President Donald Trump plans to tell voters that Democratic rival Joe Biden would pursue the “most extreme set of proposals ever put forward by a major party nominee” when he delivers his acceptance speech Thursday night at the Republican National Convention.
Trump has complained that the Democrats' message was too dark and pessimistic when they held their own scaled-back convention last week. But excerpts of the president's prepared remarks suggest he, too, will have plenty of negative things to say, excoriating Biden, who ran a centrist campaign for the Democratic nomination.
“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."
Aides said Trump will also make clear that he plans to unite a country that has increasingly shown fractures in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic and nationwide protests over police brutality and racial injustice.
”The Republican Party goes forward united, determined and ready to welcome millions of Democrats, independents and anyone who believes in the greatness of America and the righteous heart of the American people," the president will say, according to excerpts released in advance.
Trump will take the stage on the South Lawn — only the second president to deliver his convention acceptance speech from the White House — convinced that he's on the verge of righting the ship of his battered campaign. Most polls show him trailing Biden in both battleground states and national polling.
The president's chief advisers say that Trump has been bolstered by the convention and by crisper messaging on the ongoing pandemic.
“Look, the American people like the president’s platform," said Jared Kushner, White House senior adviser during an event hosted by Politico. "They like his policies. They want, you know, a president who’s going to be bringing jobs back to America from overseas. They want law and order. They want somebody who can keep their community safe.
