2024 Election Latest: RNC enters second day with focus shifting to immigration
The Republican National Convention heads into its second day — now with Donald Trump officially as its presidential nominee.
Trump energized the crowd Monday night by entering the arena with a bandage on his right ear after being injured during an assassination attempt Saturday. Expect more speakers Tuesday to mention what they described as the former president’s strength and resilience after the shooting at his rally in Pennsylvania.
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Here’s the Latest:
Dems hold event to counter Teamsters union president’s RNC appearance
Democrats are seeking to counter the appearance of Teamsters Union President Sean O’Brien Monday night at the Republican National Convention.
They held an event in Milwaukee Tuesday morning to claim that they have the backs of workers, not Republicans. It’s an attempt to strip away political rhetoric and instead focus on track records in office. O’Brien made the case Monday that the political system is broken and needs bipartisanship, while the union and party officials tied to the Democrats said that Republicans are behind the breakdowns.
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said, “When people have the facts and they see the stark choices” they’ll back the Biden-Harris ticket.
Quentin Fulks, the Biden-Harris deputy campaign manager, said that Republicans will “always choose big, greedy, anti-union” interests over workers.
Lara Trump encourages Pennsylvania delegation to vote early
In a flip from Donald Trump’s past two campaigns, Lara Trump encouraged the Pennsylvania delegation to vote early — a contrast from the former president’s long-held, public doubts about early and absentee voting.
“We’re taking nothing for granted,” she said, suggesting that banking early votes will help the campaign spend the final stage of the campaign focusing on late deciders.
She also suggested that the map of battleground states was expanding beyond the half dozen or so states that have been the campaign’s focus so far. She said Minnesota and Virginia had been added to their battleground plans. Biden lost the two states in 2020, though they were competitive in 2016.
“Get ready to see a lot of red on that map,” she said. “We have to make it too big to rig.”
Lara Trump: ‘The show goes on’
“This is incredible to be here right now and I think we all know why. We may have been looking at a very different situation, but for the grace of God,” Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump told more than 200 Pennsylvania delegates and guests Tuesday morning in a hotel ballroom in Waukesha, Wisconsin, west of Milwaukee. “God bless, Donald J. Trump.”
“Here we are. The show goes on,” she said.
Lara Trump was making her first public appearance at the Republican National Convention speaking to the Pennsylvania delegation — a nod to the assassination attempt against the former president on Saturday and Pennsylvania’s pivotal place on the battleground map.
“What a time to be a member of the Republican Party,” she said. “We will be the party through Donald J. Trump saves the United States of America.”
Jack Black ends Tenacious D tour following bandmate’s comments on Trump shooting
The comedy rock duo Tenacious D — made up of Jack Black and Kyle Gass — has canceled the rest of their tour after Gass’ remarks about the assassination attempt on Donald Trump over the weekend.
While onstage at a concert in Sydney on Sunday, Gass was presented with a birthday cake and asked to “make a wish” by Black. Gass responded, “Don’t miss Trump next time,” an apparent reference to the rally shooting a day before that left the former president with an injured ear. The video of Gass was widely circulated on social media.
“I was blindsided by what was said at the show on Sunday. I would never condone hate speech or encourage political violence in any form,” Black said in a Tuesday statement on Instagram. “After much reflection, I no longer feel it is appropriate to continue the Tenacious D tour, and all future creative plans are on hold. I am grateful to the fans for their support and understanding.”
Following Black’s statement, Gass apologized on Instagram.
First day of the RNC was ‘calm’ overall, Milwaukee’s mayor says
“The demonstrations that occurred yesterday — they proceeded without any major problem,” Mayor Cavalier Johnson said during a Tuesday morning briefing.
Johnson said two arrests were made — one when someone tried to climb a fence into a restricted area and a second arrest when a demonstrator was blocking traffic and did not move when officers repeatedly asked her to do so.
“No one was hurt and there was no significant property damage that was reported as a result of these demonstrations,” Johnson said.
Trump’s economic plans include proposed tariffs, tax cuts and no taxes on tips
The first night of the Republican National Convention kept its official focus on the economy Monday even after Saturday’s shooting at a rally in Pennsylvania in which former President Donald Trump was injured.
Speakers argued that Trump would fix inflation and bring back prosperity simply by returning to the White House as president. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin lamented, “Tonight, America, the land of opportunity, just doesn’t feel like that anymore.”
But Trump has released few hard numbers and no real policy language or legislative blueprints, and most of the speakers Monday didn’t get into details either. Instead, his campaign is betting that voters care more about attitude than policy specifics. Trump says he wants tariffs on trade partners and no taxes on tips. He would like to knock the corporate tax rate down a tick. The Republican platform also promises to “defeat” inflation and “quickly bring down all prices,” in addition to pumping out more oil, natural gas and coal.
The platform would address illegal immigration in part with the “largest deportation program in American history.” And Trump would also scrap President Joe Biden’s policies to develop the market for electric vehicles and renewable energy.
Democrats and several leading economists say the math shows that Trump’s ideas would cause an explosive bout of inflation, wallop the middle class and — by his extending his soon-to-expire tax cuts — heap another $5 trillion-plus onto the national debt.
Read more about Trump’s economic agenda
On the campaign trail, Biden is trying to sharpen the choice voters face in November
President Joe Biden will speak at the NAACP convention in Las Vegas today, aiming to showcase his administration’s support for Black voters who are a tentpole of the Democratic coalition and his personal political support.
He’ll also participate in an interview with BET. Tomorrow, he’ll address UnidosUS, looking to bolster his appeal to Latino voters, another crucial Democratic-leaning bloc.
What to know about JD Vance, Trump’s VP pick
Trump chose U.S. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio to be his running mate as he looks to return to the White House. Here are some things to know about the 39-year-old Republican now in his first term in the Senate:
Read more about JD Vance
Nikki Haley expected to speak later today
Nikki Haley, Trump’s former primary rival, was a last-minute addition to the schedule.
The former United Nations ambassador and South Carolina governor waited two months after dropping out in March to say she would vote for him. Then last week, she announced she would instruct her convention delegates to vote for Trump but wasn’t planning to attend the convention.
It wasn’t until Sunday — hours after the shooting — that her office reversed itself and said she would speak.
The Trump-era evolution of the GOP was on full display during first night of RNC
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell is arguably responsible for the GOP’s biggest policy accomplishments, particularly in installing conservative judges at all levels of the judiciary. But that didn’t matter much to the Trump-friendly crowd at the RNC, which greeted the Kentucky Republican with boos — a tangible rejection of someone demonized as an establishment Republican who has insufficiently supported the former president.
Just a short while later, JD Vance enjoyed a much different reception. The second-youngest U.S. senator — and the first millennial to appear on a major party ticket — received raucous applause when he walked onto the convention floor for the first time as Trump’s running mate.
The dueling moments offered a window into the changes that have swept the GOP under Trump — bookending an era in which McConnell has gone from one of his party’s most powerful leaders and incisive tacticians to getting jeered on the convention floor by his own party’s activists.
Read more key takeaways from day 1 of the RNC
What to watch as the RNC enters its second day
The Republican National Convention heads into its second day — now with Donald Trump officially as its presidential nominee.
Trump energized the crowd Monday night by entering the arena with a bandage on his right ear after being injured during an assassination attempt Saturday. Expect more speakers Tuesday to mention what they described as the former president’s strength and resilience after the shooting at his rally in Pennsylvania.
Day 1 of the RNC comes to a close
The Republican National Convention opened less than 48 hours after Trump was the subject of a shocking assassination attempt in Pennsylvania. The shooting, which left Trump injured and one man dead, loomed over the convention with speakers expressing gratitude for the former president’s survival and resolved to win back the White House in November.
Trump greeted supporters as he exited the arena. He was being protected by a noticeably larger security contingent of U.S. Secret Service agents.
Teamsters president says union group is ‘not beholden to anyone or any party’
Just a week after the AFL-CIO reaffirmed its backing of President Biden, another union leader came and spoke at the Republican National Convention.
Teamsters Union President Sean O’Brien said workers are being taken for granted and sold out to big banks, big tech and the corporate elite. O’Brien said the Teamsters “are not beholden to anyone or any party” and will work with a bipartisan coalition.
“I don’t care about getting criticized,” O’Brien said as he defied organized long-standing support of Democrats.
Trump gets emotional as he enters the stadium
With a large white bandage on his right ear following the assassination attempt against him, President Trump entered a convention floor where delegates stood and cheered, many holding up signs or their phones to take photos and video.
He was heralded by musician Lee Greenwood, who sang his signature song, “God Bless the USA.”
“Is there any doubt who’s going to be the next president of the United States? Prayer works,” Greenwood said when the former president took the stage.
JD Vance recalls the moment Trump called with VP news
JD Vance said his 7-year-old son was being noisy in the background when Trump called to offer him the vice president spot on the Republican ticket.
Vance knew Trump was calling with big news, but he didn’t know if it was good or bad news for him, the first-term Ohio senator told Fox News host Sean Hannity in his first interview since Trump announced his pick.
He said Trump also asked to speak to his son.
“The guy just got shot a couple of days ago, and he takes the time to talk to my seven-year-old,” Vance said.
“It’s a moment I’ll never forget.”
He said he and Trump have been close since Trump endorsed him in his 2022 Senate race, which he said he would not have won without Trump’s support.