WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump unleashed a harsh series of attacks against Joe Biden Thursday night, casting his Democratic opponent as "the destroyer of American greatness" and framing the November election as a bitterly divisive clash between two irreconcilable slices of America.
"This election will decide whether we will defend the American way of life, or whether we allow a radical movement to completely dismantle and destroy it," Trump said in a 71-minute address accepting the GOP nomination.
Trump's sweeping address capped a Republican National Convention that veered between a fusillade of incendiary attacks meant to rouse the president's base and targeted stagecraft designed to improve his standing with voters of color and suburban women.
The president delivered the speech from the White House South Lawn adorned with large campaign banners and before an estimated crowd of 1,500 with few masks and limited social distancing despite the ongoing pandemic. Democrats charged it was not only unsafe, but also an illegal abuse of taxpayer funds.
Reading from a teleprompter, the 74-year-old Trump portrayed Biden's long record in Washington as a series of "catastrophic betrayals and blunders," but also dedicated significant time to defending his first-term accomplishments of revamped trade deals, the approval of new federal judges and the relocation of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.
Trump also attempted to sketch out general goals of a second-term agenda, including creating 10 million jobs in 10 months and landing the first woman on the moon. He pledged that a coronavirus vaccine would be available before the end of the year "or maybe even sooner."
The conclusion of the conventions marks the unofficial sprint into the two-month homestretch of an unorthodox campaign, in which Trump is again battling from an underdog position.
Here are six takeaways from the 2020 Republican National Convention:
