'One man': Republicans use second night of RNC to claim only Donald Trump can fix country's problems

Republicans used the second night of their presidential nominating convention to push a message that "one man" – and one only – is capable of "confronting tyrants" and combating the country's many challenges.

The Republican National Convention's second night was supposedly about the wide and deep availability of economic opportunity that the United States offers. But, like most things involving the president, it quickly took on the feel of a television infomercial about Donald John Trump, who trails nationally and in battleground state polls and has struggled to stop the spread of the coronavirus or deal with ongoing racial strife. Still, Republican speakers used the prime time event, just as they did four years ago, to depict the former reality television host and businessman as the problem-solver-in-chief.

First Lady Melania Trump summed up the focus on her husband during the convention's first two nights, saying to him, seated near by in the Rose Garden: "We know it is you who will carry us through again." Eric Trump, the president's middle son, praised the "movement" that he said his father spawned in 2016, but warned there is a "counter-movement" from far-left Democrats who want to "defund law enforcement."

The first lady said of her husband: "America is in his heart." The bearded Trump son boldly declared of Republicans' battle against Democrats: "It is a fight only my father can win."

The mother of teenager Barron Trump, Ms Trump spoke directly to the suburban mothers who have been fleeing the president's 2016 coalition since early in his term. "In my husband, you have a president who will not stop fighting for you and your families," she said, crickets singing behind her in the garden on a muggy August night. "If you tell him it cannot be done, he just works harder. ... He's what is best for our country."

But Eric Trump also uttered the kinds of false statement that have become synonymous with his father, saying the president has ended foreign wars and brought peace to the entire Middle East. He also oddly said that Trump helped defeat fascism and communism. (American troops are still deployed in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. Mr Trump helped broker an Israeli-UAE peace pact, but the Jewish state remains at odds with the Palestinians, Iran and extremist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.)

Other conservatives joined in for over two hours, portraying the Trump family patriarch as a watchful father to the entire country, protecting it from a liberal force that wants to instil socialism. And the only remedy, they claimed, is to ensure Donald Trump is awarded four more years as president.

"Supporting our president requires action," Florida Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Nunez said. "We must continue to support our commander in chief, who has a bold agenda."

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a former GOP congressman, addressed the convention from Israel, a move that seemed exclusively aimed at American evangelical voters, who view the Jewish community as a key to their beliefs about the afterlife. Mr Pompeo addressed the convention from Jerusalem, drawing howls from Democrats that it torched longstanding norms for Cabinet officials to remain out of politics – and shattered a tradition of secretaries of state not commenting on politics, much less at a party convention, while on foreign soil.

"This speech by Secretary Pompeo is a major mistake. It politicizes his office, our relationship with Israel and does what he asked every State Department employee not to do--engage in partisan political activity in an election year," tweeted Nicholas Burns, a longtime US senior diplomat.

A Democratic-run House subcommittee said it plans to investigate, noting Mr Pompeo recently warned State Department diplomats against political speech while abroad in guidelines on which he signed off.

'Repeated and blatant'

The Biden campaign also slammed the address.

"Secretary Pompeo's decision to address the Republican Convention from Jerusalem isn't just an abuse of taxpayer dollars, it undermines the critical work being done by the State Department," Deputy Campaign Manager and Communications Director Kate Bedingfield said in a statement.

"Every day America's diplomats abroad proudly represent our country – not a political party – but Mike Pompeo's repeated and blatant use of his office for overtly political purposes only serves to undercut their work," she added, "and it further weakens the critical alliances and global relationships that have already been so badly damaged by this administration's recklessness."

Several senior White House officials were slated to also address the GOP event, including: chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow and Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter and West Wing aide. When Mr Kudlow spoke on Tuesday night from Connecticut – not the White House – he did not try to hide his relationship with the Hatch Act; a blue flag with a seal of the executive branch was positioned in the background.

The convention wrapped its second night with an ultra-conservative message, again with conventional-sounding speeches from several conventional politicians.

The president made several brief appearances, first pardoning a former inmate who turned his life around after finding the Christian religion in prison. It was an unprecedented, and another norms-busting, moment for a sitting president to exercise a power of his office during a re-election convention. Later, he presided over a swearing-in ceremony for a handful of newly minted US citizens who he said "followed the rules" and "embraced our values," an apparent message to his conservative base that, if they vote in big numbers, he will continue his hardline immigration policies.

He made those comments amid a new round of negative poll numbers. A YouGov survey released on Tuesday of registered voters put his approval rating at 44 per cent – but his disapproval at 54 per cent. Another, released on Monday by Morning Consult and Politico, found Mr Trump's approval rating is 42 per cent but his disapproval rating stands at 56.

Political strategists say an incumbent's disapproval rating is worth paying more attention to because it reflects how energised his or her foes might be.

What's more, polls of the entire country and battle ground states continue to suggest Mr Trump has ample ground to make up with two full months of campaigning remaining.

A number of average Americans and GOP officials spoke during the second night.

'Build the Bidens'

Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi played off the ostensible theme of the night – "Land of Opportunity" – by calling Mr Biden an "opportunist" then questioning the former vice president's work in Ukraine while son Hunter Biden profited from his work on an energy firm's board of directors. She did the same for the younger Biden's business dealings with "the Chinese Communist Party."

To allege the former VP is corrupt, Ms Bondi then played off one of the Biden campaign's slogan for the Democratic nominee's approach to a post-coronavirus era: "Build the Bidens back better."

Libertarian GOP Senator Rand Paul promised Americans that Mr Trump would "end wars" even though speakers the night before said he would restore America as a global power.

But the biggest theme of the night was the president as a one-man problem slayer.

A dairy rancher from Wisconsin underscored just how much the convention is focused on the president, saying "one man" deserves credit for saving the American food-production system during the Covid-19 outbreak: Donald Trump. Later, the Democratic mayor of Eveleth, Minnesota, Robert Vlaisavljevich, said the country has "one man to thank" for the pre-Covid economy: Donald Trump.

Both states are battlegrounds that the two campaigns are targeting hard as part of their candidates' paths to 270 Electoral College votes. Mr Trump won Wisconsin, but lost Minnesota narrowly in 2016.

Eric Trump closed his remarks by speaking directly to his father in a rather surreal moment that followed so many surreal moments since his father was sworn in.

"I miss working alongside you every single day. ... I love you very much," the son said, before marvelling at "the hell you give" to all of Washington before adding: "Let's go win four more years."