Donald Trump Jr., Executive Vice President of the Trump Organization, spoke on the first night of the Republican National Convention on Aug. 24, 2020.
Transcript
Good evening America. I’m Donald Trump, Jr. We’re here tonight to talk about the great American story, to talk about this country we all love, this land of promise and opportunity, of heroes and greatness. Just a few short months ago, we were seeing the American dream become a reality for more of our citizens than ever before. The greatest prolonged economic expansion in American history, the lowest unemployment rate in nearly 50 years, the lowest unemployment rates ever for black Americans, Hispanic Americans, women, and pretty much every other demographic group. And then courtesy of the Chinese Communist Party, the virus struck. The President quickly took action and shut down travel from China. Joe Biden, and his Democrat allies, called my father a racist and a xenophobe for doing it.
They put political correctness ahead of the safety and security of the American people. Fortunately, as the virus began to spread, the President acted quickly and ensured ventilators got the hospitals that needed them most. He delivered PPE to our brave frontline workers, and he rallied the mighty American private sector to tackle this new challenge. There’s more work to do, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Job gains are outpacing what the so called experts expected, but Biden’s radical left wing policies would stop our economic recovery cold. He’s already talking about shutting the country down again. It’s madness. Democrats claim to be for workers, but they’ve spent the entire pandemic trying to sneak a tax break for millionaires and Democrat states into the COVID relief bill. Then they attacked my father for suspending the payroll tax for middle class workers. In fact, if you think about it, Joe Biden’s entire economic platform seems designed to crush the working man and woman. He supported the worst trade deals in the history of the planet. He voted for the NAFTA nightmare, down the tubes went our auto industry.
He pushed for TPP, goodbye manufacturing jobs. Beijing Biden is so weak on China that the intelligence community recently assessed that the Chinese Communist Party favors Biden. They know he’ll weaken us both economically and on a world stage. Biden also wants to bring in more illegal immigrants to take jobs from American citizens. His open border policies would drive wages down for Americans at a time when low income workers were getting real wage increases for the first time in modern history. He’s pledged to repeal the Trump tax cuts, which were the biggest in our country. After eight years of Obama and Biden’s slow growth, Trump’s policies have been like rocket fuel to the economy and especially to the middle class. Biden has promised to take that money back out of your pocket and keep it in the swamp. That makes sense though, considering Joe Biden is basically the Loch Ness monster of the swamp.
For the past half century, he’s been lurking around in there. He sticks his head up every now and then to run for president. Then he disappears and doesn’t do much in between. So if you’re looking for hope, look to the man who did what the failed Obama-Biden administration never could do and built the greatest economy our country has ever seen and President Trump will do it again. We will be stronger than ever because when we put our mind to it, there is no obstacle that America can’t surmount, except there’s a difference this time. In the past, both parties believed in the goodness of America. We agreed on where we wanted to go. We just disagreed on how to get there. This time, the other party is attacking the very principles on which our nation was founded, freedom of thought, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the rule of law. Thomas Jefferson famously said, “I have sworn, upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” Our founders believed there was nothing more important than protecting our God given right to think for ourselves.
Now the left, they’re trying to cancel all of those founders. They don’t seem to understand this important principle. In order to improve in the future, we must learn from our past, not erase it. So we’re not going to tear down monuments and forget the people who built our great nation. Instead, we will learn from our past so we don’t repeat any mistakes and we will work tirelessly to improve the lives of all Americans. Joe Biden and the radical left are now coming for our freedom of speech. They want to bully us into submission. If they get their way, it will no longer be the silent majority. It will be the silenced majority. This has to stop. Freedom of expression used to be a liberal value, at least before the radical left took over.
Now, the Republican party is the home of free speech, the place where anyone from any background can speak their mind and may the best ideas win. People of faith are under attack. You’re not allowed to go to church, but mass chaos in the streets gets a pass. It’s almost like this election is shaping up to be church, work and school versus rioting, looting, and vandalism, or in the words of Biden and the Democrats, peaceful protesting. Anarchists have been flooding our streets and Democrat mayors are ordering the police to stand down. Small businesses across America, many of the minority owned, are being torched by mobs. The Democrat mayors pretend it’s not happening. They actually called it a summer of love.
And that brings me to another important principle. Every American must be free to live without fear of violence in your country, in your communities and in your homes. All men and women are created equal and must be treated equally under the law. That’s why we must put an end to racism and we must ensure that any police officer who abuses their powers is held accountable. What happened to George Floyd is a disgrace. And if you know a police officer, you know they agree with that too, but we cannot lose sight of the fact that our police are American heroes. They deserve our deepest appreciation because no matter what the Democrats say, you and I both know when we dial 911, we don’t want it going to voicemail, so defunding the police is not an option. Everything starts with safety and security. You can’t have anything else without it.
You can’t focus on building a better future for your children without the peace of mind that they can study safely in their classrooms, play safely in their neighborhoods and sleep safely in their beds. But safety is only the beginning. Trump’s America is a land of opportunity, a place of promise. I was fortunate enough to grow up in a family that could afford the best schools and the finest universities, but a great education can not be the exclusive right of the rich and powerful. It must be accessible to all. And that’s why my dad is pro school choice. That’s why he’s called education access the civil rights issue, not just of our time, but of all time. It is unacceptable that too many African American and Hispanic American children are stuck in bad schools, just because of their zip code. Donald Trump will not stand for it.
If Democrats really wanted to help minorities and underserved communities, instead of bowing to big money union bosses, they’d let parents choose what school is best for their kids. They’d limit immigration to protect American workers. They’d support the police who protect our neighborhoods. They’d learn how to negotiate trade deals that prioritize America’s interest for a change. They’d end the endless wars and quit sending our young people to solve problems in foreign lands. They’d cut taxes for families and workers. They’d create opportunities zones that drive investment into inner cities. In other words, if Democrats cared for the forgotten men and women of our country, they’d do exactly what President Trump is doing. America is the greatest country on earth, but my father’s entire worldview revolves around the idea that we can always do even better. Imagine the life you want to have, one with a great job, a beautiful home, a perfect family.
You can have it. Imagine the country you want to live in, one with true equal opportunity, where hard work pays off and justice is served with compassion and without partiality. You can have it. Imagine a world where there are evils of communism and radical Islamic terrorism are not given a chance to spread, where heroes are celebrated and the good guys win. You can have it. That is the life. That is the country. That is the world that Donald Trump and the Republican party are after. And yes, you can have it because unlike Joe Biden and the radical left Democrats, our party is open to everyone. It starts by rejecting radicals who want to drag us into the dark and embracing the man who represents a bright and beautiful future for all. It starts by reelecting Donald J. Trump, President of the United States. Thank you and God bless America.
