On Monday, President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence were officially renominated to be the Republican presidential ticket for 2020. In contrast to the DNC, the vote was conducted in-person in Charlotte, North Carolina during the RNC's condensed official business portion of the convention.
A theme throughout Day 1 of the Convention was "promises made, promises kept." During one nominating speech, North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Michael Whatley focused on promises he says Trump has kept during his first term, including being tough on China and nominating conservative judges:
"He has reshaped the federal judiciary by nominating over 200 conservative federal judges, including Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court," Whatley said. "Promise made, promise kept."
President Trump himself noted his commitment to nominating conservative judges while giving a speech after the nomination was complete. He also spoke about the problems with universal mail-in voting:
President @realDonaldTrump on disastrous Universal Mail-In Ballots pic.twitter.com/u6wlTRQpXk
— Team Trump (Text VOTE to 88022) (@TeamTrump) August 24, 2020
The theme of Night 1 of the Convention was "America, Land of Promise." Unsurprisingly, the speakers drew far more viewership than the first night of the Democratic National Convention:
Night 1 viewership of #RNC2020 blew Democrats out of the water!
— Team Trump (Text VOTE to 88022) (@TeamTrump) August 25, 2020
39.1M viewers across TV & digital (10M more than Dems).
Includes TV, news outlet livestreams & organic campaign livestreams. It does not include paid media.
Enthusiasm is on our side & we are just getting started!
Notably, Donald Trump Jr. highlighted the Left's attack on free speech and law and order, two things that are crucial for the safety and security of everyday Americans. While he hit on the Left’s attack on intellectual freedom, Trump Jr. also discussed the assault the Left has launched against the physical safety of ordinary Americans. Our cities are now warzones, where leftist mobs and even warlords, as we saw in Seattle, dominate the streets. In these same cities, councils are looking to gut their police departments.
“Anarchists have been flooding our streets and Democrat mayors are ordering the police to stand down,” Don. Jr. said, which was a major part of the Democrats’ convention that was obviously smothered with a pillow. “Small businesses across America—many of them minority-owned—are being torched by mobs. The Democrat mayors pretend it’s not happening. They actually called it ‘a summer of love,” he added.
Donald Trump Jr.: This election is shaping up to be church, work, and school vs. rioting, looting and vandalism#RNC2020 pic.twitter.com/bDp1dGDRlX
— Team Trump (Text VOTE to 88022) (@TeamTrump) August 25, 2020
Former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley echoed Donald Trump Jr.'s sentiment about the need for law and order:
Former Ambassador Nikki Haley: "America is a story that’s a work in progress. Now is the time to build on that progress."#RNC2020 pic.twitter.com/IMvpCFnWTC
— Team Trump (Text VOTE to 88022) (@TeamTrump) August 25, 2020
Other highlights of the night included addresses from Senator Tim Scott, Andrew Pollack, Maximo Alvarez, and Kim Klacik:
Senator Tim Scott: Our family went from Cotton to Congress in one lifetime. And that’s why I believe the next American century can be better than the last.#RNC2020 pic.twitter.com/7eNwcdJmVE
— Team Trump (Text VOTE to 88022) (@TeamTrump) August 25, 2020
Andrew Pollack's full remarks at the @GOPconvention#RNC2020 pic.twitter.com/uk0r7xNetg
— Team Trump (Text VOTE to 88022) (@TeamTrump) August 25, 2020
Maximo Alvarez's full remarks at the @GOPconvention#RNC2020 pic.twitter.com/a84oRzbI3C
— Team Trump (Text VOTE to 88022) (@TeamTrump) August 25, 2020
Kim Klacik's full remarks at the @GOPconvention#RNC2020 pic.twitter.com/8bgOj2T9GH
— Team Trump (Text VOTE to 88022) (@TeamTrump) August 25, 2020
Tune into night 2 of the RNC, "Land of Opportunity," tonight! The list of speakers can be found here.