The first night of the Republican National Convention begins in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with an emphasis on “unity” in the aftermath of Saturday’s assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump.
This afternoon, Trump announced Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate. The 39-year-old senator from the Rust Belt—whose bestselling memoir Hillbilly Elegy was viewed by many as a chronicle of the forgotten men and women that Trump’s 2016 campaign and MAGA movement championed—is tied as the youngest Republican nominee for vice president in history with Richard Nixon, who was also a 39-year-old first term U.S. senator when President Dwight Eisenhower picked him as his running mate in 1952. Vance has been a rising star in the populist conservative movement and has shown himself to be a passionate advocate in the Senate for the working-class Americans who have been ignored by both parties.
In 2021, Breitbart Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow interviewed Vance at his home in Cincinnati:
This is my 75-minute interview with @JDVance1 from 2021 from his historic home in Cincinnati.
If you would like to get to know him, how he thinks, and what matters to him, I think you’ll appreciate this ==> https://t.co/quIFqYW3HR
— Alex Marlow (@AlexMarlow) July 15, 2024
In the roll call vote today, Republican delegates gave Trump the GOP’s nomination for an historic third time, making him one of only six Americans to receive a major party’s nomination more than twice. The five others are Thomas Jefferson, Grover Cleveland, William Jennings Bryan, Franklin Roosevelt, and Richard Nixon.
Among tonight’s scheduled speakers are reportedly:
- Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI)
- Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA)
- Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (R-NC)
- Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX)
- Rep. John James (R-MI)
- Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL)
- Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC)
- Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA)
- Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD)
- Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL)
- Charlie Kirk, the executive director of Turning Point USA
- Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)
- Sean O’Brien, the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters
Saturday’s assassination attempt has shaken an already unprecedented campaign pitting a sitting and former president against each other in a repeat of the last election. It also follows weeks of drama within the Democratic Party about replacing President Joe Biden as the nominee after his disastrous debate performance last month. And it comes after months—and years—of what Trump and Republicans have characterized as lawfare tactics waged against Trump by his political opponents, including Special Counsel Jack Smith’s classified documents case which was dismissed by a federal judge just this morning.
In what looks unfortunately like an effort to big-foot the RNC coverage, Biden is scheduled to do a prime-time sit-down interview with NBC News’ Lester Holt at 9 p.m. Eastern this evening. If it proceeds like his interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, his declining poll numbers are unlikely to improve.
NBC News posted a preview clip of it:
In an exclusive interview with Lester Holt, President Biden said it was a mistake to use the word “bullseye” while discussing former President Trump, but said to “focus on what [Trump is] doing”. pic.twitter.com/TufdyiZq8v
— NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) July 15, 2024
Since Saturday, Biden has attempted to re-orient his campaign messaging after an assassin’s bullet left Trump one inch away and one head turn away from death.
The assassination attempt has left Democrats and their establishment media allies with no message to convey to a country exhausted by years of divisive rhetoric smearing Trump and the Americans who voted for him as deplorables, extremists, insurrectionists, racists, religious fanatics, traitors, and even terrorists. This demonizing rhetoric was ratcheted up exponentially by Biden, who centered his re-election bid on the message that Donald Trump is a Hitlerian existential threat to democracy and to the whole world—a characterization that by implication makes Trump a target for any would-be assassin incited to take out a dictator.
After defiantly raising his fist in the face of death, Trump now has the ability to be something no one expected him to be—a uniter. Trump told the Washington Examiner that he re-wrote his convention speech to focus on unity after the assassination attempt. “It is a chance to bring the country together,” Trump said. “I was given that chance.”
One thing seems certain: Trump has unified the Republican Party. Breitbart’s Joel Pollak, reporting from Milwaukee, notes that the mood inside the convention center is “jubilant,” but it’s “somewhat subdued among the anti-Trump protesters outside.”
Follow Breitbart News for live updates below, all times Pacific.
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6:19 p.m. PT
Next up is Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, a rising Republican star in Congress and favorite about the MAGA crowd. He talks about how his mother, who was an educator, fought to get him in a good school. “Mom, I just want to take this opportunity to say thank you.” He talks about how his mother and grandmother worked to make sure he could build a successful future based on a good education.
He also thanks the good teachers of America who “pour your hearts and souls” into educating America’s children. He calls out the Democrats’ refusal to embrace school choice. He says, “Donald Trump believes that every parent deserves school choice, and every American child deserves a chance.”
He calls out the “massive inflation” created by Biden’s economy, particularly Biden’s falsely and farcically named “Inflation Reduction Act.”
6:24 p.m. PT
Next up is Robert “Bobby” Bartels, a proud union member who says he was a Democrat his whole life and “came to expect empty promises” from Democrats. In a wonderful New York accent, Bartels recounts the famous story about how Donald Trump finished the ice skating rink in New York City when the city’s politicians couldn’t get it done. He mentions with pride that Trump worked with union labor to do it — and he jokes that they worked longer hours that Joe Biden.
He says the empty promises of the Democrats is why “this union Democrat along with many of my fellow union members will be voting for Donald Trump this November… so that we can rebuild the country that my union has helped build over the years.”
6:12 p.m. PT
Strangely, few of the speakers have effectively mentioned Saturday’s assassination attempt. Sen. Scott’s great line about the “American lion” who “got back up on his feet and he roared” is the stand out line of the night so far.
6:03 p.m. PT
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem takes the stage. She too was touted as a potential Trump running mate, but she faced significant backlash after she revealed in her recent memoir that she euthanized her 14-month-old puppy by shooting him in the head.
“Leadership has consequences. It matters who is in the White House,” she says, adding that the difference between Trump and Biden’s presidency is that Trump honored the Constitution and let her do her job as governor. She touts the fact that South Dakota was the only state in the country to stay open entirely during the pandemic.
5:58 p.m. PT
The Wall Street Journal reports that the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, is committing $45 million a month to a new pro-Trump Super PAC. The PAC’s other backers reportedly include Other backers of America PAC include Palantir Technologies co-founder Joe Lonsdale and the Winklevoss twins.
5:54 p.m. PT
Next up is Goya Foods CEO Bob Unanue. This Hispanic business leader of a wildly popular food brand was targeted by a failed AOC-led boycott of his company in 2020 because he had the temerity to praise Donald Trump’s leadership. In response, Unanue made AOC the Goya employee of the month because she increased the company’s sales with her boycott.
“When she boycotted us, our sales actually increased 1000 percent, so we gave her an honorary — we never were able to hand it to her — but she got employee of the month for bringing attention to Goya and our adobo,” he told a radio host in December 2020.
“Four years ago, I dared to say that we were bless by Donald Trump,” he tells the crowd, explaining the failed boycott effort. He talks about the prosperity his immigrant father sought when he started his grocery store in New York and built it into “the largest Hispanic owned food company in the United States.” He touts the values of America’s Latino community and says the Biden administration “disrespects” these values of family and hard work. He calls out the Biden open border which victimizes Latino children trafficked across our border.
5:41 p.m. PT
Next up is Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who some GOP establishment voices favored for Trump’s VP pick. He thanks God for protecting Trump. He talks about the economic challenges facing Virginians due to “the silent thief of inflation unleashed by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.”
5:32 p.m. PT
According to sources, former President Trump will appear at the RNC tonight with his new running mate Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance.
5:30 p.m. PT
South Carolina’s Sen. Tim Scott tells the crowd, “If you didn’t believe in miracles before Saturday, you better believe in them now,” in reference to the assassination attempt.
“Our God still saves, he still delivers, and he still sets free,” Scott says. “On Saturday, the devil came with a rifle, but an American lion got back up on his feet and he roared.”
He then addresses the economic problems facing Americans. He also got nods of agreement when he mentions the “pain of Gold Star families” when Joe Biden forgets that their children died on his watch — in reference to the Gold Star families of the 13 service members who died in the last days of America’s war in Afghanistan, who Biden seemingly forgot when he claimed during last month’s debate that no Americans died in war on his watch.
He touts his work with Trump on getting the Trump tax cuts passed.
5:19 p.m. PT
Alabama Sen. Katie Britt speaks next with the same dramatic cadence she exhibited during her State of the Union response. The theme of tonights speeches are all about the economy.
5:17 p.m. PT
Sara Workman, a single mother, gives a short and heartfelt speech. She talks about how her husband fell victim to the drug epidemic, which has left her raising her son on her own and working two jobs to make ends meet. She gets huge applause when she says that there is hope for the country: “We need God in our hearts, and Donald Trump back in the White House.” She says that Trump invited her to speak because he wanted others like her to know that “he hears us, he sees us, and we are forgotten no more.”
5:11 p.m. PT
Next, fellow West Point graduate Rep. John James of Michigan takes the stage. The brave man gives a shout out to the Detroit Lions here in Wisconsin… which earns him some good-natured boos from the Badger State crowd. James recounts his family history with his dad’s small business in Detroit. Like Hunt, James was an Apache pilot who served in Iraq. He says he has something in common with Trump: “The bad guys shot at us both, and they missed.”
James is lit going after the Democrats’ economic failures and Trump’s economic accomplishes. He says, “Black people were sold on hope. Now our streets are rife with crime, our kids can’t read, and illegals are getting better help from Democrats in four days than we’ve gotten in 400 years.” He quips, “I heard the other day, if you don’t vote Donald Trump you ain’t black.”
Next up is Rep. Wesley Hunt of Texas, who like Michigan’s Rep. John James who is also speaking tonight, is a West Point graduate and freshman Congressman. “I’m a military guy. I flew Apaches in Iraq,” he says, explaining that he knows how to complete a mission, but Biden and Harris have failed their mission for American people due to inflation. He says, “We the People can fix this Democrat disaster when we re-elect Donald John Trump as president.”
He gives his heritage as the “great-great grandson of a slave” and a West Point graduate.
4:56 p.m. PT
Next up, North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson takes the stage who says, “I am the first black lt. governor of North Carolina, and I intend to be the first black governor of North Carolina in November.” He gives his background, explaining how he lost two manufacturing jobs in North Carolina due to NAFTA, which he reminds people that Joe Biden voted for. “As governor, I will not forget where I came from.” He hails Trump’s record of protecting manufacturing jobs and fighting for American workers. This is a strong speech from a conservative star we will no doubt be seeing a lot of in the future.
4:47 p.m. PT
MAGA favorite Rep. Marjorie “MTG” Taylor-Greene takes the stage and heralds Corey Comperatore, the firefighter and Trump supporter who died at the rally on Saturday while protecting his wife and children. She says “we will honor Corey’s memory” by building the country he wanted. She then throws down some red meat for the base, calling out the Democrats for celebrating Transgender Awareness Day on Easter Sunday and for having an economy calls out Democrats’ economy as “of, by, and for illegal aliens.”
4:27 p.m. PT
Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson reminds the delegates that the Republican Party was started in the Badger State. Then he takes apart the Democratic Party’s policies: “Those forgotten Americans are forgotten no more. Republicans are the party of opportunity, liberty, and prosperity for all… We’ve repaired the damage caused by Democrats before. We’ll do it again.”
4:10 p.m. PT
The Catholic Archbishop of Milwaukee Jerome Listecki opened the prime time coverage with a benediction.
The first speaker will be Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley, followed by Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson and George Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene.
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