Melania Trump was the intended star of the night. Photo / AP
Melania Trump was the intended star of the night. Photo / AP
First lady Melania Trump portrayed her husband as an authentic, uncompromising leader in a Rose Garden address Tuesday night as President Donald Trump turned to family, farmers and the trappings of the presidency to boost his reelection chances on the second night of the scaled-down Republican National Convention.
Trump's remarks, like much of the night's prime-time programme, offered a polished portrait of Donald Trump's presidency — at odds at times with the crises, division and unforgiving actions of his tenure in the White House.
Showing a more forgiving side with millions of voters watching, the president pardoned a reformed felon and oversaw a naturalisation ceremony for several immigrants in the midst of the programme, though he frequently states his vigorous opposition to more immigration, legal as well as illegal.
"In my husband, you have a president who will not stop fighting for you and your families," said Mrs Trump, an immigrant herself. "he will not give up."
Mrs Trump and two of his five children led a diverse collection of supporters, including a convicted bank robber, calling for Trump's reelection on a night that featured a distinctly more positive tone than the night before.
Melania Trump also thanked all the healthcare workers, frontline workers and teachers who "stepped up" despite the risk to themselves over Covid-19. Photo / AP
"It seems like just yesterday that we were at our first convention," Mrs Trump said.
"Yet the energy and enthusiasm for who should lead this nation is as real today as it was four years ago.
"I know I speak for my husband and the entire family when I say we have not forgotten the incredible people who were willing to take a chance on a businessman who had never worked in politics. We know it was you who elected him.
"It is you who will carry us through again. We were humbled by the incredible support then, and we are still grateful today."
Interestingly, unlike other speakers, Mrs Trump actually acknowledged the elephant in the room – the coronavirus death toll – and expressed sympathy for the disease's victims.
"I want to acknowledge the fact that, since March, our lives have changed drastically. The invisible enemy, Covid-19, swept across our beautiful country and impacted all of us," she said.
"My deepest sympathy goes out to everyone who has lost a loved one, and my prayers are with those who are ill or suffering.
"I know many people are anxious and some feel helpless. I want you to know you are not alone. My husband's administration will not stop fighting until there is an effective treatment or vaccine available to everyone. Donald will not rest until he has done all he can to take care of everyone impacted by this pandemic."
"In my husband, you have a president who will not stop fighting for you and your families," said Melania Trump. Photo / AP
She also thanked all the healthcare workers, frontline workers and teachers who "stepped up" despite the risk to themselves.
"My husband and I are grateful," she said.
Mrs Trump stressed that it was her "greatest honour" to hold the role of First Lady.
"There are no words to describe how honoured, humbled and fortunate I am to serve our nation as your First Lady," she said.
"After many of the experiences I've had, I don't know if I can fully explain how many people I take home with me in my heart each day. From brave soldiers, who give up so much, to children of all circumstances who I have met around the world.
"Thank you for inspiring me. It is my greatest honour to serve you."
She eventually got around to the mandatory Trump dig at the media.
"No matter the amount of negative or false media headlines, or attacks from the other side, Donald Trump has not, and will not, lose focus on you," she said.
"He loves this country, and he knows how to get things done.
"As you have learned over the last five years, he is not a traditional politician. He doesn't just speak words, he demands action and he gets results.
"The future of our country has always been very important to him, and it is something I have always admired."
She made a passing reference to the headlines being "full of gossip", and given the number of stories that get written whenever Mrs Trump refuses to hold her husband's hand, she probably had a point there.
Donald Trump goes to take Melania Trump's hand. Photo / AP
The First Lady briefly mentioned the mass protests against police brutality across the US, some of which have included violent clashes.
"Like all of you, I have reflected on the racial unrest in our country. We are not proud of parts of our history," she said.
"I urge people to come together in a civil manner.
"I also ask people to stop the violence and looting being done in the name of justice. And never make assumptions based on the colour of a person's skin."
Unlike the Trump children, Mrs Trump refrained from attacking the Democrats.
"I don't want to use this precious time attacking the other side, because as we saw last week (at the Democratic convention), that kind of talk only serves to divide the country further," she said.
Trump is labouring to improve his standing in a 2020 presidential race he is currently losing under the weight of the coronavirus and its related economic devastation.
Most polls report that Democratic rival Joe Biden has a significant advantage in terms of raw support; the former vice president also leads on character issues such as trustworthiness and likeability.
In one of the few emotional moments of the night, Trump showed a video of himself signing a pardon for Jon Ponder, a man from Nevada who has founded an organisation that helps prisoners reintegrate into society.
"We live in a nation of second chances," Ponder said, standing alongside Trump.
"Jon's life is a beautiful testament to the power of redemption," Trump said before he signed the pardon.
Donald Trump was portrayed as an authentic, uncompromising leader. Photo / AP
With Election Day just 10 weeks off and early voting beginning much sooner, Trump is under increasing pressure to reshape the contours of the campaign. But as he struggles to contain the pandemic and the related economic devastation, Republicans have yet to identify a consistent political message arguing for his reelection.
There was little mention of the pandemic throughout the night, although it remains a dominant issue for voters.
The Covid-19 death toll surged past 178,000 on Tuesday, by far the highest in the world, and there is no sign of slowing. The nation's unemployment rate still exceeds 10 per cent, which is higher than it ever was during the Great Recession. And more than 100,000 businesses are feared closed forever.
At the same time, the White House seems to have abandoned efforts to negotiate another federal rescue package with Congress.
Convention organisers had promised an uplifting and hopeful message the night before as the convention began, but that was undermined by dark and ominous warnings from the president and his allies about the country's future if he should lose in November.
Tuesday night, there were fierce attacks on Biden throughout, although the lineup generally maintained a more positive tone - in part due to some last-minute changes.
Tell me that Melania didn’t just totally avoid Trump’s kiss right there after her speech. pic.twitter.com/lOHvvwhPFl
Mary Ann Mendoza, an Arizona woman whose son, a police officer, was killed in 2014 in a car accident involving an immigrant in the country illegally, was pulled from the programme minutes before the event began. She had directed her Twitter followers to a series of anti-Semitic, conspiratorial messages.
There were also barrier breakers featured like Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, the first African American to hold statewide office in Kentucky, and Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez, first Latina to hold that office in her state.
And the convention lineup featured a Democrat for the second night: Robert Vlaisavljevich, the mayor of Eveleth, Minnesota, praised Trump's support for his state's mining industry in particular.
"President Trump is fighting for all of us. He delivered the best economy in our history and he will do it again," Vlaisavljevich said.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was addressing the convention and nation during an official overseas trip in Israel.
"President Trump has put his America First vision into action," Pompeo said. "It may not have made him popular in every foreign capital, but it's worked."
Pompeo's taped appearance breaks with decades of tradition of secretaries of state avoiding the appearance of involving themselves in domestic politics. That his video was filmed in Jerusalem, where he was on an official foreign trip, has raised additional questions of propriety.
Melania Trump spoke from the renovated Rose Garden, to a crowd of about 50 people, including her husband. Photo / AP
Mrs. Trump was the intended star of the night.
Out of the public view for much of the year, Mrs. Trump was stepping into the spotlight to argue for a second term for her husband — while trying to avoid the missteps that marred her introduction to the nation four years ago.
At her 2016 convention speech, she included passages similar to what former first lady Michelle Obama had said in her first convention speech. A speechwriter for the Trump Organization later took the blame.
Only the second foreign-born first lady in US history, Mrs. Trump, 50, is a native of Slovenia, a former communist country in eastern Europe. She became Trump's third wife in 2005 and gave birth to their now 14-year-old son, Barron, in 2006 — the year she became a naturalised US citizen.
The first lady spoke from the renovated Rose Garden, despite questions about using the White House for a political convention. She addressed an in-person group of around 50 people, including her husband.
"Whether you like it or not, you always know what he's thinking. And that is because he's an authentic person who loves this country and its people and wants to continue to make it better," Mrs. Trump said. "He wants nothing more than for this country to prosper and he doesn't waste time playing politics."
