Night 1 of the R.N.C. was filled with foreboding. Night 2 was about softening the portrait of Trump. A speech by the first lady touched on race relations as the White House was used for political purposes. It also was the first time a sitting secretary of state addressed a national political convention in at least 75 years. “My father does not run away from challenges, even in the face of outright hatred, because fighting for America is something he will sacrifice anything for. He dreams big dreams for our country, and he is relentless at achieving them. You see, ‘Make America Great Again’ is not a slogan for my father. It is what drives him to keep his promise of doing what is right for American citizens.” “My father ran not because he needed the job, but because he knew hard-working people across this great country were being left behind. The media mocked these patriots in the ‘flyover states’ in which they lived. They ignored the Trump flags, they ignored the millions of MAGA banners and barns painted in red, white, and blue. The silent majority had no one fighting for them in either party. My father pledged to every American in every city, state, and town that he was going to make America great again. And so began the great American comeback.” “I think often about my ancestors who struggled for freedom. And as I think of those giants and their broad shoulders, I also think about Joe Biden, who says, ‘If you aren’t voting for me, you ain’t Black,’ who argued that Republicans would put us back in chains, who says there is no diversity of thought in the Black community. Mr. Vice President, look at me. I am Black. We are not all the same, sir. I am not in chains. My mind is my own. And you can’t tell me how to vote because of the color of my skin. I’m Mike Pompeo. I’m speaking to you from beautiful Jerusalem, looking out over the Old City. President Trump understands what my great fellow Kansan President Eisenhower said: For all that we cherish and justly desire for ourselves or for our children, the securing of peace is the first requisite. Indeed, the primary constitutional function of the national government is ensuring that your family and mine are safe and enjoy the freedom to live, to work, to learn and to worship as they choose.” “You are now fellow citizens of the greatest nation on the face of God’s Earth. Congratulations. Today you have also accepted the profound duties and responsibilities that come with American citizenship. By swearing the oath of allegiance, each of you has entered a sacred and unbreakable covenant with our nation. [music and applause] [cheering] 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. 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. I have reflected on the racial unrest in our country. It is a harsh reality that we are not proud of parts of our history. I encourage people to focus on our future while still learning from our past. Our diverse and storied history is what makes our country strong, and yet we still have so much to learn from one another. With that in mind, I’d like to call on the citizens of this country to take a moment, pause and look at things from all perspectives. I urge people to come together in a civil manner so we can work and live up to our standard American ideals. I don’t want to use this precious time attacking the other side, because as we saw last week, that kind of talk only serves to divide the country further. I’m here because we need my husband to be our president and commander in chief for four more years. He is what is best for our country. We all know Donald Trump makes no secrets about how he feels about things. Total honesty is what we as citizens deserve from our president. Whether you like it or not, you always know what he’s thinking.” A speech by the first lady touched on race relations as the White House was used for political purposes. It also was the first time a sitting secretary of state addressed a national political convention in at least 75 years. In an abrupt swerve from the dire tone of the Republican National Convention’s first night, Tuesday featured President Trump and the various speakers — including three of his family members — painting his presidency as one of inclusion, mercy and harmony, in a grab bag night that seemed aimed at female and minority voters. In videos recorded at the White House, Mr. Trump pardoned a Nevada man convicted of bank robbery and swore in five new American citizens, all of them people of color, in a miniature naturalization ceremony. Where the convention on Monday emphasized predictions of social and economic desolation under a government led by Democrats, the speakers on Tuesday hailed the president as a friend to women and a champion of criminal justice reform. There was no effort to reconcile the dissonance between the two nights’ programs, particularly the shift from Monday’s rhetoric about a looming “vengeful mob” of dangerous criminals into Tuesday’s tributes to the power of personal redemption. Tuesday’s programming featured friendships — between an F.B.I. investigator and a reformed criminal, a police officer and a drug addict. Anti-abortion activists praised the president for his steps to limit access to abortion. A dairy farmer from Wisconsin, a lobster fisherman from Maine and a mayor from Minnesota’s Iron Range cast Mr. Trump as saving their economic livelihoods. It was not clear whether this new appeal would change the minds of women, minorities and others who formed negative opinions of Mr. Trump over the last five years, amid the allegations of sexual assault against him, the appeals to racial bigotry and hard-line policies like a border crackdown that separated migrant families. The coronavirus pandemic was largely confined to parenthetical comments within the speeches, until Melania Trump, the first lady, addressed it directly in the final speech Tuesday and extended her “deepest sympathy” to people who had lost loved ones. Like her husband, Mrs. Trump enlisted the trappings of the presidency for her remarks: She spoke from the White House Rose Garden. “I know many people are anxious and some feel helpless,” Mrs. Trump said. “I want you to know you are not alone.”

Trump keeps bending and breaking presidential norms. It will be easier for his successors to do the same. In Charlotte, N.C., a hotel lobby TV broadcast coverage of the Republican National Convention on Tuesday. Travis Dove for The New York Times Live (and taped) from Washington, it was Tuesday Night. The Trump presidency has always had the air of a variety show, with every announcement delivered with an eye for how it would appear to a television audience. But never has a commander in chief wielded the powers of his office so openly at a political convention as President Trump during the second night of the Republican conclave. With his party’s leading lawmakers remaining mute, Mr. Trump used the second night of the convention to issue a pardon and help swear in five new citizens in the White House. That was before his current secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, delivered an endorsement speech from Jerusalem. The evening was topped off by Melania Trump, the first lady, who made the case for her husband’s re-election from the Rose Garden. The scenes of the Trump administration using the settings and trappings of power for political gain raised new questions about whether they were violating the Hatch Act, the federal law prohibiting the use of government resources for campaign purposes. Some Republicans said that Mr. Trump’s dynamiting of the line between campaigning and governing was somewhat understandable in light of the coronavirus, which upended their plans to have the convention first in Charlotte, N.C., and then in Jacksonville, Fla. But like so much else with this president, once he breaks longstanding political norms, it becomes far easier for his successors to do the same, particularly if they have the consent of their party.

White House chief of staff: ‘Nobody outside of the Beltway really cares’ about possible Hatch Act violations. Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, did not explain how the Trump administration avoided violating the Hatch Act. Anna Moneymaker for The New York Times After the second day of a Republican National Convention whose proceedings trampled over long-established lines between governing and campaigning, Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, scoffed at concerns that President Trump and other top officials were abusing federal offices and property for political gain. “Nobody outside of the Beltway really cares,” Mr. Meadows said in a video interview with Politico, adding, “This is a lot of hoopla that’s being made about things.” Mr. Meadows said in passing that “there are a couple of things that you can do to make sure that you’re in compliance with the Hatch Act,” the federal law prohibiting the use of government resources for campaign purposes. But he did not explain how the administration had avoided violating the law when Mr. Trump led a naturalization ceremony at the White House that became a featured convention event; when Vice President Mike Pence spoke from a national park; or when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, on an official trip, spoke from Jerusalem and became the first top diplomat to address a convention in at least 75 years. Americans “expect that Donald Trump is going to promote Republican values, and they would expect that Barack Obama, when he was in office, that he would do the same for Democrats,” Mr. Meadows said. It was not clear what he meant, particularly given that President Obama, during his re-election campaign in 2012, did not test the boundaries Mr. Trump repeatedly broke on Tuesday. “You can’t break the law — you shouldn’t do it,” Mr. Meadows said. But he added that “the law, in the way that it was originally intended, never thought that we would be on Zoom talking to people live.” It was also unclear how that applied to the question of whether it is appropriate to use federal resources for political benefit.

Here’s how to watch Night 3 of the Republican convention, and who’s speaking. Eric Trump’s speech was shown in the Rose Garden of the White House on Tuesday, before Melania Trump spoke from the garden itself. Vice President Mike Pence will headline the third night of the Republican National Convention on Wednesday, which will also include speeches from several prominent members of Congress and the outgoing White House adviser Kellyanne Conway. Ms. Conway’s speech will be a focus of attention. She announced over the weekend that she will be leaving the White House shortly and will not take a role with the Trump campaign so she can spend more time with her four children. Mr. Pence, who leads the coronavirus task force, is expected to give a speech that sells President Trump’s record. Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa, who is in a re-election race that has tightened, is expected to do the same. Representative Dan Crenshaw of Texas, a 36-year-old veteran who is seen as one of the party’s rising stars, is also speaking. The big speeches of the night will happen from 8:30 to 11 p.m. Eastern time. The Times will stream the convention every evening, accompanied by chat-based live analysis from our reporters and real-time highlights from the speeches. The official livestream will be available on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Twitch and Amazon Prime. ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox News will cover the convention from 10 to 11 p.m. every night; CNN from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m.; MSNBC from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m.; PBS from 8 to 11 p.m.; and C-SPAN at 9 a.m. and then at 8:30 p.m. Here are some of the other speakers on the schedule: Sister Dede Byrne, a surgeon, retired Army colonel and member of the Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary religious order Scott Dane, executive director of the Associated Contract Loggers and Truckers of Minnesota Richard Grenell, the former acting director of national intelligence Clarence Henderson, who participated in the 1960 lunch counter sit-ins in Greensboro, N.C. Michael McHale, president of the National Association of Police Organizations Lara Trump, a campaign adviser to Mr. Trump and the wife of his son Eric

President Trump used the White House as a game show set, our TV critic writes. Footage of a naturalization ceremony conducted at the White House was used in the Republican convention’s Tuesday night broadcast. President Trump built a television persona around his catchphrase, “You’re fired,” on “The Apprentice.” But he also gave away prizes and presented himself as a benefactor — a role that he has revived during the Republican National Convention, The Times’s chief television critic, James Poniewozik, noted. He wrote: In a series of taped segments, the Republican National Convention has tried to resurrect that Donald Trump for prime time: the president as gracious, generous host; the benefits of democracy (citizenship, a pardon, a presidential audience, freedom itself) as the prizes; the White House — in potential violation of the Hatch Act — as his soundstage. Monday night, the program had Mr. Trump meet with a group of Covid-19 frontline workers and a group of American hostages, released from captivity overseas. Tuesday’s installments used presidential powers even more brazenly as campaign favors. First, he granted a pardon to Jon Ponder, a felon who founded Hope for Prisoners, a group that helps the once-incarcerated re-enter society. Later, he spoke at a naturalization ceremony for five immigrants, welcoming them to “our great American family.” Both segments were deeply emotional, embodying the chance for reinvention that America offers at its best. They were also deeply cynical, illustrating how willing the president is to leverage the office for his own reinvention, via a TV production. The stunts were reminiscent of this year’s State of the Union address, an extravaganza of surprise twists, in which Mr. Trump handed out a scholarship, arranged a viral-video-style military reunion and graced the right-wing shock jock Rush Limbaugh with a Presidential Medal of Freedom. In the R.N.C. pieces, he sometimes speaks off the cuff, sometimes from a script. But in his familiar TV-host role, he seems more comfortable than he ordinarily does reading an address off a teleprompter.

Republican women in Arizona could play a pivotal role in an unusual battleground. Kelli Ward, the chairwoman of the Arizona Republican Party, is a Trump loyalist who resembles the kind of voter toward whom the party is devoting its resources. Cindy McCain, the widow of the Republican senator John McCain, appeared last week in a video at the Democratic National Convention detailing her husband’s “unlikely friendship” with Joseph R. Biden Jr. She praised Mr. Biden, the Democratic nominee, for his willingness to reach across the aisle, calling it “a style of legislating and leadership that you don’t find much anymore.” Before the clip aired, Kelli Ward, the chairwoman of the Arizona Republican Party, who in 2016 lost a bitter Senate primary challenge to Mr. McCain, filmed her own video to share her thoughts on Mrs. McCain’s appearance. “Well, I just say: Not a Republican,” Ms. Ward asserted as her husband, wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat, nodded alongside her. Those dueling images — the widow of Arizona’s most popular Republican since Barry Goldwater lauding the Democratic presidential nominee’s character, and the state party’s current leader denouncing her in response as a “pretend Republican” who wants to “cause the destruction of this great nation” — succinctly reflected the political identity crisis currently unfolding in Arizona. The party’s rightward lurch in the Trump era has left a growing number of Republicans in the state disenchanted and caused Arizona, a longtime Republican stronghold, to suddenly resemble a battleground. That’s in large part because of women: In 2018, 16 percent of Republican women broke with their party to help make Kyrsten Sinema the state’s first Democratic senator since 1995. Most strategists in the state believe President Trump’s chances there in November hinge on bringing such voters back into the fold. And if the tenor of the Republican National Convention is any indication — early speeches on the party’s commitment to protecting “quiet neighborhoods,” and a Wednesday lineup of prominent Republican women including Kellyanne Conway, Karen Pence and Joni Ernst — Mr. Trump is beginning to agree. In Arizona, Mrs. McCain serves as an avatar of sorts for many Republican women — educated suburbanites, including lifelong party members who have perhaps felt alienated by the party’s Trumpist turn. But Ms. Ward, a devout Trump loyalist who dabbles in the occasional conspiracy theory, more closely resembles the kind of voter the party is devoting its resources to instead. It is the state-level iteration of Mr. Trump’s national strategy, targeting core supporters even as Mr. Biden aggressively courts moderate Republican and independent women in states that were critical to the president’s success in 2016. And for now, at least in Arizona, Mr. Trump’s approach is not working so well. Recent polls show Mr. Biden leading the president by as many as seven percentage points.

Biden is selling hand sanitizer with his Covid-19 plan printed on it. A screenshot of the Team Joe Store’s hand sanitizer for sale. Sometimes campaign stores are not just about selling merchandise. Sometimes they are about making political statements. That is what Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s campaign is doing with the release on Tuesday of a two-ounce bottle of hand sanitizer ($8), complete with the Biden plans to address the coronavirus pandemic printed on it. “Donald Trump’s catastrophic failures of governance have led to tens of thousands of needless deaths and economic pain for tens of millions of Americans,” reads the label, whose dense thickets of fine print appeared to pay tribute to Dr. Bronner’s soap, the eccentrically marketed countercultural cleanser. There are links both to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website and Mr. Biden’s “plan to get the virus under control.” Stunt sales items can help vacuum up supporter data and — if the profit margin is significant — make campaigns a pretty penny. Last year, President Trump’s campaign began selling a 10-pack of recyclable straws for $15. “Liberal paper straws don’t work,” says the copy on the shop.donaldtrump.com site. They sold more than $450,000 worth in a few days. Democrats whose current sanitizer supply is running low may need to look for alternatives to the Biden product, however: The website says it will not be released until Sept. 22.

Stephanie Bice won a G.O.P. runoff to challenge the only Democrat in Oklahoma’s congressional delegation. Stephanie Bice, an Oklahoma state senator, entering her watch party to give a speech after winning a runoff election for a U.S. House seat on Tuesday. Stephanie Bice, an Oklahoma state legislator, won the Republican primary on Tuesday to challenge Representative Kendra Horn, the lone Democrat in the Oklahoma delegation. Ms. Horn was perhaps the most surprising victor in the 2018 elections, winning by just over 3,300 votes and flipping the seat for the first time since the 1970s. Nine Republicans had sought the chance to challenge Ms. Horn, sending the race into a runoff. Ms. Bice defeated Terry Neese, an entrepreneur who had closely tied herself to President Trump, for the chance at the seat. “Kendra Horn promised to be a moderate but has been nothing but a rubber stamp for Nancy Pelosi and the socialist agenda of House Democrats,” said Representative Tom Emmer, the chair of the House Republican campaign arm. “Horn will be rejected by voters in November and I look forward to welcoming Stephanie to Congress.” Representative Cheri Bustos of Illinois, the chairwoman of the House Democratic campaign arm, said that she had no doubt that Ms. Horn would be re-elected. “Representative Kendra Horn has proven to be an effective leader for her community, working tirelessly to lower the cost of prescription drugs and get Oklahomans back to work safely,” she said. The race is considered a tossup by most political handicappers, including the Cook Political Report.

Source: New York Times

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