph Ax and Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Scott Malone, Soyoung Kim, Howard Goller and Jonathan Oatis
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