Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden
and his running mate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) arrive to deliver
remarks at the Alexis Dupont High School on August 12, 2020 in
Wilmington, Delaware. Drew Angerer/Getty Images/AFP
The Republican Party is to make its case next week for
four more years of President Donald Trump after his Democratic
opponent Joe Biden wrapped up his party’s convention with a vow to
end what he called a “chapter of American darkness.”
With the nation digesting the impact of an unprecedented
all-virtual gathering due to the coronavirus pandemic, Trump on
Friday intensified his attacks on Biden as Republicans sought to
flesh out their counterprogramming to the Democratic
convention.
The Democratic Party released figures Friday that suggest it set
a high bar for its event, raising $70 million during the four days
and generating 122 million views on network and cable television as
well as digital livestreams.
Accepting the Democratic presidential nomination with an
impassioned 25-minute speech, Biden said the United States was
facing a “life-changing election” in November.
And he issued a somber warning: “The current president has
cloaked America in darkness for much too long. Too much anger. Too
much fear. Too much division,” the 77-year-old former vice
president said.
“May history be able to say that the end of this chapter of
American darkness began here tonight as love and hope and light
joined in the battle for the soul of the nation.”
Trump, 74, also framed the contest in apocalyptic terms,
accusing the Democrats of holding the “darkest, angriest and
gloomiest convention in American history.”
“Where Joe Biden sees American darkness, I see American
greatness,” he said.
Vice President Mike Pence also took aim at the Democratic
convention, where a parade of speakers denounced Trump’s character,
his handling of protests against racial injustice and accused him
of mismanaging the coronavirus pandemic.
“So many of the speeches at the Democratic national convention
were so negative,” Pence said on “CBS This Morning.” “They
presented such a grim vision for America.”
“Joe Biden last night said that democracy’s on the ballot, that
character’s on the ballot” and the economy will not recover until
after the coronavirus pandemic, Pence said.
“Newsflash to Joe Biden: the economy is coming back. The only
real threat to our economy is a Joe Biden presidency.”
The Republican convention begins Monday in North Carolina and,
like the Democratic event, it will be mostly online because of the
COVID-19 outbreak which has left 175,000 people dead across the
United States.
Trump will accept the Republican nomination Thursday in a speech
at the White House, shrugging off criticism over the use of the
presidential residence for campaign purposes.
‘We must come together’
Trump dismissed Biden’s acceptance speech in a tweet.
“In 47 years, Joe did none of the things of which he now speaks.
He will never change, just words!” Trump said, alluding to Biden’s
long record in politics as a senator from Delaware and Barack
Obama’s vice president for eight years.
Trump, who has been waging a campaign against mail-in voting,
which polls show Democrats are more likely to use during the
pandemic, also expressed concern that a result may not be known on
election night, the latest step in what critics say is an effort to
undercut confidence in the US election.
“You’re not going to be able to know the end of this election,
in my opinion, for weeks, months, maybe never,” he said.
Unlike four years ago, when Hillary Clinton emerged as the
Democratic nominee after a bitter primary battle with Vermont
Senator Bernie Sanders, the Democrats appear more united this time
around.
Sanders, who also challenged Biden for the nomination and
remains a favorite of the party’s progressive wing, has unabashedly
thrown his support behind the nominee.
“We must come together, defeat Donald Trump and elect Joe Biden
and Kamala Harris as our next president and vice president,”
Sanders said. “My friends, the price of failure is just too great
to imagine.”
Biden’s White House run — his third — features a historic first
with his choice of a black woman, California Senator Harris, to be
his running mate.
Biden has been leading in the polls and Republicans will be
looking to their convention to give Trump a bounce.
The latest RealClearPolitics average of national polls has Biden
with a 7.4 point advantage over Trump and slight leads in several
of the battleground states which are a key to victory in the
Electoral College.
The candidates are scheduled to hold three debates, the first on
September 29, before Americans cast their ballots on November
3.
-AFP