During the last two days of the Republican National Convention (RNC) in the United States of America, several key themes emerged, including party unity, law enforcement, immigration, and making peace with former adversaries. Trump’s nominee for Vice-President accepted the nomination and used his life story to explain why his party best understands the challenges that Americans in trouble are facing.
Keynote speakers on the second day included Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.
Despite having criticised Trump in the past and running against him for the party’s presidential nomination this year, DeSantis and Haley have both publicly supported Trump. “We are sending Joe Biden back to his basement and Donald Trump back to the White House,” DeSantis said, among other things, in his speech. He then added: “Biden is just a figurehead. He is a tool to push a left-wing agenda on the American people.”
Nikki Haley continued, stressing that her support for Trump is solid: “You don’t have to agree with Trump 100 percent to vote for him.”
Border control at the top of the agenda
Florida Senator Ted Cruz peppered his speech with stories of undocumented immigrants suspected of crimes, as the party pushes for tighter US borders. He began his speech by praising the former President, and he also praised the successful immigration policies of the past, which have led to the lowest illegal immigration rate in 45 years. Ramaswamy, who also dropped out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 in January, continued with the theme of strong borders: “If you want to seal the border, vote for Trump. If you want to restore law and order in this country, vote for Trump. If you want to restart the economy in this country, vote Trump.”
He underlined their message to illegal immigrants: “We will return you to your country of origin – not because you are all bad people, but because you have broken the law and because the United States of America is based on the rule of law.”
The Democrats’ policy is “too soft on crime”
The speech by Anne Fundner, a mother whose son died of a fentanyl overdose in 2022, received a standing ovation and made many delegates cry. Fundner criticised Biden’s border policy, which she said led to her son’s death, and everyone agreed that the Democrats’ policy was too soft on crime. This is leading to a sharp rise in crime and the number of drug addicts.
The second evening was closed by Lara Trump, co-chair of the Republican National Committee and daughter-in-law of the former President. She was the last speaker of the evening and discussed the aftermath of the shooting that took place on Saturday. “Last Saturday reminded us that we Americans need to remember that more unites us than divides us,” she said, adding that even if many people do not want to admit it, there is one truth – “Americans lived better when Trump was in office.”
Vance accepted the nomination
“I will give everything I have to every American, regardless of his or her party,” said J.D. Vance, who accepted the position of Vice-Presidency.
He highlighted a number of issues which he blamed on the Democrats’ misguided policies, blaming the acute housing crisis on the “Wall Street barons,” who crashed the economy, causing homebuilders to lose their jobs and wages to stagnate. On top of that, he blamed the Democrats for letting millions of illegal immigrants into the country, which has pushed up house prices even more.
The housing affordability crisis has increased sharply under Biden’s leadership – not for any of the reasons stated above, but because interest rates have risen sharply along with inflation. Home prices were high during the reigns of the previous three presidents, but low interest rates have driven down mortgage rates, so homes were still affordable for many, especially in places like Vance’s home state of Ohio. Now, those mortgage rates have increased exponentially, putting previously expensive but still affordable homes well out of reach for most prospective first-time buyers. This is one of Biden’s most intractable problems.
T. B.
